Pollution issues in India
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Pollution Issues in India
Introduction
A research study by Bagepally and Rakesh (2022) indicated that most of the top 50 most polluted cities across the world in 2022 were in India, with Delhi, one of the more polluted areas, surpassing the safe limit of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) by 20 times. Environmental pollution across the country comes in different ways, and the commonality is they all have devastating levels. Air, water, and land pollution are all prominently experienced in various regions around the country (Bagepally & Rakesh, 2022). The major effects have been quite adverse with every part of the ecosystem in one way or another. Ambient air pollution has been associated with respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and lung cancer (Gupta & Dhir, 2021). Hundreds of thousands of Indians perish every year due to contact with contaminated water. Pollution not only affects the lives of people but also affects animals and plants. Given the substantial rise in pollution in Indian cities and the effects that the pollution has had on the environment, people, animals as well as plants, it is imperative that there are stringent laws and regulations that will ensure that appropriate measures for protecting the environment are strictly followed (Sasmita et al., 2022).
Literature Review
Introduction to Literature Review
India ranks as the second most polluted country in the world, with the entirety of the country’s population living in areas with a yearly average particulate level of pollution exceeding the guidelines established by WHO (Gupta & Dhir, 2021). Addressing pollution is essentially the main goal of the different climate change agreements that India happens to be part of. The literature review was predicated on articles that focused on the country's pollution state. The articles incorporated in the review feature different aspects associated with pollution issues. The key elements included consideration of pollution by region with emphasis on the urban regions, the nature of pollutants, and the impact of pollution in the country. The situation that India is facing is adverse, to say the least. The research articles were sourced from different databases, which included Web of Science, ProQuest, and EBSCO Host. The key terms factored in the search process were pollution, air pollution, environmental pollution, and India.
Literature Review
Air Pollution in India
Gupta & Dhir (2021) conducted a study on the air quality in the key urban cities of Gujarat, India. The study featured an ambient air quality monitoring program and incorporated data across 15 years (from 2004 to 2018). The researchers used the Mann-Kendall test to assess the air pollutant concentrations across the years that were featured in the study. The Central Pollution Control Board initiated the ambient air quality monitoring program (NAAQM). The findings from the research showed that fine particulate matter and coarse particulate matter significantly contributed to pollution as compared to sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide (Gupta & Dhir, 2021). The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) showed that fine particulate matter and coarse particulate matter are on the decline. However, according to NAAQM, the levels declined between 2012 and 2015 but increased again after that (Gupta & Dhir, 2021). The findings indicated that fine particulate matter and coarse particulate matter are the main form of pollutants that affect India. This showed that there is need to determine the sources of particulate matter in order to control pollution.
Air Pollution Disease Burden
Bagepally & Rakesh (2022) conducted a study on the impact that air pollution plays in spreading diseases. Their research article sought to find out the implications of the pollution menace on gross state domestic product growth in India. The study incorporated disability-adjusted life year (DALY) measures in relation to air pollution. The article sought to establish a link between diseases attributed to air pollution with gross state domestic product (GSDP) in India (Bagepally & Rakesh, 2022). The featured period was between 2011 and 2019. The researchers used concentration indices and Lorenz curves in examining the differences in APADB across 28 states and two union territories. The association between APADB and GSDP, and APADB and motor vehicles registered across states were estimated using Pearsons’s product-moment correlations and partial correlations. The results indicated that in the majority of the states, APADB has an inverse correlation to GSDP. Growth in motor vehicles had a negative correlation to APADB across 19 states. The research showed that air pollution negatively impacted the productivity of the states across India and recommended efforts to address air pollution (Bagepally & Rakesh, 2022).
Comparing Pollution in Urban versus Rural Rivers in India
Pollution in India does not only affect the air. Lechthaler et al. (2021) conducted their research on the state of microplastic pollution in Indian rivers. The research was carried out in November 2019. The featured rivers were Chennai and Munnar. The former, an urban region, had two rivers involved in the study (Kosasthalaiyar River and Adyar River), while Munnar, a rural region, had the other river (Muthirappuzhayar River). The researchers assessed the microplastic concentration in the three rivers. Sampling points were chosen at specific points on the rivers. Major considerations in the study included flow rates of the rivers and meteorological conditions with respect to northeast monsoon winds. The sampling method that the authors used involved a Neuston Net. Sample preparation and analysis entailed the use of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Pearson’s t-tests were used to analyze the association between microplastic concentrations and relevant parameters. The results showed that the urban rivers (0.4 microplastic particles/L) are more polluted compared to the rural river (0.4 microplastic particles/L). The factors that were tied to the outcomes were the high population growth rate and industrialization. Lechthaler et al. (2021) recommended additional environmental sampling for better accuracy.
Source and Impact of Coarse Particulate Matter (PM10)
Like Gupta & Dhir (2021), Sasmita et al. (2022) investigated aerosol pollution associated with coarse particulate matter (PM10) in the environment in India. The authors examined the source regions of PM10 and the health impacts that this has. They focused on Bhubaneswar, which is a major industrial zone in eastern India. The study was conducted from July 2018 to June 2019. Samples were collected utilizing the Envirotech Respirable Dust Sampler (Sasmita et al. 2022). 103 PM10 were collected on days that did not involve rain or storm. The statistical trajectory approaches that were used included potential source contribution function (PSCF), trajectory clustering, and concentration-weighted trajectory (CWT). Data collected was analyzed using various statistical analysis tools such as SPSS 25 2017 version (Sasmita et al. 2022). The results showed that severe pollution in the city is experienced during winter, with standards surpassing the pollution control board. Lower pollution was experienced during monsoon season. The main health issues were chronic bronchitis and post-neonatal infant mortality (Sasmita et al., 2022).
Analysis of Literature
India faces a huge pollution problem, and as the research articles show, different kinds of pollution are prominently experienced. Gupta & Dhir (2021), Bagepally & Rakesh (2022), and Sasmita et al. (2022) concentrated on air pollution, while Lechthaler et al. (2021) focused on water pollution. In all instances, the articles studies reviewed indicated that air pollution affects the studied population in one way or another. The main pollutants included in the research articles were coarse particulate matter (PM10) and microplastics (Lechthaler et al., 2021; Gupta & Dhir, 2021). The major effect of pollution emerged to be disease spread. Examples of diseases included bronchitis and lung disease (Bagepally & Rakesh, 2022). The scope of the study by Gupta & Dhir (2021) was wider than that of Sasmita et al. (2022) though the latter considered the health impacts of pollution. Similarly, Bagepally & Rakesh (2022) factored in health implications, but this extended to the economic impact on the Indian states. Whereas the studies by Lechthaler et al. (2021) and Sasmita et al. (2022) were localized, Bagepally & Rakesh (2022) and Gupta & Dhir (2021) conducted their studies on a national scale. Across the studies, it was evident that meteorology was influential in the degree of pollution that regions in India experienced. The availability of rain and wind speed influence mixing depths, affecting the concentration of pollutants (Lechthaler et al., 2021).
Discussion
Introduction to Discussion
Researchers have presented concerns over the pollution issue in India and how it affects the nation's residents. According to an article by Gupta and Dhir (2021), winter encountered higher air contaminants than summer. The challenge with these differences is that the population suffers more health complications when these air contaminants are high in winter than at other times in summer. Sasmita et al. (2022) assert that the residents are 3 to 5 times more prone to health adversities of PM10 in winter than in summer. Gupta and Dhir (2021) found that the highest quantities of PM10 and PM2.5 were in the winter, whereas huge quantities of SO2, NO2, and CO were found in the summer. In terms of location, the cities had the greatest concentrations of SO2 and CO, whereas industrial regions had the highest amounts of PM10, PM2.5, and NO2. Similarly, Lechthaler et al. (2021) found more microplastics in places with great anthropogenic influences than in places with a minimal anthropogenic effect.
Evidence-Based Recommendation
According to Shrotria (2015), one of the key programs that India has used to control pollution is the National Green Tribunal Act. The goal of the program is to provide remedy in regards to environmental protection, conservation of forests and all natural resources. It also enforces legal rights associated with the environment (Shrotria, 2015). The essence of the act has been in enforcing of laws associated with environmental protection, dealing with adverse environmental issues and establishing appropriate initiatives in light of repercussions of pollution. The program has factored in helping reduce different types of pollution. Continued efforts in line with the guidelines of the act should address the documented pollution problems that India faces. The pollution issue in India also has implications for policymakers of human and environmental health. The policies that stakeholders will implement need to reduce the number of air pollutants. By doing further research on plastic contaminants, stakeholders can assess the sources of microplastics in rivers. Lechthaler et al. (2021) assert that this step would change the potential effects of microplastics on the health of the Indian population. The government of India, among other main stakeholders, should be at the forefront of protecting the health of residents. According to S et al. (2022), governments, industries, and civil society need to coordinate their efforts in minimizing air pollution and its impact on the population's health. Industries need to reduce the production of biohazardous gases in the atmosphere concerning the season.
The kind of gaseous pollutants from industries is a concern that legislators in India should keenly consider. For more effective monitoring, Gupta and Dhir (2021) advise decision-makers and city planners to investigate the fundamentals of particulate matter. By differentiating the different causes of air pollution, city planners can effectively protect the health of their residents. Moreover, Lechthaler et al. (2021) recommend more extensive data collection on tutoring and transiting river microplastics under diverse climatic conditions to increase data efficiency. In order to address the health-related issue caused by PM10, Sasmita et al. (2022) urged attention to focus on controlling and preventing air pollution. Highlighting and specifying the kind of air pollutants can help deal with air pollution in India as a nation, especially depending on the season. Further, S et al. (2022) recommend increasing public awareness of the harmful impacts of air pollution on health and the importance of air pollution reduction for long-term sustainability and economic growth.
Conclusion
Given the substantial rise in pollution in Indian cities and the effects that the pollution has had on the environment, people, animals as well as plants, it is imperative that there are stringent laws and regulations that will ensure that appropriate measures for protecting the environment are strictly followed (Sasmita et al., 2022). Pollution not only affects the lives of people but also affects animals and plants. Hundreds of thousands of Indians perish every year due to contact with contaminated water. Ambient air pollution has been associated with respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and lung cancer (Gupta & Dhir, 2021). The major effects have been quite adverse with every part of the ecosystem in one way or another. Air pollution, water pollution and land pollution are all prominently experienced in various regions around the country. Environmental pollution across the country comes in different ways, and the commonality is they all have devastating levels. Intervention programs such as National Green Tribunal Act are necessary because the study shows that most of the top 50 most polluted cities across the world in 2022 were in India, with Delhi, as one of the more polluted areas, surpassing the safe limit of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) by 20 times (Bagepally & Rakesh, 2022).
References.
Bagepally, S, S. K., B. S., & Rakesh, B. (2022). Air pollution attributed disease burden and economic growth in India: Estimating trends and inequality between states
. The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia, 7, 100069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lansea.2022.100069
Gupta, A., & Dhir, A. (2021). Spatial and temporal variations of air pollutants in urban agglomeration areas in Gujarat, India during 2004–2018.
MAPAN, 37(1), 215-226. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12647-021-00495-5
Lechthaler, S., Waldschläger, K., Sandhani, C. G., Sannasiraj, S. A., Sundar, V., Schwarzbauer, J., & Schüttrumpf, H. (2021). Baseline study on microplastics in Indian rivers under different anthropogenic influences.
Water, 13(12), 1648. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13121648
Sasmita, S., Kumar, D. B., & Priyadharshini, B. (2022). Assessment of sources and health impacts of PM10 in an urban environment over eastern coastal plain of India.
Environmental Challenges, 7, 100457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2022.100457
Shrotria, S. (2015). Environmental justice: is the National Green Tribunal of India effective?.
Environmental Law Review,
17(3), 169-188. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461452915595548
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