Industrial Pollution And Enviromental Degradation

AIR POLLUTION:

Cause: Smoke emitted by the industries carries a higher porportion of undesirable gases, materials, consisting of both solid and liquid particles which affect human health, animals, plants, materials and the atmosphere.

Air-pollution

Remedy: Air pollution can be controlled by:

• Better fuel selection and utilization, use of oil instead of coal in the industries.
• Use of equipments like inertial separators, filters, precipitators and scrubbers.

WATER POLLUTION:

Causes:

• Industrial affluent are discharged into rivers which are both organic and inorganic.
• Paper pulp, textiles, chemical, petroleum refining, tannery and electroplating are the major industries creating water pollution.

Remedy: Treatment of industrial liquids can be done in three phases

• Primary treatment by mechanical process.
• Secondary treatment by biological process,
• Tertiary treatment by biological, chemical and physical process which includes recycling of waste water.

NOISE POLLUTION:

Noise pollution not only results in irritation and anger, it can also cause hearing impairment, increased heart rate and blood pressure among other physiological effects. Unwanted sound is an irritant and a source of stress. Industrial and construction activities, machinery, factory equipment, generators, saws and pneumatic and electric drills also make a lot of noise.

Few measures to control land and soil pollution.

• Collection of wastes from different places.
• Dumping and disposing the waste by land filling.
• Recycling of the wastes for further use.

THERMAL POLLUTION:

• Thermal pollution of water occurs when hot water from factories and thermal plants is drained into rivers and ponds before cooling.
• Wastes from nuclear power plants, nuclear and weapon production facilities cause cancers, birth defects and miscarriages.
• Soil and water pollution are closely related. Dumping of wastes specially glass,, harmful chemicals, industrial effluents, packaging, salts and garbage renders the soil useless.
• Rain water percolates to the soil carrying the pollutants to the ground and the ground water also gets contaminated.

Nuclear Power Plant

CONTROL OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION:

Every litre of waste water discharged by our industry pollutes eight times the quantity of freshwater. How can the industrial pollution of fresh water be reduced? Some suggestions are-

• Minimising use water for processing by reusing and recycling it in two or more successive stages
• Harvesting of rainwater to meet water requirements
• Treating hot water and effluents before releasing them in rivers and ponds.

Treatment of industrial effluents can be done in three phases

• Primary treatment by mechanical means. This involves screening, grinding, flocculation and sedimentation.
• Secondary treatment by biological process
• Tertiary treatment by biological, chemical and physical processes. This involves recycling of wastewater.
• Overdrawing of ground water reserves by industry where there is a threat to ground water resources also needs to be regulated legally. Particulate matter in the air can be reduced by fitting smoke stacks to factories with electrostatic precipitators, fabric filters, scrubbers and inertial separators. Smoke can be reduced by using oil or gas instead of coal in factories. Machinery and equipment can be used and generators should be fitted with silencers. Almost all machinery can be redesigned to increase energy efficiency and reduce noise. Noise absorbing material may be used apart from personal use of earplugs and earphones.

EXAMPLE OF NTPC:

NTPC is a major power providing corporation in India. It has ISO certification for EMS (Environment Management System) 14001. The corporation has a pro-active approach for preserving the natural environment and resources like water, oil and gas and fuels in places where it is setting up power plants.

This has been possible through-

• Optimum utilisation of equipment adopting latest techniques and upgrading existing equipment.
• Minimising waste generation by maximising ash utilisation.
• Providing green belts for nurturing ecological balance and addressing the question of special purpose vehicles for afforestation.
• Reducing environmental pollution through ash pond management, ash water recycling system and liquid waste management.
• Ecological monitoring, reviews and online database management for all its power stations.

The Ramagundam power plant