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Air Pollution

Air pollution is introduced into the atmosphere through both natural events and human activities. It can cause health issues like respiratory and heart disease as well as lung cancer. Both outdoor and indoor air pollution have led to over 3 million deaths worldwide each year, with developing countries most impacted. Some ways to help control air pollution include installing monitoring equipment in cities, transitioning to green energy, and using pollution control devices to filter emissions. Stringent regulations on industry and power generation can also help reduce air pollution.

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49 views2 pages

Air Pollution

Air pollution is introduced into the atmosphere through both natural events and human activities. It can cause health issues like respiratory and heart disease as well as lung cancer. Both outdoor and indoor air pollution have led to over 3 million deaths worldwide each year, with developing countries most impacted. Some ways to help control air pollution include installing monitoring equipment in cities, transitioning to green energy, and using pollution control devices to filter emissions. Stringent regulations on industry and power generation can also help reduce air pollution.

Uploaded by

Genia Pagdilao
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Causes, Consequences and Control of Air Pollution

Dr. Mahendra Pratap Choudhary, Associate Professor, Deptt. Of Civil Engineering,


University College of Engineering, Rajasthan Technical University, Kota, Rajasthan
[email protected]
Vaibhav Garg, Assistant Professor, Deptt. Of Civil Engineering, University College of
Engineering, Rajasthan Technical University, Kota, Rajasthan

Air pollution is the introduction into the atmosphere of chemicals, particulates, or


biological materials that cause discomfort, disease, or death to humans. Pollutants
can be in the form of solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases, and they may be
natural or man-made. Usually, primary pollutants are directly produced from a
process, such as ash from a volcanic eruption or carbon monoxide gas from a motor
vehicle exhaust. Secondary pollutants are not emitted directly but rather form in the
air when primary pollutants react or interact.

Moreover, it can result from both human and natural actions. Natural events that
pollute the air include forest fires, volcanic eruptions, wind erosion, pollen dispersal,
evaporation of organic compounds and natural radioactivity. Man-made sources
include smoke stacks of power plants, waste incinerators, furnaces and other types
of fuel-burning heating devices. Natural sources include dust, methane and radon,
which is the second most frequent cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking.
Intentional air pollution is introduced with the use of air fresheners, incense, and
other scented items. Paint and solvents give off volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
as they dry, which can degenerate into dust and be inhaled.

Consequently, it has a significant risk factor for multiple health conditions including
respiratory infections, heart disease, and lung cancer. The most common sources of
air pollution include particulates, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. Both
indoor and outdoor air pollution have caused approximately 3.3 million deaths
worldwide. Children aged less than five years in developing countries are the most
vulnerable population in terms of total deaths attributable to indoor and
outdoor pollution. Pollutants can cause damage to trees, crops, farms, animals as
well as make water bodies harmful to humans and other creatures that depend on
them. Air pollution reduces agricultural crop and commercial forest yields by billions
of money each year. This in addition to people staying off work for health reasons
can costs the economy greatly. The economy thrives when people are healthy, and
business that depends on cultivated raw materials and natural resources are
running at full efficiency.
Nevertheless, in many big cities, monitoring equipments have been installed at many
points in the city to check the quality of air. Governments throughout the world have
already taken action against air pollution by introducing green energy and building
more energy efficient cars. Remember manufacturing industries create a lot of
pollution, so if we can re-use things like shopping plastic bags, clothing, paper and
bottles, it can help. Pollution control devices can destroy contaminants or remove
them from an exhaust stream before it is emitted into the atmosphere. The following
items are commonly used as pollution control devices by industry and transportation
devices. Electrostatic precipitators are highly efficient filtration devices that minimally
impede the flow of gases through the device, and can easily remove fine
particulates such as dust and smoke from the air stream. Wet scrubbers are a
variety of devices that use pollutants from a furnace flue gas or other gas streams to
scrub particles from a gas stream.

Furthermore, it affects children more than adults due to higher concentrations of


polluted air in their systems per body size. In fact, India is the country with the
worst air quality in the world. The European Union would save 161 billion Euros a
year if deaths caused by air pollution were diminished. In large cities, over 80% of
fatal pollutants that cause lung damage come from cars, buses, motorcycles and
other vehicles on the road. According to the World Health Organization, there are as
many deaths (1.3 million per year) in the world due to air pollution as there are
deaths due to car accidents. The average adult breathes 3,000 gallons of air every
day. The Great Smog of London in 1952 was one of the worst air pollution events in
history with over 8,000 deaths. Thus, it can be prevented only if individuals and
businesses stop using toxic substances that cause air pollution. This would require
the cessation of all fossil fuel-burning processes. This is an unlikely scenario at this
time. However, we have to make stringent regulations on industrial and power
supply manufacturing and handling.

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