ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

AND

POLLUTION CONTROL

CEC 417 (3 UNITS)

LECTURE NOTE

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 COURSE OUTLINE

1. Concept of Environment and Environmental Health

2. Concept of Pollution and Contamination

3. Different Types of Environment

4. Different Types of Pollution

5. Classification of Water-Related Disease

6. Basic Principles of Pollutants Emission and Disposal

7. Effects of Specific Environmental Pollution and Self-Purification in Water Bodies

8. Methods of Pollution Control Including Vector Control

9. Management of Solid Wastes and their effects on the environment

10. Health Effects of Basic Utilities and Work Environments

11. Understand the Basic Principles of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

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 UNIT ONE
CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Definitions:
Environment
i. The circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded or “The complex
of climatic, edaphic (soil-based), and biotic factors that act upon an organism or an
ecologic community”
ii. All that which is external to the individual host. It can be divided into physical,
biological, social, and cultural factors, any or all of which can influence health status in
populations.
Health
i. The condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit .A flourishing condition or well-
being—not just the absence of disease or
ii. A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence
of disease or infirmity −WHO. (1948).
Disease
Trouble or a condition of the living animal or plant body or one of its parts that impairs
the performance of a vital function
Safe
Free from harm or risk „Secure from threat of danger, harm, or loss zero risk
Risk
Possibility of loss or injury, peril „The chance of loss; the degree of probability of such loss
What Is Environmental Health Sciences?
NIEHS charter: “The study of those factors in the environment that affect human health”
−Factors (“pollutants” or “toxicants”) in air, water, soil, or food −Transferred to humans by
inhalation, ingestion, or absorption −Production of adverse health effects
Contributors to the “Environment”
Chemical −Air pollutants, toxic wastes, pesticides, VOCs.
Biologic −Disease organisms present in food and water −Insect and animal allergens
Physical −Noise, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation
Socioeconomic −Access to safe and sufficient health care.

W.H.O. Definition of Environmental Health

Environmental health comprises those aspects of human health, including quality of life,
that are determined by physical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors in the
environment. It also refers to the theory and practice of assessing, correcting, controlling,
and preventing those factors in the environment that can potentially affect adversely the
health of present and future generations.
Facets of Environmental Health
Environmental epidemiology −Associations between exposure to environmental agents
and subsequent development of disease.
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Environmental toxicology −Causal mechanisms between exposure and subsequent
development of disease.
Environmental engineering −Factors that govern and reduce exposure
Preventive medicine −Factors that govern and reduce disease development
Law −Development of appropriate legislation to protect public health
Environmental Health Issues
Environmental health sciences includes −Environmental epidemiology and toxicology as
the basis of environmental health risk assessment
Environmental engineering and regulation/risk communication as the basis of
environmental health risk management
EHS is the study of those factors in the environment that affect human health „These
factors represent chemical, biological, or physical agents contained in air, water, soil, or
food, and are transported to humans via inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption Adverse
health effects may be acute or delayed in onset, clinical or subclinical, and reversible or
irreversible
Environmental Engineering is a discipline of engineering devoted to the development
and application of scientific knowledge through technology to eliminate or minimize
adverse effects associated with human activities.
It operates at four different levels: remediation of contaminated sites, treatment of
effluents, pollution prevention, and care for future generations.
Environmental engineering is fundamentally object focused, rather than tool based. It
therefore draws from all other engineering disciplines that are apt to bear on the desired
objectives. Pursuit of pollution prevention and sustainability further implicate social,
cultural and economic considerations, bringing the environmental engineer to collaborate
with policy makers and other non-engineers.
Using the principles of biology and chemistry, environmental engineers develop solutions
to environmental problems. They are involved in water and air pollution control,
recycling, waste disposal, and public health issues.
Environmental engineers conduct hazardous-waste management studies in which they
evaluate the significance of the hazard, offer analysis on treatment and containment, and
develop regulations to prevent mishaps. They design municipal water supply and
industrial wastewater treatment systems. They conduct research on proposed
environmental projects, analyze scientific data, and perform quality control checks. They
provide legal and financial consulting on matters related to the environment.
Environmental engineers should be creative, inquisitive, analytical, and detail oriented.
They must have a strong grasp of mathematics, including algebra, geometry,
trigonometry, and calculus; sciences, such as biology, chemistry, and physics; and
computer systems. Abilities to work as part of a team and to communicate well also will
be important as environmental engineers' jobs become more diversified and require
interaction with specialists outside engineering.

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Environmental engineers are concerned with local and worldwide environmental issues.
They study and attempt to minimize the effects of acid rain, global warming, automobile
emissions, and ozone depletion. They also are involved in the protection of wildlife.
Many environmental engineers work as consultants, helping their clients to comply with
regulations and to clean up hazardous sites.

UNIT TWO
CONCEPT OF POLLUTION AND CONTAMINATION
Pollution definition: It is an unconcerned and uncontrolled contamination of limited
natural resources available for safe survival of living beings including humans.
Its untoward effects are detrimental for the healthy survival and also the contamination in
most cases is not completely reversible.
Pollution may be defined as addition of undesirable material into the environment as a
result of human activities. The agents which cause environmental pollution are called
pollutants. A pollutant may be defined as a physical, chemical or biological substance
unintentionally released into the environment which is directly or indirectly harmful to
humans and other living organisms.
In short it is defined as contamination of natural environment with pollutants hazardous
to human and animal health.
In the recent times we hear many a concerns from social activists and groups
regarding pollution crisis. In fact there is immediate requirement to contain it
and minimize for better health and prevent endanger to valuable species on the earth.
Pollution is drastically rising in all the countries due to rise in human activity associated
with modern technology and population growth. Even the daily normal livelihood
requirements are high contributing factors to never ending pollution of all sorts. Pollution
poses health hazards, endangers wild life and makes the planet unsafe for future human
survival. The present technology and desire for development adds more to pollution but
the steps taken to control or decrease it are very meager.
The term contaminant is often used synonymously with pollutant, although difference in
the definitions would indicate that these terms are not interchangeable.
Contaminant implies concentration of a substance is higher than would naturally occur
but does not necessarily mean that the substance is causing any harm. However, pollution
refers to a situation in which the concentration of a substance in which the concentration
of a substance is higher than would naturally occur but also indicate that the substance is
causing harm of some type. Therefore, a soil could be contaminated but not polluted.
Pollution is often broadly categorized according to its source:
Point-source pollution: As the name implies, is pollution with a clearly identifiable point
of discharge. E.g. waste water treatment plant e.t.c.
Nonpoint-source pollution: Is pollution without an obvious single point of discharge. E.g.
Surface runoff of a commonly used lawn herbicide.

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 Classification of Potential Pollutants
Pollutant Examples
Nutrients N and P in commercial fertilizers, manures, bio
solids, Waste water treatment effluent
Agrochemicals Insecticides, herbicides, fungicides e.t.c
Hazardous organic chemicals Strong acids and bases
Acidification Acid precipitation, acid mine drainage
Salinity or Sodicity Saline irrigation water, salt water intrusion
Trace elements Heavy metals, elements normally present at low
concentration in soil and plant
Sediments Eroded soil in surface waters
Particulates Dust (from wind erosion), volcanic dust ash
Greenhouse gases CO2, CH4 and other relatively active gases
Smog form of compounds Ozone, secondary products of fuel combustion

UNIT THREE
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ENVIRONMENT
Natural Environment
The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that
comprises all living and non-living things that occur naturally on earth or some part of it.
This term includes a few key components:
1. Complete landscape units that function as natural systems without massive human
intervention, including all plants, animals, rocks, etc. and natural phenomena that occur
within their boundaries.
2. Universal natural resources and phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air,
water and climate.
3. Natural features which occur within areas heavily influenced by man (such as wild
birds in urban gardens), (Wikipedia, 2006).
Man-made Environment
The natural environment is contrasted with the built environment, which comprises the
areas and components that are heavily influenced by man. The man-made, or “built,”
environment includes physical structures where people live and work such as homes,
offices, schools, farms and factories, as well as community systems such as roads and
transportation systems, land use practices and waste management. Consequences of
human alteration to the natural environment, such as air pollution, are also parts of the
man-made environment.
Social Environment
The social environment encompasses lifestyle factors like diet and exercise, socioeconomic
status, and other societal influences that may affect health. (Medline, 2006).

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 UNIT FOUR
DIFFERENT TYPES OF POLLUTION
The intermixing of contaminants into the natural resources leading to their degradation is
known as pollution. The problem of pollution has always been a major issue all around
the globe and the need for proper steps to prevent and overcome it has been increasing
and has also found some voices in the recent times. The ever increasing rate of pollution
has caused severe damage to the ecosystems as can be seen from the rising global
warming. Also, the pollution enhances human diseases and the death rates of various
animals and plants leading to an imbalance in their population. The growing rate of
industries and a higher rate of consumption of fossil fuels gives rise to this undesirable
pollution. Constant efforts to bring about the decrement of this pollution so as to ensure a
healthy environment is the need of the hour.
Pollution is a concept whose proper understanding requires the understanding of many
other related concepts. While studying about pollution, we are going to deal with a
number of terms related to chemistry. Different gases, minerals and compounds will form
an active part of our discussion about pollution. Hence it would be a good idea to have
some basic knowledge about the concepts of chemistry which will aid our study of the
different types of pollution.
Here we are going to discuss the different types of pollution and how all these types differ
from one another. We will study all these factors in detail and will also study about how
we can prevent the pollution of the natural resources. We will try and understand how the
pollution is caused and this in turn will help us in understanding how this pollution can
be prevented and controlled.

Air Pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of natural air by mixing up of it with many different
contaminating particles including chemicals, harmful fumes etc. This type of pollution
always behaves as a potential risk, leading to respiratory infections, heart diseases, strokes
etc. Other health effects due to air pollution include asthma and cardiac conditions.
The pollutants for air pollution are divided into two categories. The first type of pollutants
known as primary pollutants are those which are produced from a certain process like the
smoke emitted from the vehicles. The second type of pollutants are termed as the
secondary pollutants and these are the ones which are generated due to the reaction of
primary pollutants with natural air.
Different pollutants affect the air in different forms. Like the reaction of sulfur oxides and
nitrogen oxides results in the production of acid rain. The vehicles, from their exhaust
systems, give out the component of carbon monoxide which has an adverse effect on the
atmosphere. The ground level ozone which is the basis of certain regions of stratosphere
can also act as an air pollutant which in high concentrations aids in the generation of
smog. Coal is another source which contaminates the air. If the burning coal gets mixed up
with the smoke from some other sources, it results in the generation of smog which is also
a major type of air pollution.
Lack of ventilation inside the houses can also lead to health issues resulting from air
pollution. For example, the pesticides and other chemicals, brought into use extensively in
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the homes, are required to be properly exhausted from the house, but this cannot be
achieved as a result of improper ventilation. The same is inhaled by the inhabitants and
thus leads to health issues. Air pollution is present everywhere and it is very important to
protect yourself from the ill effects of this pollution and to remain healthy.

Water Pollution
It is defined as the constant addition of pollutants to the water bodies resulting in
contamination of the water. This makes the concerned water unfavorable for the use for
both humans and commercially and is left as a waste only. The contaminated water when
mixed with a bigger water body results in the adverse impact on the aquatic species. The
major role played in the contamination of water is by the various industrial chemicals and
wastes that are thrown into the water body without adequate treatment and thus
contaminating the water. The high temperature fluids adversely affect the thermal state of
the water and lead to the discoloration of natural clean water.
The list of the contaminants of water also includes many other particles such as detergents
being generated by the industries and also from the households which get readily mixed
with the water bodies. Testing the extent of water pollution can be done in a number of
ways including the physical testing which means to analyze the temperature, solids,
concentration and other factors for a particular sample of water.

Soil /Land Pollution

Basically, the soil pollution refers to the mixing up of soil with the materials which are
potent enough to affect the natural soil when mixed up with it in more than adequate
proportions. The addition of the contaminated particles to soil happens both due to the
human and natural activities in which the former plays a major part.
The most important factor leading to soil pollution is the ever increasing number of
construction sites in today’s world. The harmful chemicals which are used in these
construction activities harm the environment both during the construction and also after
the construction has been completed.
The other factors leading to soil contamination include the landfill and illegal dumping
that is usually carried out in the outskirts of urban areas due to which the waste
decomposed intermixes with the nutrients present in the soil in the initial phases and leads
to its depletion.
The contaminated soil directly affects the human health either through the direct contact
with it or by the inhalation of harmful soil contaminants which are vaporized. For
example, the nitrate particles are highly dangerous to be dumped under the soil cover and
thus are first mixed up with the ammonia to reduce their impact, but even after this the
resultant mixture leads to highly dangerous health hazards. It is very important to stay
protected from these hazards and to remain healthy.

Noise Pollution
Noise pollution is the generation of sounds that are irritating and have a high pitch as
compared to the hearing capabilities of humans. The basic sources of this sort of pollution
are the machines that are extensively found in the industries and the transportation

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systems. Also, the loud noise created by loud music and other building activities can also
contribute to this pollution leading to cardiovascular effects and other undesirable health
effects for the humans. The need for preventive measures for noise pollution has always
been there and this in a way has resulted in the emergence of hybrid vehicles which are
less noisy than other contemporary vehicles.
The concept of noise pollution is a very unique one, as sound is something which has the
capability to have both good and bad effects on the health of humans. Undesirable noises,
in the form of noise pollution, can cause many health problems, but at the same time some
soothing sounds can have a positive effect on the mental as well as physical health of the
humans.

Thermal Pollution
The increase in the temperature of a water system by any means is termed as thermal
pollution. The basic source of this type of pollution is through making use of water as a
coolant in industries which includes the disposal of heat generated by the industrial
processes to the water and thus resulting in the increase of temperature of this water.
The worst impact of this sort of pollution is witnessed in the aquatic systems where the
level of dissolved oxygen is readily decreased by the abrupt increase in the water’s
temperature and thus harming the life of aquatic species. The reduction in the oxygen
level of the ecosystem is also witnessed due to the reduced lifespan of the primary
producers.

Radiation pollution: This is the pollution due to abnormal radiation in the environment.
This occurs due to use of radioactive elements from atomic energy stations. From cell and
mobile towers, by use of wireless Internet access modems etc. This is one of the serious
types of pollutions and also neglected one with the interest of business. Even it is said that
birds like sparrows and insects like honey bees seem to be getting extinct from human
areas due to these radiations.

Light pollution: This might seem quite strange but it is one of the common pollutions.
Have you ever tried to see the sky for stars or for lunar eclipse when there is a cricket or
football match going on in a nearby stadium? It is quite impossible. Even heavy light of
opposite vehicles on the same road can lead to distractions for drivers. Light pollution
effects especially disturbing to sleep of humans, birds and other animals. This might some
times affect the natural body rhythm or circadian clock.

Pollution Control Methods

The control of the emission of various particulates into the environment so as to bring
down the level of the pollution is termed as pollution control. The main steps that can be
followed in this regard include recycling and reusing the products that can be used a few
times so that the waste produced from them does not deplete the environment. Also the
waste water that is to be thrown into the water bodies from the industries should be
treated first to bring down its hazardous nature which poses a threat to the aquatic natural
species.

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Moreover the amount of raw material that is to be used should be used in an adequate
quantity so that it results in low generation of the waste amount which is mixed with the
environmental agents later. Apart from these, proper noise and smoke precipitators
should be used to bring down the amount of lethal smoke and noise produced to help
protect the environment.

Pollutants that are produced in the atmosphere when certain chemical reactions take place
among the primary pollutants are called secondary pollutants. e.g. sulfuric acid, nitric
acid, carbonic acid, etc.

Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odorless and toxic gas produced when organic materials
such as natural gas, coal or wood are incompletely burnt. Vehicular exhausts are the single
largest source of carbon monoxide. The number of vehicles has been increasing over the
years all over the world. Vehicles are also poorly maintained and several have inadequate
pollution control equipment resulting in release of greater amounts of carbon monoxide.
Carbon monoxide is however not a persistent pollutant. Natural processes can convert
carbon monoxide to other compounds that are not harmful. Therefore the air can be
cleared of its carbon monoxide if no new carbon monoxide is introduced into the
atmosphere.

Sulfur oxides are produced when sulfur containing fossil fuels are burnt.

Nitrogen oxides are found in vehicular exhausts. Nitrogen oxides are significant, as they
are involved in the production of secondary air pollutants such as ozone.

Hydrocarbons are a group of compounds consisting of carbon and hydrogen atoms. They
either evaporate from fuel supplies or are remnants of fuel that did not burn completely.
Hydrocarbons are washed out of the air when it rains and run into surface water. They
cause an oily film on the surface and do not as such cause a serious issue until they react to
form secondary pollutants. Using higher oxygen concentrations in the fuel-air mixture and
using valves to prevent the escape of gases, fitting of catalytic converters in automobiles,
are some of the modifications that can reduce the release of hydrocarbons into the
atmosphere.
Particulate Matters (PM) are small pieces of solid material (for example, smoke particles
from fires, bits of asbestos, dust particles and ash from industries) dispersed into the
atmosphere. The effects of particulates range from soot to the carcinogenic (cancer
causing) effects of asbestos, dust particles and ash from industrial plants that are dispersed
into the atmosphere. Repeated exposure to particulates can cause them to accumulate in
the lungs and interfere with the ability of the lungs to exchange gases.

Lead is a major air pollutant that remains largely unmonitored and is emitted by vehicles.
High lead levels have been reported in the ambient air in metropolitan cities. Leaded
petrol is the primary source of airborne lead emissions in Indian cities.

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 Pollutants are also found indoors from infiltration of polluted outside air and from various
chemicals used or produced inside buildings. Both indoor and outdoor air pollution are
equally harmful.

UNIT FIVE
CLASSIFICATION OF WATER-RELATED DISEASE
Diseases Related to Water (i) Water-borne Diseases (ii) Water-washed Diseases (iii)
Water-based Diseases (iv) Water-related Diseases
Water-borne Diseases : Diseases caused by ingestion of water contaminated by human or
animal excrement, which contain pathogenic microorganisms, include cholera, typhoid,
amoebic and bacillary dysentery and other diarrheal diseases
• Diarrheal Diseases: Giardiasis (Protozoan)
• Cryptosporidiosis (Bacteria)
• Campylobacteriosis (Bacteria)
• Shigellosis (Bacteria)
• Viral Gastroenteritis (Virus)
• Cyclosporiasis (Parasite
In addition, water-borne disease can be caused by the pollution of water with chemicals
that have an adverse effect on health.
• Arsenic
• Flouride
• Nitrates from fertilizers
• Carcinogenic pesticides (DDT)
• Lead (from pipes)
• Heavy Metals
Water-washed Diseases: Diseases caused by poor personal hygiene and skin and eye
contact with contaminated water. These include scabies, trachoma, typhus, and other flea,
lice and tick-borne diseases.
OR
Diseases/infections acquired because of insufficient water available.
•Contaminated clothing: scabies, lice, louse borne diseases e.g. typhus
•Unwashed cooking utensils: enteritis
•Unwashed bodies, skin rashes, degenerate life conditions….

Water-based Diseases
Diseases caused by parasites found in intermediate organisms living in contaminated water,
includes Schistosomiasis and Dracunculiasis

Water-related Diseases:
Water-related diseases are caused by insect vectors, especially mosquitoes, that breed or
feed near contaminated water. They are not typically associated with lack of access to clean
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drinking water or sanitation services. Include dengue, filariasis, malaria, onchocerciasis,
trypanosomiasis and yellow fever.

Diseases of defective sanitation

•Faecal borne parasites: hookworm, Ascaris, Trichuris (whipworm), bacterial and viral
enteritides, beef and pork tape worms. •Faeces in water: bacterial and viral enteritis,
schistosomiasis, fish tape worm. •Cysticercosis: from pork tape worm.

The Problem • Draining of family resources

• 80% of infectious diseases Control & Prevention
• > 5 million people die each year Education Issues
• > 2 million die from water-related • Hygiene education
diarrhea alone • Good nutrition
• Most of those dying are small • Improvements in habitation and
children general sanitation
• Lost work days • Higher education training in
• Missed educational opportunities water-related issues
• Official and unofficial healthcare
costs

Global Surveillance • Avoid contacting soil that may be

• Public health infrastucture contaminated with human feces.
• Standardized surveillance of • Do not defecate outdoors.
water-borne disease outbreaks • Dispose of diapers properly.
• Guidelines must be established for • Wash hands with soap and water
investigating and reporting water- before handling food.
borne diseases • When traveling to countries where
Communication and the Media sanitation and hygiene are poor,
• Impacts at all levels avoid water or food that may be
• Very powerful, when others fail contaminated.
• Wash, peel or cook all raw
vegetables and fruits before eating.
General Guidelines

More Challenges • Economic barriers for developing

• Developed countries and chlorine- countries to sanitize large amounts
resistant microbes of water
• Climate Changes Then Answer
• Unmet human needs for water
• Education
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 • Commitment to the elimination of • Research
specific diseases

Climate Change • Warming/cooling changes

• Water scarcity compromises distribution of pathogens and
hygiene vectors
• Reduced water pressure increases • Increased UV exposure resulting
risk of back siphoning of in increased susceptability to
contaminated water disease
• Floods causing breaching of • Increased mutation rates with
barriers between sewage and unpredictable effects on
water systems ecosystems (pathogen
development)

FECAL- ORAL TRANSMITTED DISEASES

What the diseases in this group have in common is that the causative organisms are
excreted in the stools of infected persons (or, rarely, animals).
• The portal of entry for these diseases is the mouth. Therefore, the causative organisms
have to pass through the environment from the feces of an infected person to the gastro-
intestinal tract of a susceptible person.
• This is known as the feco -oral transmission route.
• Oral-oral transmission occurs mostly through unapparent fecal contamination of food,
water and hands.
• food takes a central position; it can be directly or indirectly contaminated via polluted
water, dirty hands, contaminated soil, or flies.
• The five “Fs” which play an important role in fecal oral diseases transmission (finger,
flies, food, fomites and fluid).

Faeces Mainly in Water

• The diseases in this group are mainly transmitted through faecally contaminated water
rather than food.
• Typhoid fever
Definition : A systemic infectious disease characterized by high continuous fever, malaise
and involvement of lymphoid tissues.
• Infectious agent: Salmonella typhi, Salmonella enteritis (rare cause)

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 CHAPTER SIX
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF POLLUTANTS EMISSION AND DISPOSAL

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC OF THE ATMOSPHERE

Structure of the atmosphere

Principal layers
In general, air pressure and density decrease with altitude in the atmosphere. However,
temperature has a more complicated profile with altitude, and may remain relatively
constant or even increase with altitude in some regions (see the temperature section,
below). Because the general pattern of the temperature/altitude profile is constant and
measurable by means of instrumented balloon soundings, the temperature behaviour
provides a useful metric to distinguish atmospheric layers. In this way, Earth's atmosphere
can be divided (called atmospheric stratification) into five main layers. Excluding the
exosphere, Earth has four primary layers, which are the troposphere, stratosphere,
mesosphere, and thermosphere. From highest to lowest, the five main layers are:
• Exosphere: 700 to 10,000 km (440 to 6,200 miles)
• Thermosphere: 80 to 700 km (50 to 440 miles)
• Mesosphere: 50 to 80 km (31 to 50 miles)
• Stratosphere: 12 to 50 km (7 to 31 miles)
• Troposphere: 0 to 12 km (0 to 7 miles)

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Exosphere
The exosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere (i.e. the upper limit of the
atmosphere). It extends from the exobase, which is located at the top of the thermosphere
at an altitude of about 700 km above sea level, to about 10,000 km (6,200 mi; 33,000,000 ft)
where it merges into the solar wind.
This layer is mainly composed of extremely low densities of hydrogen, helium and several
heavier molecules including nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide closer to the exobase.
The atoms and molecules are so far apart that they can travel hundreds of kilometers
without colliding with one another. Thus, the exosphere no longer behaves like a gas, and
the particles constantly escape into space. These free-moving particles follow ballistic
trajectories and may migrate in and out of the magnetosphere or the solar wind.
The exosphere is located too far above Earth for any meteorological phenomena to be
possible. However, the aurora borealis and aurora australis sometimes occur in the lower
part of the exosphere, where they overlap into the thermosphere. The exosphere contains
most of the satellites orbiting Earth.

Thermosphere
The thermosphere is the second-highest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It extends from the
mesopause (which separates it from the mesosphere) at an altitude of about 80 km (50 mi;
260,000 ft) up to the thermopause at an altitude range of 500–1000 km (310–620 mi;
1,600,000–3,300,000 ft). The height of the thermopause varies considerably due to changes
in solar activity.[9] Because the thermopause lies at the lower boundary of the exosphere, it
is also referred to as the exobase. The lower part of the thermosphere, from 80 to 550
kilometres (50 to 342 mi) above Earth's surface, contains the ionosphere.
The temperature of the thermosphere gradually increases with height. Unlike the
stratosphere beneath it, wherein a temperature inversion is due to the absorption of
radiation by ozone, the inversion in the thermosphere occurs due to the extremely low
density of its molecules. The temperature of this layer can rise as high as 1500 °C (2700 °F),
though the gas molecules are so far apart that its temperature in the usual sense is not very
meaningful. The air is so rarefied that an individual molecule (of oxygen, for example)
travels an average of 1 kilometre (0.62 mi; 3300 ft) between collisions with other
molecules.[11] Although the thermosphere has a high proportion of molecules with high
energy, it would not feel hot to a human in direct contact, because its density is too low to
conduct a significant amount of energy to or from the skin.
This layer is completely cloudless and free of water vapor. However non-
hydrometeorological phenomena such as the aurora borealis and aurora australis are
occasionally seen in the thermosphere. The International Space Station orbits in this layer,
between 350 and 420 km (220 and 260 mi).

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Mesosphere
The mesosphere is the third highest layer of Earth's atmosphere, occupying the region
above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere. It extends from the stratopause at an
altitude of about 50 km (31 mi; 160,000 ft) to the mesopause at 80–85 km (50–53 mi;
260,000–280,000 ft) above sea level.
Temperatures drop with increasing altitude to the mesopause that marks the top of this
middle layer of the atmosphere. It is the coldest place on Earth and has an average
temperature around −85 °C (−120 °F; 190 K).
Just below the mesopause, the air is so cold that even the very scarce water vapor at this
altitude can be sublimated into polar-mesospheric noctilucent clouds. These are the
highest clouds in the atmosphere and may be visible to the naked eye if sunlight reflects
off them about an hour or two after sunset or a similar length of time before sunrise. They
are most readily visible when the Sun is around 4 to 16 degrees below the horizon. A type
of lightning referred to as either sprites or ELVES occasionally forms far above
tropospheric thunderclouds. The mesosphere is also the layer where most meteors burn
up upon atmospheric entrance. It is too high above Earth to be accessible to jet-powered
aircraft and balloons, and too low to permit orbital spacecraft. The mesosphere is mainly
accessed by sounding rockets and rocket-powered aircraft.
Stratosphere
The stratosphere is the second-lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It lies above the
troposphere and is separated from it by the tropopause. This layer extends from the top of
the troposphere at roughly 12 km (7.5 mi; 39,000 ft) above Earth's surface to the
stratopause at an altitude of about 50 to 55 km (31 to 34 mi; 164,000 to 180,000 ft).
The atmospheric pressure at the top of the stratosphere is roughly 1/1000 the pressure at
sea level. It contains the ozone layer, which is the part of Earth's atmosphere that contains
relatively high concentrations of that gas. The stratosphere defines a layer in which
temperatures rise with increasing altitude. This rise in temperature is caused by the
absorption of ultraviolet radiation (UV) radiation from the Sun by the ozone layer, which
restricts turbulence and mixing. Although the temperature may be −60 °C (−76 °F; 210 K)
at the tropopause, the top of the stratosphere is much warmer, and may be near 0 °C.
The stratospheric temperature profile creates very stable atmospheric conditions, so the
stratosphere lacks the weather-producing air turbulence that is so prevalent in the
troposphere. Consequently, the stratosphere is almost completely free of clouds and other
forms of weather. However, polar stratospheric or nacreous clouds are occasionally seen
in the lower part of this layer of the atmosphere where the air is coldest. The stratosphere
is the highest layer that can be accessed by jet-powered aircraft.

16
Troposphere
The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It extends from Earth's surface
to an average height of about 12 km, although this altitude actually varies from about
9 km (30,000 ft) at the poles to 17 km (56,000 ft) at the equator, with some variation due to
weather. The troposphere is bounded above by the tropopause, a boundary marked in
most places by a temperature inversion (i.e. a layer of relatively warm air above a colder
one), and in others by a zone which is isothermal with height.
Although variations do occur, the temperature usually declines with increasing altitude in
the troposphere because the troposphere is mostly heated through energy transfer from
the surface. Thus, the lowest part of the troposphere (i.e. Earth's surface) is typically the
warmest section of the troposphere. This promotes vertical mixing (hence the origin of its
name in the Greek word τρόπος, tropos, meaning "turn"). The troposphere contains
roughly 80% of the mass of Earth's atmosphere. The troposphere is denser than all its
overlying atmospheric layers because a larger atmospheric weight sits on top of the
troposphere and causes it to be most severely compressed. Fifty percent of the total mass
of the atmosphere is located in the lower 5.6 km (18,000 ft) of the troposphere.
Nearly all atmospheric water vapor or moisture is found in the troposphere, so it is the
layer where most of Earth's weather takes place. It has basically all the weather-associated
cloud genus types generated by active wind circulation, although very tall cumulonimbus
thunder clouds can penetrate the tropopause from below and rise into the lower part of
the stratosphere. Most conventional aviation activity takes place in the troposphere, and it
is the only layer that can be accessed by propeller-driven aircraft.

METHOD OF POLLUTION DISPERSION IN THE ATMOSPHERE

Types of air pollutant emission sources – named for their characteristics
• Sources, by shape – there are four basic shapes which an emission source may have.
They are:
o Point source — single, identifiable source of air pollutant emissions (for
example, the emissions from a combustion furnace flue gas stack). Point
sources are also characterized as being either elevated or at ground-level. A
point source has no geometric dimensions.
o Line source — one-dimensional source of air pollutant emissions (for
example, the emissions from the vehicular traffic on a roadway).
o Area source — two-dimensional source of diffuse air pollutant emissions (for
example, the emissions from a forest fire, a landfill or the evaporated vapors
from a large spill of volatile liquid).
o Volume source — three-dimensional source of diffuse air pollutant
emissions. Essentially, it is an area source with a third (height) dimension
(for example, the fugitive gaseous emissions from piping flanges, valves and
17
 other equipment at various heights within industrial facilities such as oil
refineries and petrochemical plants). Another example would be the
emissions from an automobile paint shop with multiple roof vents or
multiple open windows.
• Sources, by motion
o Stationary source – flue gas stacks are examples of stationary sources
o Mobile source – buses are examples of mobile sources
• Sources, by urbanization level – whether the source is within a city or not is
relevant in that urban areas constitute a so-called heat island and the heat rising
from an urban area causes the atmosphere above an urban area to be more
turbulent than the atmosphere above a rural area
o Urban source – emission is in an urban area
o Rural source – emission is in a rural area
• Sources, by elevation
o Surface or ground-level source
o Near surface source
o Elevated source
• Sources, by duration
• Puff or intermittent source – short term sources (for example, many accidental
emission releases are short term puffs)
• Continuous source – long term source (for example, most flue gas stack emissions
are continuous)

GROUND LEVEL CONCENTRATION OF POLLUTION

Plume Dispersion
Dispersion is the process by which contaminants move through the air and a plume
spreads over a large area, thus reducing the concentration of pollutants it contains. The
plume spreads both horizontally and vertically. If it is gaseous, the motion of the
molecules follows the low of gaseous diffusion
The most commonly used model for the dispersion of gaseous air pollutants is the
Gaussian, developed by Pasquill, in which gases dispersed in the atmosphere are assumed
to exhibit idea gas behaviour

Plume behaviour
The behaviour of a plume emitted from an elevated source such as a tall stack depends on
the degree of instability of the atmosphere and the prevailing wind turbulence.
Classification of plume behaviour
1. Looping: it occurs under super adiabatic conditions with light to moderate wind speeds
on a hot summer after noon when large scale thermal eddies are present. The eddies carry
portion of a plume to the ground level for short time periods, causing momentary high

18
surface concentration of pollutants near the stack. Thus the plume moves about vertically
in a spastic fashion and the exhaust gases disperse rapidly
2. Conning: It occurs under cloudy skies both during day and night, when the lapse rate is
essentially neutral. The plume shape is vertically symmetrical about the plume line and
the major part of the pollutant concentration is carried down -wind fairly far before
reaching the ground level.
3. Fanning: occurs when the plume is dispersed in the presence of very light winds as a
result of strong atmospheric inversions. The stable lapse rate suppresses the vertical
mixing, but not the horizontal mixing entirely. For high stacks, fanning is considered a
favourable meteorological condition because the plume does not contribute to ground
pollution.
4. Fumigation: here a stable layer of air lies a short distance above the release point of the
plume and the unstable air layer lies below the plume .This unstable layer of air causes the
pollutant to mix down -wind toward the ground in large lumps, but fortunately this
condition is usually of short duration lasting for about 30 minutes. Fumigation is favored
by clear skies and light winds, and it is more common in the summer seasons.
5. Lofting : The condition for lofting plume are the inverse of those for fumigation , when
the pollutants are emitted above the inverse layer , they are dispersed vigorously on the
up ward direction since the top of the inversion layer acts as a barrier to the movement of
the pollutants towards the ground .
6. Trapping: occurs when the plume effluent is caught between two inversion layers. The
diffusion of the effluent is severely restricted to the unstable layer between the two
unstable layers.

Definition of terms and scale conversion

• Air pollution: - concentration of foreign matter in air in excessive quantity which is
harmful to the health of man.
• Indoor air pollutions: - Pollutions from the housing made materials and living and
working activities of the house, such as: natural radiation-radon, domestic combustion-
coal gas, and human habits: tobacco smoking.
• Outdoor air pollution: - Pollutions from outdoor services and environmental mixings,
such as: transportation-automobiles, industries-refineries, atomic energy plant-nuclear,
and community activities-cleaning of streets.
• Acute effects: - with in twenty four hours of sudden exposure to polluted air illness
would occur.
• Delayed effect: - The cause and effect relationship of air pollution and chronic effects
on health is in a way difficult to prove due to long time contact and accumulation effect.
• Aerosols: - Small solid or liquid particles (fine drops or droplets) that are suspended in
air.
• Dust: - aerosols consist of particles in the solid phase.
• Smoke: - aerosols consist of particles in the solid and sometimes also liquid-phase and
the associated gases that result from combustion.
• Ash: - aerosols of the solid phase of smoke, particularly after it settles into a fine dust.
• Particulates: - Small particles, that travel in air and settles or lands on something.

19
• Fumes: - are poly dispersed fine aerosols consisting of solid particles that often
aggregate together, so that many little particulates may form one big particle.
• Inhalable fraction: - Particles less than 100 μm that can be inhaled into the respiratory
throat (trachea).
• Thoracic fraction: - Those particles below 20 μm that can penetrate into the lungs.
• Respirable range: - the greatest penetration and retention of particles is in the range
10.0 to 0.1 μm.
• Mist: - A cloud or dense collection of droplets suspended in air.
• Vapour: - The evaporated compound in the gas phase.
• Troposphere: - The first and lowest of the atmospheric layers is called the
“troposphere”.
• Stratosphere: - The second layer of air is called the “stratosphere”.
• Ionosphere: - Above the stratosphere is the “ionosphere” the top of which is the border
line space.
• Thermosphere:- This is a region of highly ionized gases, extending to about 1600 km.
• Mesosphere: - Above the stratosphere, or the middle layer.
• Wind: - Is simply air in motion

Unit of measurement
Concentrations of air pollutants are commonly expressed as the mass of pollutant per unit
volume of air mixture, as mg/m3, μg/m3, ng /m3. Concentration of gaseous pollutants may
also be expressed as volume of pollutant per million volumes of the air plus pollutant
mixture (ppm) where 1ppm= 0.0001 % by volume. It is sometimes necessary to convert
from volumetric units to mass per unit volume and vice versa. The relationship between
ppm and mg/m3 depends on the gas density, which in turn depends on:
• Temperature
• Pressure
• Molecular weight of the pollutant

UNIT SEVEN
EFFECTS OF SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND SELF-
PURIFICATION IN WATER BODIES
Point-source emissions: This type affects the immediate vicinity of the plant, but does not
usually involve atmospheric reactions to any great extent. Examples include lead in the
vicinity of a smelter, hydrogen sulfide from a sewer gas well, pesticides from agricultural
application, and concentrated fumes from a spill or tank rupture. Such emissions are
frequently the result of accidents, particularly related to transporting hazardous
substances by truck or train. Chemicals that are not regulated under usual air quality
standards are often called air toxics
Effects of Air Pollution -on human health
NOx, SO3, smog, particulates etc. Dizziness, Headache, Eye irritation

20
 Nosal irritation, Sore throat, Possibility of lung cancer & other lung diseases, Coughing &
shortness of breathe, Chest pains , Increase Cold Allergies , Increase mortality & mobility
rate.
High conc. of SOx, NOx, SPM etc. can cause Bronchitis & Asthma , Cause Cardiovascular
& Pulmonary diseases, Decrease O2 carrying capacity of blood, Heavy metals can cause
poisoning & damage liver & kidney

Effects of Air Pollution -on Plants

• SO2 –Bleaching of leaves, Necrosis (Killing of tissues)
• NO2 –Suppressed growth, bleaching of leaves
• O3 –Premature ageing, suppressed growth, necrosis, bleaching, collapse of leaf
• Fluoride –Necrosis at leaf tip
• PAN (Paroxyacyl Nitrate)/ PM Suppressed growth, silvering of lower leaf surface

Some of diseases:
*Bifacial Necrosis –Tissue killed
*Pigment Lesions-dark brown, black, purple, red spots on leaf
*Epinasty –sudden rapid growth
*Acute Injury –Leaf tissue damage
*Chronic Injury –Loss green pigment
*Chlorosis-Yellow Pattern
*Abscission –Dropping of leaves
*Necrosis – Killing / collapse of plant tissue

Effects of Air Pollution -on Property/ Mat.

*SO2 in presence of O2 & moisture is converted into H2SO4. This acid deposition on metal
parts of building roofs, railway tracks, bridges etc. cause corrosion
*H2SO4 – Deterioration & disfigure the building materials.
*Deterioration of leather &paper due to H2SO4
*Damage textile dyes & fibres
*Cracking of rubber tires & various electric insulation
*Soiling increase cost of cleaning shirts & other wears, windows, curtains, building
surfaces
*Damage protective coating & paints of the surface

Prevention and control of air pollution

(i) Indoor air pollution

Poor ventilation due to faulty design of buildings leads to pollution of the confined space.
Paints, carpets, furniture, etc. in rooms may give out volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Use of disinfectants, fumigants, etc. may release hazardous gases. In hospitals, pathogens
21
present in waste remain in the air in the form of spores. This can result in hospital
acquired infections and is an occupational health hazard. In congested areas, slums and
rural areas burning of firewood and biomass results in lot of smoke. Children and ladies
exposed to smoke may suffer from acute respiratory problems which include running
nose, cough, sore throat, lung infection, asthma, difficulty in breathing, noisy respiration
and wheezing.

(ii) Prevention and control of indoor air pollution

Use of wood and dung cakes should be replaced by cleaner fuels such as biogas, kerosene
or electricity. But supply of electricity is limited. Similarly kerosene is also limited.
Improved stoves for looking like smokeless chullahs have high thermal efficiency and
reduced emission of pollutants including smoke. The house designs should incorporate a
well ventilated kitchen. Use of biogas and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) need to be
encouraged. Those species of trees such as baval (Acacia nilotica) which are least smoky
should be planted and used. Charcoal is a comparatively cleaner fuel. Indoor pollution
due to decay of exposed kitchen waste can be reduced by covering the waste properly.
Segregation of waste, pre-treatment at source, sterilization of rooms will help in checking
indoor air pollution.

(iii) Prevention and control of industrial pollution

Industrial pollution can be greatly reduced by:
(a) use of cleaner fuels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) in power plants, fertilizer
plants etc. which is cheaper in addition to being environmentally friendly.
(b) employing environment friendly industrial processes so that emission of pollutants
and hazardous waste is minimized.
(c) installing devices which reduce release of pollutants.

Devices like filters, electrostatic precipitators, inertial collectors, scrubbers, gravel bed
filters or dry scrubbers are described below:
(i) Filters – Filters remove particulate matter from the gas stream. The medium of a filter
may be made of fibrous materials like cloth, granular material like sand, a rigid material
like screen, or any mat like felt pad. Bag house filtration system is the most common one
and is made of cotton or synthetic fibres ( for low temperatures) or glass cloth fabrics (for
higher temperature up to 290oC).
(ii) Electrostatic precipitators (ESP)- The emanating dust is charged with ions and the
ionized particulate matter is collected on an oppositely charged surface. The particles are
removed from the collection surface by occasional shaking or by rapping the surface. ESPs
are used in boilers, furnaces, and many other units of thermal power plants, cement
factories, steel plants, etc.
(iii) Inertial collectors – It works on the principle that inertia of SPM in a gas is higher than
its solvent and as inertia is a function of the mass of the particulate matter this device
22
collects heavier particles more efficiently. ‘Cyclone’ is a common inertial collector used in
gas cleaning plants.
(iv) Scrubbers – Scrubbers are wet collectors. They remove aerosols from a stream of gas
either by collecting wet particles on a surface followed by their removal, or else the
particles are wetted by a scrubbing liquid. The particles get trapped as they travel from
supporting gaseous medium across the interface to the liquid scrubbing medium.
Gaseous pollutants can be removed by absorption in a liquid using a wet scrubber and
depends on the type of the gas to be removed e.g. for removal of sulphur dioxide alkaline
solution is needed as it dissolves sulphur dioxide. Gaseous pollutants may be absorbed on
an activated solid surface like silica gel, alumina, carbon, etc. Silica gel can remove water
vapour. Condensation allows the recovery of many by products in coal and petroleum
processing industries from their liquid effluents.
Apart from the use of above mentioned devices, other control measures are
• increasing the height of chimneys.
• closing industries which pollute the environment.
• shifting of polluting industries away from cities and heavily populated areas.
• development and maintenance of green belt of adequate width.

(iv) Control of vehicular pollution

• The emission standards for automobiles have been set which if followed will reduce the
pollution. Standards have been set for the durability of catalytic converters which reduce
vehicular emission.
• In cities like Delhi, motor vehicles need to obtain Pollution Under Control (PUC)
certificate at regular intervals. This ensures that levels of pollutants emitted from vehicle
exhaust are not beyond the prescribed legal limits.
• The price of diesel is much cheaper than petrol which promotes use of diesel. To reduce
emission of sulphur dioxide, sulphur content in diesel has been reduced to 0.05%.
• Earlier lead in the form of tetraethyl lead was added in the petrol to raise octane level for
smooth running of engines. Addition of lead in petrol has been banned to prevent
emission of lead particles with the vehicular emission.

Global warming
What is global warming? The fate of solar energy when reached the earth. Absorption by
earth and natural greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, water vapor); Infrared radiation reflection
by earth’s crust; Infrared radiation absorption by the green house gases; Infrared radiation
retention by green house gases; Resulting in an acceptable level of temperature at the
earth at 150oC, Could have been 190oC less if the reflected heat from the earth escaped to
the space. Infrared Red absorption by green house gases as a function of concentration of
these gases. Anthropogenic (man made) “green house gases” and their sources:
1. CO2: fossil and bio-mass fuel burning, forest fire, etc.
2. N2O: N2 containing fertilizers processing, vehicles
23
 3. CH4: animal dung decomposition, waste landfills, wet lands, etc 4. CFCs: factories. 5.
CO2 and CFCs are main contributors to Infrared Red absorption: 6. 1980 UNEP IR
absorption contribution: 55%, 24%, 15% 6% by CO2, CFCs, CH4, Nitrous oxide,
respectively

Potential Health Effects Due to Global Warming

General points: - Average earth’s temperature variation: - 0.60C/past 100 years;
forecasted: 1-3.50 C/next 100 years
- (an increase of 10C/700 yrs versus today 10C/35 yrs).
- An increase of 20C would result events not seen before 125 000 years ago.
-Variations in climatically factors: wind velocity, rainfall, etc.
- Variations in the ability to respond to the effects: economics and susceptibility.

Effects: Direct and Indirect:

A/ Direct effects:
1. Thermal extreme effect: (heat waves) the skin, CNS and Circulatory system the most
affected: thermoregulation disturbance; heat stroke and exhaustion, decreased male
fertility, cerebro-vascular stroke, etc.
2. Effect on the respiratory organs: persons with chronic diseases like asthma, bronchitis,
cardiovascular are the most affected.
3. Weather instability and natural calamities: cyclones, land slides, draught, flooding, etc.

B/ Indirect effects:
1. Vector borne diseases: mosquitoes (malaria, yellow fever, rift valley fever); Tsetse fly
(African sleeping sickness); Fly (faeco-oral related diseases, onchocerciasis, leishmaniasis,
schistosomiasis.)
2. Waterborne diseases: due to water shortage & contamination
3. Sea-level rise: damages fresh water, affects soil salinity,
4. Agricultural productivity: • Reduced rainfall; increased pests; decreased soil fertility;
decreased farming land, etc. • Affects both staple foods & horticulture harvesting; and
animal husbandry.
5. Food shortages and malnutrition;
6. Air pollution impact: increased pollen; concentration of pollutants;
7. Impacts to socio-economic development.

OZONE DEPLETION
Identity: found in stratosphere in nature as O3; its detection in troposphere (ground level)
is an indicator of pollution. Its role:
Solar radiation: 55% IR; 40% visible light; 5% UV. Acts as a UV protective blanket (layer).
UV radiation includes three bands: UVA (400-320nm); UVB (320-280nm); UVC (280-
200nm), far UV (< 50nm). It blocks nearly all UVC, half UVB, and small part UVC.
24
Mechanism for UV blocking:
Equilibrium in nature between destruction and production of O3. O2 → O+O (energized
by UVC) 10+O2→ O3 + IR (production of Ozone) O3 + UV → O2+O: (destruction of Ozone
as energized by UVB)
What causes Ozone depletion? • Human activity: release of halogenated hydrocarbons:
CFCs; CCI4; • Are used as refrigerants, propellants, solvents, foam production, etc. • Are
stable under normal conditions in the troposphere.
• These volatile chemicals become active with the presence of UV to react with O3;
The reaction:
1. CCI2F2 + UV → CCIF2 + CI- 2. CI- + O3 → CIO + O2 3. CIO +O→ CI- + O2 4. Net:
O3+O→2O2 (Chlorine atom acts as a catalyst).
Potential adverse effects: • UVC is absorbed by O 3, (does not reach the earth); • UVB and
UVA reach the earth.
A/ Direct effect:
1. Skin damage and cancer:
• Acute exposure: thermal extremes due to UV: sun burn; skin lesions;
• Cumulative (chronic) exposure: skin cancer in fair skinned humans;
• UNEP estimates: 5% skin cancer increase during 2070’s (extra 100 cases of skin cancer
per million population per year) in Europeans living at around latitude 45 degrees N)
2. Effects on eye: by UVB; cornea, lens, and retina: cataract (snow blindness): UNEP
estimates: 1.75 million additional cataract cases worldwide each year due to 10% loss of
ozone.
3. Effects on immune system
• Skin sensitivity; animal tests; possible effects.
B/ Indirect effects:
• Effects on plants: impairs photosynthesis & UVB; farm productivity declining
• Effects on aquatic system: Phytoplankton & UVB; aquatic farm productivity declining.
CO2 take up will be diminished.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE TO OZONE DEPLETION

1. The Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer in 1987, and its
amendments in London (1990) and Copenhagen (1992);
Issues in the protocol:
• Ozone depletion is actually observed;
• Few products were involved in the depletion: CFCs, methyl chloroform, methyl
bromide.
• Few producers were involved.
2. A climate Convention signed in RIO De-Janioro in June 1992; (Agenda 21).
3. The Kyoto (Japan) protocol signed in March 1998;
4. A legal binding ratification by protocol signatories is underway
Perspectives of operating in harmony with climate and weather
25
• Biometeorology and bioclimatology: for climate changes study and assessment;
• Early warning systems;
• Building designs and Urban planning;
• Disaster mitigation planning;
• Environment and sustainable development.

ACID RAIN
Acid Deposition Rain fall by nature is slightly acidic due to the tendency to each
chemically with atmospheric CO2. Forming a weak solution of carbonic acid with PH 5.6,
by definition any precipitation (ppt) measuring less than 5.6 on the pH scale is considered
acid rain. CO2+H2O=====H2CO3=====H +HCO3 – PH=log 10[1/H +]
Carbonic acid created by CO2 in air
• Volcanic emission • Biological decomposition • Chlorine & sulfates from ocean spray
can drop the pH of ppt below 5.6 while, alkaline dust can raise the pH above 7
Acid rain is only one form in which acid deposition occurs. Fog, snow, mist, and dew also
trap and deposit atmospheric contaminants. Furthermore, fall out of dry sulfate, nitrate,
and chloride particles can account for as much as half of the acidic deposition in some
areas.
Extent of the problem
A factor that complicates the acid rain problem and makes finding a solution difficult is its
regional and continental scale. Most oxides of sulfur and nitrogen are emitted from tall
stacks at power plants in order to increase the dispersion and dilution of the stack gases.
This may protect nearby communities from the immediate effect of air pollution, discharge
from tall chimneys allows the pollutants to be carried for long distance in the atmosphere.
The pollution in its effect is” air mailed” to other regions and even to other continents. It is
estimated that 50% of the acid rain in eastern Canada comes from the USA, and about 25
% of the acid rain in the New England originates from Canadian sources. In addition, acid
rain in Norway is believed to come mostly from industrial areas in Great Britain and
continental Europe.
Formation of acid rain
SO2------H2SO4 62%
NO2-------HNO3 32%
Cl---------HCl 6%
In urban areas, where transportation is the major sources of pollution, nitric acid is equal
to or slightly greater than sulfuric acid in the air.

Environmental effect of Acid Rain

1. Damage to aquatic life
Reproduction is the most sensitive stage in the life cycle, Eggs and fry of many fish species
are killed at pH 5.0 Disrupt the food chain by killing: Plants Aquatic Insects Invertebrate
on which fish dependent on food
26
At pH level less than 5
• Adult fish die
• Trout, salmon
• Game fish

Acidity
• Alters body chemistry
• Destroy gills prevent oxygen up take
• Causes bone decalcification
• Disrupt muscle contraction
1. Phytoplankton population are reduced, and many common water, dowelling
invertebrates such as may flies and stone flies cannot survive when the pH falls below 5.5
Acid dead lakes have pH below about 3.5

2. Deterioration of buildings and monuments. Most glorious buildings and works of art
are being destroyed by air pollution:
• Smoke and soot coat buildings
• Paintings
• Textiles
• Lime stone and marble are destroyed by atmospheric acid at an alarming rate

Air pollution also damages

• Ordinary buildings
• Corroding steel
• Weakens buildings, roads, bridges
• Rubber deterioration

3. Mobilization of toxic metal. Acid rain can cause lightly bound toxic metals such as
aluminium which can kill fish by damaging their gills and causing asphyxiation. It also
cause leaching of heavy metals: Hg, Cd in to drinking water and results in Bio
accumulation

4. Damage to forest productivity: In 1983 in Germany some 34 % of the forest was affected
and in 1985, more than 4 billion hectares (50%) were reported to be in the state of decline
Show evidence of:
• Root necrosis • Lack of seeding growth • Premature tree death • Growth reduction •

Defoliation
High altitude forests are subjected to especially intense doses of these acids because clouds
saturated with pollutants tend to hang on, mountain tops, bathing forests in a toxic soap
for days even weeks at a time.
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5. Visibility reduction
Particulates in the atmosphere reduce the visibility due to scattering and absorption of
light. The dust particles of 2000/cm3 can obscure a mountain at 75 km; while a
concentration of NO2 of 20 ppm would probably reduce the visibility to 1 km. NO2 causes
the sky to appear brownish in color in addition to reducing visibility.
A relationship between the concentration of the particulate in the atmosphere, and the
visibility can be developed as follows Lv = 5.2ρr/kc
Where: Lv Visibility K scattering area ratio C particulate concentration ρ Particle density r
particle radius

WATER POLLUTION
Addition or presence of undesirable substances in water is called water pollution.
Water pollution is one of the most serious environmental problems. Water pollution is
caused by a variety of human activities such as industrial, agricultural and domestic.
Agricultural run-off laden with excess fertilizers and pesticides, industrial effluents with
toxic substances and sewage water with human and animal wastes pollute our water
thoroughly. Natural sources of pollution of water are soil erosion, leaching of minerals
from rocks and decaying of organic matter. Rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, estuaries and
ground water sources may be polluted by point or non-point sources. When pollutants are
discharged from a specific location such as a drain pipe carrying industrial effluents
discharged directly into a water body it represents point source pollution. In contrast non-
point sources include discharge of pollutants from diffused sources or from a larger area
such as run off from agricultural fields, grazing lands, construction sites, abandoned
mines and pits, roads and streets.

Sources of water pollution

Water pollution is the major source of water borne diseases and other health problems.
Sediments brought by runoff water from agricultural fields and discharge of untreated or
partially treated sewage and industrial effluents, disposal of fly ash or solid waste into or
close to a water body cause severe problems of water pollution. Increased turbidity of
water because of sediments reduces penetration of light in water that reduces
photosynthesis by aquatic plants.

(i) Pollution due to pesticides and inorganic chemicals

• Pesticides like DDT and others used in agriculture may contaminate water bodies.
Aquatic organisms take up pesticides from water get into the food chain (aquatic in this
case) and move up the food chain. At higher trophic level they get concentrated and may
reach the upper end of the food chain.
• Metals like lead, zinc, arsenic, copper, mercury and cadmium in industrial waste waters
adversely affect humans and other animals. Arsenic pollution of ground water has been
reported from West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Western U.P. Consumption of such arsenic
28
polluted water leads to accumulation of arsenic in the body parts like blood, nails and
hairs causing skin lesions, rough skin, dry and thickening of skin and ultimately skin
cancer.
• Pollution of water bodies by mercury causes Minamata disease in humans and dropsy in
fishes. Lead causes displexia, cadmium poisoning causes Itai – Itai disease etc.
• Oil pollution of sea occurs from leakage from ships, oil tankers, rigs and pipelines.
Accidents of oil tankers spill large quantity of oil in seas which kills marine birds and
adversely affects other marine life and beaches.

(ii) Thermal pollution

Power plants- thermal and nuclear, chemical and other industries use lot of water (about
30 % of all abstracted water) for cooling purposes and the used hot water is discharged
into rivers, streams or oceans. The waste heat from the boilers and heating processes
increases the temperature of the cooling water. Discharge of hot water may increase the
temperature of the receiving water by 10 to 15 °C above the ambient water temperature.
This is thermal pollution. Increase in water temperature decreases dissolved oxygen in
water which adversely affects aquatic life. Unlike terrestrial ecosystems, the temperature
of water bodies remain steady and does not change very much. Accordingly, aquatic
organisms are adopted to a uniform steady temperature of environment and any
fluctuation in water temperature severely affects aquatic plants and animals. Hence
discharge of hot water from power plants adversely affects aquatic organisms. Aquatic
plants and animals in the warm tropical water live dangerously close to their upper limit
of temperature, particularly during the warm summer months. It requires only a slight
deviation from this limit to cause a thermal stress to these organisms.
Discharge of hot water in water body affects feeding in fishes, increases their metabolism
and affects their growth. Their swimming efficiency declines. Running away from
predators or chasing prey becomes difficult. Their resistance to diseases and parasites
decreases. Due to thermal pollution biological diversity is reduced. One of the best
methods of reducing thermal pollution is to store the hot water in cooling ponds, allow the
water to cool before releasing into any receiving water body

Ground water pollution

Lot of people around the world depend on ground water for drinking, domestic,
industrial and agricultural uses. Generally groundwater is a clean source of water.
However, human activities such as improper sewage disposal, dumping of farm yard
manures and agricultural chemicals, industrial effluents are causing pollution of ground
water.
Eutrophication
• ‘Eu’ means well or healthy and ‘trophy’ means nutrition. The enrichment of water
bodies with nutrients causes eutrophication of the water body.

29
Discharge of domestic waste, agricultural surface runoff, land drainage and industrial
effluents in a water body leads to rapid nutrients enrichment in a water body. The
excessive nutrient enrichment in a water body encourages the growth of algae duckweed,
water hyacinth, phytoplankton and other aquatic plants. The biological demand for
oxygen (BOD) increases with the increase in aquatic organisms. As more plants grow and
die, the dead and decaying plants and organic matter acted upon by heterotrophic
protozoans and bacteria, deplete the water of dissolved oxygen (DO). Decrease in DO
result in sudden death of large population of fish and other aquatic organisms including
plants, releasing offensive smell and makes the water unfit for human use. The sudden
and explosive growth of phytoplankton and algae impart green colour to the water is
known as water bloom, or “algal blooms”. These phytoplankton release toxic substances
in water that causes sudden death of large population of fishes. This phenomenon of
nutrient enrichment of a water body is called eutrophication. Human activities are mainly
responsible for the eutrophication of a growing number of lakes and water bodies in the
country

Methods for control of water pollution and water recycling

Control water pollution
Waste water from domestic or industrial sources or from garbage dumps is generally
known as sewage. It may also contain rain water and surface runoff. The sewage water can
be treated to make it safe for disposal into water bodies like rivers, lakes etc. The treatment
involves three stages: primary, secondary and tertiary. This includes 1. Sedimentation 2.
Coagulation /flocculation, 3. Filtration, 4. Disinfection, 5. Softening and 6. Aeration. The
first four steps are of primary treatment. The first three steps are involved in primary
treatment remove suspended particulate matter. Secondary treatment removes organic
solids, left out after primary treatment, through their microbial decomposition. Effluents
after secondary treatment may be clean but contain large amounts of nitrogen, in form of
ammonia, nitrates and phosphorous which can cause problem of eutrophication upon
their discharge into a receiving water body such as river, lake or pond. The tertiary
treatment is meant to remove nutrients, disinfect for removing pathogenic bacteria, and
aeration removes hydrogen sulphide and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and make
water healthy and fit for aquatic organisms. This treatment of waste water or sewage is
carried out in effluent treatment plants especially built for this purpose. The residue
obtained from primary treatment one known as sludge.

Water recycling
With increasing population the requirement for water is increasing rapidly. However, the
availability of water is limited but an ever increasing water withdrawal from different
sources such as rivers, lakes and ground water is depleting these sources and deteriorating
their water quality. Therefore, it is essential to utilize the available water with maximum
economy. This involves recycling of waste water for certain uses with or without
30
treatment. Recycling refers to the use of waste-water by the original user prior to the
discharge either to a treatment system or to a receiving water body. Thus the waste water
is recovered and repetitively recycled with or without treatment by the same user.

Control of water pollution

The following measures can be adopted to control water pollution:
(a) The water requirement should be minimized by altering the techniques involved.
(b) Water should be reused with or without treatment.
(c) Recycling of water after treatment should be practiced to the maximum extent possible.
(d) The quantity of waste water discharge should be minimized.

NOISE POLLUTION
Noise is one of the most pervasive pollutant. A musical clock may be nice to listen during
the day, but may be an irritant during sleep at night. Noise by definition is “sound
without value” or “any noise that is unwanted by the recipient”. Noise in industries such
as stone cutting and crushing, steel forgings , loudspeakers, shouting by hawkers selling
their wares, movement of heavy transport vehicles, railways and airports leads to
irritation and an increased blood pressure, loss of temper, decrease in work efficiency, loss
of hearing which may be first temporary but can become permanent in the noise stress
continues. It is therefore of utmost importance that excessive noise is controlled. Noise
level is measured in terms of decibels (dB). W.H.O. (World Health Organization) has
prescribed optimum noise level as 45 dB by day and 35 dB by night. Anything above 80 dB
is hazardous. The table10.4 gives the noise intensity in some of the common activities.
Sources of some noises and their intensity
Source Intensity
Quiet Conversation 20-30dB
Radio Music 50-60 dB
Loud Conversation 60 dB
Traffic Noise 60-90 dB
Lawn Mower 60-80 dB
Heavy Truck 90-100 dB
Aircraft Noise 90-120 dB
Space Vehicle Launch 140-179 dB
Beat Music 120 dB
Motor Cycle 105 dB
Jet Engine 140 dB

Sources of noise pollution

Noise pollution is a growing problem. All human activities contribute to noise pollution to
varying extent. Sources of noise pollution are many and may be located indoors or
outdoors.
31
Indoor sources include noise produced by radio, television, generators, electric fans, air
coolers, air conditioners, different home appliances, and family conflict. Noise pollution is
more in cities due to a higher concentration of population and industries and activities
such as transportation. Noise like other pollutants is a by-product of industrialization,
urbanization and modern civilization.
Outdoor sources of noise pollution include indiscriminate use of loudspeakers, industrial
activities, automobiles, rail traffic, aeroplanes and activities such as those at market place,
religious, social, and cultural functions, sports and political rallies. In rural areas farm
machines, pump sets are main sources of noise pollution. During festivals, marriage and
many other occasions, use of fire crackers contribute to noise pollution.

Effects of noise pollution

Noise pollution is highly annoying and irritating. Noise disturbs sleep, causes
hypertension (high blood pressure), emotional problems such as aggression, mental
depression and annoyance. Noise pollution adversely affects efficiency and performance
of individuals.

Prevention and control of noise pollution

Following steps can be taken to control or minimize noise pollution
• Road traffic noise can be reduced by better designing and proper maintenance of
vehicles.
• Noise abatement measures include creating noise mounds, noise attenuation walls and
well maintained roads and smooth surfacing of roads.
• Retrofitting of locomotives, continuously welded rail track, use of electric locomotives or
deployment of quieter rolling stock will reduce noises emanating from trains.
• Air traffic noise can be reduced by appropriate insulation and introduction of noise
regulations for take-off and landing of aircrafts at the airport.
• Industrial noises can be reduced by sound proofing equipment like generators and
areas producing lot of noise.
• Power tools, very loud music and land movers, public functions using loudspeakers, etc
should not be permitted at night. Use of horns, alarms, refrigeration units, etc. is to be
restricted. Use of fire crackers which are noisy and cause air pollution should be restricted.
• A green belt of trees is an efficient noise absorber.

UNIT EIGHT
METHODS OF POLLUTION CONTROL INCLUDING VECTOR CONTROL
A vector may be any arthropod (insect or arachnid) or animal which carries and transmits
infectious pathogens directly or indirectly from an infected animal to a human or from an
infected human to another human. This can occur via biting (e.g. mosquitoes, tsetse flies),
penetration (e.g. guinea worm), or the gastrointestinal tract (e.g. contaminated food or
drink).
32
Biological vector: The pathogens (parasites or arboviruses) in the infested host, are
ingested by the vector where they undergo change and multiplication in order to mature
to an infective stage. This usually takes several days before they are capable of being
transmitted to a new host (e.g. human malaria parasite).

Mechanical vectors: transmit diseases by transporting the causative agent from

contaminated material (e.g. faeces) on their feet or mouth parts and then spreading the
pathogens or parasites on to human food, drink, faces or eyes.

Arthropods are small animals with jointed legs, which include insects (class Insecta − e.g.
mosquitoes, flies), arachnids (class Arachnida − e.g. ticks, and mites), crustaceans (e.g.
Cyclops, guinea worms), and centipedes/millipedes; all of which differ in respect of their
antennae, wings, or legs

Main vectors often involved in vector-borne disease epidemics

Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are a large arthropod group with 3,100 species occurring in the world. Only
about a hundred of them are vectors of human disease. Mosquitoes can be divided into
two subfamily groups;
1. The anopheline subfamily including the most important mosquito genus Anopheles
which is responsible for transmitting malaria. Anopheles are also involved in transmission
of filariasis in West Africa.
2. The culicine subfamily where the important genera Aedes, Culex, and Mansonia belong.
Several diseases are transmitted by them such as yellow fever, and dengue by Aedes,
encephalitis virus by Culex. All of these mosquitoes are also involved in the transmission
of filariasis

Non-biting flies Domestic flies, including the housefly are probably the most widespread
insects in the world and certainly the one most closely associated with man. Like
mosquitoes they belong to the order Diptera. All of these species, Musca domestica
(Housefly), Musca sorbens (Facefly), and Chrysomya spp. (Blowfly) are considered to be
of medical importance because they transmit diseases by transporting pathogens between
people or from faeces to food causing diarrhoeal diseases and trachoma.
The life cycle of the fly consists of four stages: egg, maggot (larva), pupa and adult. The
female lays her eggs in moist, organic material. These eggs hatch after 8 to 48 hours and
become maggots which thrive on organic matter, animal or human excrement. After a few
days to several weeks, depending on the temperature, quantity of food, and the species,
the maggot moves underground where it becomes a pupa. It takes 2 to 10 days for the
maggot to be transformed into an adult within the pupa. The female rarely lays more than
100 to 150 eggs in each batch, 4 to 5 of which are produced during her lifetime (Busvine,

33
1980). Adult flies have a lifespan of one to two months depending upon the species and
life conditions.

Lice
Three species/subspecies of human louse occur in the world. They are all, male and
female, blood-sucking ectoparasites. The body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus), the
head louse (Pediculus capitis) and the pubic or socalled crab louse (Pthitrus pubis) have
approximately the same biology. Three stages constitute their life cycle; egg, nymph, and
adult. Only the body louse is a vector of disease (typhus). The others do not transmit
disease but may cause irritation and severe itching. Lice are spread by close contact
between humans.

Mites
Mites belong to the order Acarina (Class Arachnida). There are over a thousand species
which are parasitic on mammals, birds, and some species on humans. Two species of
human mite are of medical importance; the biting mites called "chiggers" (Trombiculid
mites), and scabies mites (Sarcoptes scabeie). Scabies mites are common in human
settlements such as refugee camps.
Mites have eight legs and a body with little or no segmentation. They are very small, 0.5
mm to 2 mm in length. In most species, their life cycle consists of four stages; egg, larva,
nymph and adult. Transmission of scabies mites between humans occurs by direct contact.

Fleas
The fleas, both male and female are blood-feeding and belong to the order Siphonaptera.
Around 3,000 species occur worldwide, but only a dozen species take a blood-meal on
humans. Rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) and human fleas (Pulex irritans) are the most
important from a medical viewpoint. They jump from the ground to the lower parts of
human legs, but can bite them anywhere on the body. Fleas are able to survive more than
one month without having a meal and their lifespan may reach 17 months while taking
regular blood meals (Sabatinelli, 1997).

Rodents
Rats are located in almost all human communities. Three species of medical importance
have been found and may present a danger to the human population. They belong to the
family Muridae, and are Rattus norvegicus, Rattus rattus and Mus musculus. All are very
close to man, and found in rural and urban areas.

A solid waste is classified as a hazardous waste and is subject to regulation if it meets any
of the following four conditions:
The waste is a characteristic hazardous waste, exhibiting any of the four characteristics of
a hazardous waste: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity (see Section 11.4
34
Hazardous Waste Characterization). The waste is specifically listed as hazardous in one of
the four tables in Part 261, Subpart D of the RCRA regulations: Hazardous Wastes from
Nonspecific Sources, Hazardous Wastes From Specific Sources, Acute Hazardous Wastes,
or Toxic Wastes. The waste is a mixture of a listed hazardous waste and a non-hazardous
waste. The waste is declared hazardous by the generator of the waste. This is true even if
the waste is not hazardous by any other definition and was declared hazardous in error.

Acute hazardous wastes are defined as fatal to humans in low doses, or capable of causing
or contributing to serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible illness. They are subject
to more rigorous controls than other listed hazardous wastes.

Toxic hazardous wastes are defined as containing chemicals posing substantial hazards to
human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or
disposed of. Scientific studies show that they have toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, or
teratogenic effects on humans or other life forms.

Sources of Hazardous Waste

Chemical Manufacturing
• Spent solvents and still bottoms White spirits, kerosene, benzene, xylene, ethyl benzene,
toluene, isopropanol, toluene diisocyanate, ethanol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone,
tetrahydrofuran, methylene chloride, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, trichloroethylene
• Ignitable wastes not otherwise specified (NOS)
• Strong acid/alkaline wastes Ammonium hydroxide, hydrobromic acid, hydrochloric
acid, potassium hydroxide, nitric acid, sulfuric acid, chromic acid, phosphoric acid
• Other reactive wastes Sodium permanganate, organic peroxides, sodium perchlorate,
potassium perchlorate, potassium permanganate, hypochlorite, potassium sulfide, sodium
sulfide
• Emission control dusts and sludges
• Spent catalysts

Construction
• Ignitable paint wastes Ethylene dichloride, benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, methyl
isobutyl ketone, methyl ethyl ketone, chloro-benzene
• Ignitable wastes not otherwise specified (NOS)
• Spent solvents Methyl chloride, carbon tetrachloride, trichlorotrifluoroethane, toluene,
xylene, kerosene, mineral spirits, acetone
• Strong acid/alkaline wastes Ammonium hydroxide, hydrobromic acid, hydrochloric
acid, hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, potassium hydroxide, sodium
hydroxide, sulfuric acid

Metal Manufacturing
35
• Spent solvents and solvent still bottoms Tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene,
methylene chloride, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, carbon tetrachloride, toluene, benzene,
trichlorofluoroethane, chloroform, trichlorofluoromethane, acetone, dichlorobenze, xylene,
kerosene, white spirits, butyl alcohol
• Strong acid/alkaline wastes Ammonium hydroxide, hydrobromic acid, hydrochloric
acid, hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, nitrates, potassium hydroxide,
sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, perchloric acid, acetic acid
• Spent plating wastes
• Heavy metal wastewater sludges
• Cyanide wastes
• Ignitable wastes not otherwise specified (NOS)
• Other reactive wastes Acetyl chloride, chromic acid, sulfides, hypochlorites, organic
peroxides, perchlorates, permanganates
• Used oils

Paper Industry • Halogenated solvents Carbon tetrachloride, methylene chloride,

tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, mixed spent halogenated
solvents
• Corrosive wastes Corrosive liquids, corrosive solids, ammonium hydroxide,
hydrobromic acid, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid,
potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid
• Paint wastes Combustible liquid, flammable liquid, ethylene dichloride, chlorobenzene,
methyl ethyl ketone, paint waste with heavy metals
• Solvents Petroleum distillate

Characteristics of Hazardous Waste: Ignitability

Ignitability is the characteristic used to define as hazardous those wastes that could cause
a fire during transport, storage, or disposal. Examples of ignitable wastes include waste
oils and used solvents.

Characteristics of Hazardous Waste: Corrosivity

Corrosivity, as indicated by pH, was chosen as an identifying characteristic of a hazardous
waste because wastes with high or low pH can react dangerously with other wastes or
cause toxic contaminants to migrate from certain wastes. Examples of corrosive wastes
include acidic wastes and used pickle liquor from steel manufacture. Steel corrosion is a
prime indicator of a hazardous waste since wastes capable of corroding steel can escape
from drums and liberate other wastes
Characteristics of Hazardous Waste: Reactivity
Reactivity was chosen as an identifying characteristic of a hazardous waste because
unstable wastes can pose an explosive problem at any stage of the waste management
cycle. Examples of reactive wastes include water from TNT operations and used cyanide
36
Characteristics of Hazardous Waste: Toxicity
The test, toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), is designed to identify wastes
likely to leach hazardous concentrations of particular toxic constitutents into the
groundwater as a result of improper management. During the TCLP, constituents are
extracted from the waste to stimulate the leaching actions that occur in landfills. If the
concentration of the toxic constituent exceeds the regulatory limit, the waste is classified as
hazardous.

EFFECTS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE

Human Health Hazards
Possible effects on human and environmental health also span a broad spectrum. The
nearly uninhibited movement, activity, and reactivity of hazardous chemicals in the
atmosphere are well established, and movement from one medium to another is evident.
Hazardous wastes may enter the body through ingestion, inhalation, dermal absorption,
or puncture wounds. Human health hazards occur because of the chemical and physical
nature of the waste, and its concentration and quantity; the impact also depends on the
duration of exposure. Adverse effects on humans range from minor temporary physical
irritation, dizziness, headaches, and nausea to long-term disorders, cancer or death. For
example, the organic solvent carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is a central nerve system
depressant as well as an irritant and can cause irreversible liver or kidney damage.

Site Safety
Transportation spills and other industrial process or storage accidents account for some
hazardous waste releases. Such releases can result in fires, explosions, toxic vapors, and
contamination of groundwater used for drinking.
Danger arises from improper handling, storage, and disposal practices. At hazardous
waste sites, fires and explosions may result from investigative or remedial activities such
as mixing incompatible contents of drums or from introduction of an ignition source, such
as a spark from equipment. A site safety plan is needed to establish policies and
procedures for protecting workers and personnel during clean-up and day-to-day waste-
handling activities.

Environmental Contamination
Hazardous waste disposers need to understand the potential toxic effects of these wastes
and realize how strictly the wastes must be contained. Dangerous chemicals often migrate
from uncontrolled sites, percolating from holding ponds and pits into underlying
groundwater, then flowing into lakes, streams, and wetlands. Produce and livestock in
turn become contaminated, then enter the food chain. Hazardous chemicals then build up,
or bio-accumulate, when plants, animals, and people consume contaminated food and
water. Most groundwater originates as surface water. Great quantities of land-deposited
37
hazardous wastes evaporate into the atmosphere, runoff to surface waters, then percolate
to ground waters . Atmospheric and surface water waste releases commingle with other
releases or are lost to natural processes, but groundwater contamination may remain
highly concentrated, relatively localized, and persistent for decades or centuries. Although
current quantities of waste are being reduced, any additional releases together with
previously released materials will continue contaminating aquifers in many areas, and
many groundwater supplies are now impaired.

HEALTH EFFECTS OF SELECTED HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES

Chemical Source Health Effects
Pesticides
DDT Insecticides Cancer; damage to liver, embryos, bird
BHC Insecticides eggs Cancer, embryo damage
Petrochemicals Headaches, nausea, loss of muscle
benzene Solvents, pharmaceuticals and coordination, leukemia, damage to bone
detergents marrow
Lung and liver cancer, depression of
vinyl chloride Plastics central nervous system, suspected
embryotoxin

Other Organic Herbicides, waste incineration Cancer, birth defects, skin disease
Chemicals Electronics, hydraulic fluid, Skin damage, possible gastro-intestinal
DIOXIN damage, fluorescent lights possibly
PCBs cancer-causing
Heavy Metals Paint, gasoline Neurotoxic; causes headaches,
LEAD irritability, mental impairment in
children; brain, liver, and kidney
CADMIUM Zinc, batteries, fertilizer damage
Cancer in animals, damage to liver and
kidneys
Source: World Resources Institute and International Institute for Environment and
Development, 1987; World Resources 1987,(New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, pp.

UNIT NINE
MANAGEMENT OF SOLID WASTES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE
ENVIRONMENT
Types of Waste
(i) Medical waste
(ii) Municipal solid waste
(iii) Hazardous waste
(iv) Radioactive waste : Spent fuel High-level Low-level Uranium mill tailings

38
(v) Industrial waste: Manufacturing Mining Agriculture Coal combustion Oil and gas
production
Sources and Examples of MSW
Residential, including single and multiple-family houses
Nondurable paper items (magazines, newspapers, advertising flyers), plastic and glass
bottles, aluminum and steel cans, packaging, food wastes, yard wastes
Institutional, including schools, hospitals, prisons, and nursing homes
Food wastes, paper (classrooms and offices), disposable tableware, napkins, paper towels
from restrooms and yard trimmings
Commercial, including restaurants, office buildings, and stores
Food wastes, paper products from offices, restrooms and serving tables, disposable
tableware, corrugated and paperboard products, yard wastes
Industrial packaging and administrative wastes
Wooden pallets, office paper, corrugated and paperboard products, plastic film and food
wastes (from cafeterias)
Solid waste can be classified into different types, depending on their source; household
waste is generally classified as municipal waste; industrial waste as hazardous waste, and
biomedical waste or hospital waste as infectious waste. The term ''solid waste'' means any
garbage, refuse, or sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or
air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid,
semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining,
and agricultural operations (US Law-Solid Waste Act 2, 1999).The term ''disposal'' means
the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste
or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such solid wastes, hazardous
wastes, or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or
discharged into any waters, including ground waters, from community activities (US Law-
Solid Waste Act 2, 1999).
Solid waste disposal sites are found on the outskirts of the urban areas, turning into the
child sources of contamination due to the incubation and proliferation of flies, mosquitoes,
and rodents; that, in turn, are disease transmitters that affect population's health, which
has its organic defences in a formative and creative state. The said situation produces
gastrointestinal, dermatological, respiratory, genetic, and several other kind of infectious
diseases. Consequently, dumping sites have a very high economic and social cost in the
public health services, and have not yet been estimated by governments, industries, and
families.
The group at risk from the unscientific disposal of solid waste include – the population in
areas where there is no proper waste disposal method, especially the pre-school children;
waste workers; and workers in facilities producing toxic, and infectious material. Other
high-risk groups include the population living close to a waste dump and those whose
water supply has become contaminated, either due to waste dumping or leakage from
landfill sites. Uncollected solid waste also increases risk of injury and infection.
39
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOLID WASTES
Corrosive: these are wastes that include acids or bases that are capable of corroding metal
containers, e.g. tanks
Ignitability: this is waste that can create fires under certain condition, e.g. waste oils and
solvents
Reactive: these are unstable in nature, they cause explosions, toxic fumes when heated.
Toxicity: waste which are harmful or fatal when ingested or absorb.

SOLID WASTE TREATMENT

Current treatment strategies are directed towards reducing the amount of solid waste that
needs to be landfilled, as well as recovering and utilizing the materials present in the
discarded wastes as a resource to the largest possible extent. Different methods are used
for treatment of solid waste and the choice of proper method depends upon refuse
characteristics, land area available and disposal cost they are as follows
* Incineration * Compaction * Pyrolysis * gasification *composting

a. Incineration It is a controlled combustion process for burning solid wastes in presence

of excess air (oxygen) at high temperature of about 1000 oC and above to produce gases
and residue containing non-combustible material. One of the most attractive features of
the incineration process is that it can be used to reduce the original volume of combustible
MSW by 80– 90%.
b. Compaction The waste is compacted or compressed. It also breaks up large or fragile
items of waste. This process is conspicuous in the feed at the back end of many garbage
collection vehicles deposit refuse at bottom of slope for best compaction and control of
blowing litter.
c. Pyrolysis is defined as thermal degradation of waste in the absence of air to produce
char, pyrolysis oil and syngas, e.g. the conversion of wood to charcoal also it is defined as
destructive distillation of waste in the absence of oxygen. External source of heat is
employed in this process. Because most organic substances are thermally unstable they
can upon heating in an oxygen-free atmosphere be split through a combination of thermal
cracking and condensation reactions into gaseous, liquid and solid fraction.
d. Gasification is a process in which partial combustion of MSW is carried out in the
presence of oxygen, but in lesser amount than that is required for complete combustion, to
generate a combustible gas (fuel gas) rich in carbon monoxide and hydrogen e.g. the
conversion of coal into town gas. When a gasifier is operated at atmospheric pressure with
air as the oxidant, the end products of the gasification process are a low-energy gas
typically containing (by volume) 20% CO, 15% H2, 10% CO2 and 2% CH4.
e. Composting is the most responsible technical solution for many developing countries
especially, where the climate is arid and the soil is in serious need of organic supplements.
The composting process usually follows 2 basic steps which may be preceded or followed

40
by pre- or post treatments (crushing, sorting, humidification, mixing with other waste,
etc…)

WASTE DISPOSAL
Landfills:- Landfilling is the most simple and economical measure as far as natural
decomposition occurs at the disposal site.
Unscientific and ordinary Landfilling is the common practice for solid waste disposal in
many developing countries
Sanitary Landfills:- Sanitary Landfilling is a process of dumping of MSW in a scientifically
designed area spreading waste in thin layers, compacting to the smallest practicable
volume and covering with soil on daily basis. The methane (rich biogas) is produced due
to anaerobic decomposition of organic matters in solid waste
Underground injection wells:-waste are injected under pressure into a steel and concrete-
encased shafts placed deep in the earth.
Waste piles:- it is accumulations of insoluble solid, non flowing hazard waste. Piles serves
as temporary or final disposal
Land treatment:- it is a process by which solid waste, such as sludge from wastes is
applied onto or incorporated into the soil surface.
CAUSES OF INCREASE IN SOLID WASTE
• Population growth • Increase in industrials manufacturing • Urbanization
• Modernization
Modernization, technological advancement and increase in global population created
rising in demand for food and other essentials. This has resulted to rise in the amount of
waste being generated daily by each household .
ADVERSE EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGANISM DUE TO SOLID WASTE
• Populations in areas where there is no proper waste treatment method.
• Children
• Waste workers
• Populations living close to waste dump
• Animals
SOURCES OF HUMAN EXPOSURES
The group at risk from the unscientific disposal of solid waste include – the population in
areas where there is no proper waste disposal method, especially Pre-school children,
Waste workers, Workers in facilities producing toxic and infectious material. Other high-
risk group includes population living close to a waste dump and those, whose water
supply has become contaminated either due to waste dumping or leakage from landfill
sites. Uncollected solid waste also increases risk of injury, and infection.
POINTS OF CONTACT TO LIVING ORGANISM
There are number of point by which solid waste may be come in contact with living
organism such as • Soil adsorption, storage and biodegrading • Plant uptake • Ventilation

41
• Leaching • Insects, birds, rats, flies and animals • Direct dumping of untreated waste in
seas, rivers and lakes results in the plants and animals that feed on it
IMPACTS OF SOLID WASTE ON HUMAN HEALTH, ANIMALS AND AQUATICS
LIFE
There are potential risks to environment and health from improper handling of solid
wastes. Direct health risks concern mainly the workers in this field, who need to be
protected, as far as possible, from contact with wastes. There are also specific risks in
handling wastes from hospitals and clinics. For the general public, the main risks to health
are indirect and arise from the breeding of disease vectors, primarily flies and rats [10].
Uncontrolled hazardous wastes from industries mixing up with municipal wastes create
potential risks to human health. Traffic accidents can result from toxic spilled wastes.
There is specific danger of concentration of heavy metals in the food chain, a problem that
illustrates the relationship between municipal solid wastes and liquid industrial effluents
containing heavy metals discharged to a drainage/sewerage system and /or open dumping
sites of municipal solid wastes and the wastes discharged thereby maintains a vicious
cycle including these some other types of problem are as follows .
Chemical poisoning through chemical inhalation Uncollected waste can obstruct the
storm water runoff resulting in flood Low birth weight Cancer Congenital
malformations Neurological disease Nausea and vomiting Mercury toxicity from
eating fish with high levels of mercury Plastic found in oceans ingested by birds
Resulted in high algal population in rivers and sea. Degrades water and soil quality
IMPACTS OF SOLID WASTE ON ENVIRONMENT
The decomposition of waste into constituent chemicals is a common source of local
environmental pollution. This problem is especially acute in developing nations. Very few
existing landfills in the worlds poorest countries would meet environmental standards
accepted in industrialized nations, and with limited budgets there are likely to be few sites
rigorously evaluated prior to use in the future. The problem is again compounded by the
issues associated with rapid urbanization. A major environmental concern is gas release
by decomposing garbage. Methane is a by-product of the anaerobic respiration of bacteria,
and these bacteria thrive in landfills with high amounts of moisture. Methane
concentrations can reach up to 50% of the composition of landfill gas at maximum
anaerobic decomposition (Cointreau-Levine, 1997). A second problem with these gasses is
their contribution to the enhanced greenhouse gas effect and climate change [11]. Liquid
leachate management varies throughout the landfills of the developing world. Leachate
poses a threat to local surface and ground water systems. The use of dense clay deposits at
the bottom of waste pits, coupled with plastic sheeting-type liners to prevent infiltration
into the surrounding soil, is generally regarded as the optimum strategy to contain excess
liquid. In this way, waste is encouraged to evaporate rather than infiltrate.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES FOR REDUCTION OF ADVERSE IMPACT ON
ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN

42
Proper solid waste management have to be undertaken to ensure that it does not affect the
environment and not cause health hazards to the people living there. At the household-
level proper segregation of waste has to be done and it should be ensured that all organic
matter is kept aside for composting, which is undoubtedly the best method for the correct
disposal of this segment of the waste. In fact, the organic part of the waste that is
generated decomposes more easily, attracts insects and causes disease. Organic waste can
be composted and then used as a fertilizer.
These steps may be taken for prevention of impact
• Generation of waste should be decreased
• promoting the production of goods which minimize waste generation after use
• Material recycling and recovery should be increased
• promoting the use of plastic recycling identification codes and labels in order to
make sorting and recycling of plastic packaging easier
• Municipalities increasing their level of service to the public regarding sorting of
waste.
• Education of producers, the public and people who work in the waste sector should
be increased
• Promoting the use of less hazardous alternatives to hazardous chemicals during
production of goods.
• Legislation in the waste sector should be improved
• collection of hazardous waste at collection points shall be safe, secure and
performed in an environmentally sound manner

UNIT 10
HEALTH EFFECTS OF BASIC UTILITIES AND WORK ENVIRONMENTS
What Is Occupational Health? WHO, 1950: The promotion and maintenance of the
highest degree of physical, mental, and social well-being of workers in all occupations.
The prevention among workers of departures from health caused by their working
conditions. The placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment
adapted to the worker’s physiological and psychological equipment „The adaptation of
work to the worker and of each worker to the job. Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)
is an area concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in
work or employment. The goals of occupational safety and health programs include
fostering a safe and healthy work environment.
A hazard refers to any agent, situation or condition that can cause an occupational illness
or injury. It may produce serious and immediate (acute) effects or long- term (chronic)
problems that affect all or only part of the body. Someone with an occupational illness
may not recognise the symptoms immediately, for instance detection of noise- induced
hearing loss is often difficult for the victim, until it is advanced.
There are 6 types of health hazards:
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Biological
Biological hazards, also known as biohazards, refer to biological substances that pose a
threat to the health of a worker in health care facilities and community. This can include
medical waste or samples of a microorganism, virus or toxin (from a biological source)
that can affect human health posing a significant risk to health care and community care
workers if not properly controlled.
Chemical
Chemical Health care environment can house a vast array of chemicals. Examples of
hazardous chemicals may include formaldehyde, used for preservation of specimens for
pathology; ethylene oxide, glutaraldehyde, and paracetic acid used for sterilization;
anaesthetics gases, laboratory reagents and other numerous chemicals used in healthcare.
Even some drugs administered to patients can be harmful to staff if not properly handled
e.g. cytotoxic drugs.
Physical
Physical hazards comprise of extremes of temperatures, extremes of pressures, noise,
vibration and radiation. All can be found in health care settings. Other physical agents
such as ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, or other forms of radiation used on patients
can be harmful to workers if not properly controlled.
Ergonomic
Healthcare personnel are also exposed to many ergonomics risk factors due to the nature
of their work. Common examples of ergonomic risk factors are found in jobs requiring
repetitive, forceful, or prolonged exertions of the hands; frequent or heavy lifting, pushing,
pulling, or carrying of heavy objects; and prolonged awkward postures. Vibration and
cold may add risk to these work conditions. Jobs or working conditions presenting
multiple risk factors will have a higher probability of causing a musculoskeletal problem.
Environmental work conditions that affect risk include intensity, frequency and duration
of activities.
Mechanical
A mechanical hazard is any hazard involving a machine or process. Equipment used in
healthcare facilities if not properly installed and maintained may pose mechanical
hazards. They also include situations resulting in slips, trips and falls such as wet floors,
slippery finish to floors, poor handling of needles and other sharps resulting in needle
stick and sharps injuries.
Psychosocial Hazards
Violence, shift work, working with severely ill patients, qualitative and quantitative
overload/ underload etc in the workplace can be a hazard to staff in health care and
community care environment. Violence or aggression from patients, visitors, residents,
staff and clients could take the form of physical, emotional and/or mental abuse. Most
health care settings require some sort of shift work. Shift work can be very stressful to
workers and their families. Additionally working alone, drug and alcohol abuse as well as
economic factors are other forms of psychological hazards.
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Working with people who are seriously or even terminally ill day in and day out can be
emotionally wearing. In our current economic climate, with layoffs and cutbacks, workers
everywhere are carrying extra workloads, which can result in “burnout.” Since a number
of people working in health care are women, conflicts with competing and changing roles
in the family, as well as from work issues, can cause tremendous stress.
The following general requirements should be observed as a minimum:
Cleanliness -Every work place should be kept in a clean state with good drainage,
convenient sanitary facilities and without nuisance.
Overcrowding – Health care workers and patients should not be overcrowded in a room
where there is risk of disease transmission through contact or respiratory route. Effort
should be made to separate people with suspected infectious diseases. Some of the efforts
include cough monitoring, and triaging so that such patients are attended to first.
Ventilation – Each workstation should have circulation of fresh air with adequate
ventilation such as cross and through ventilation. In specialized units you can have
engineered ventilation systems e.g. Negative pressure and Vacuum air conditioning
Lighting - There should be sufficient and suitable lighting whether natural or artificial in
every part of the workplace.
Drainage of Floors – Floors should be drained to ensure they are dry to avoid slips and
falls. Floors should be easily washable.
Sanitary convenience - There should be a sufficient number of clean sanitary facilities
with sufficient lighting for both sexes. Sanitary facilities should have hand washing areas
with running water, soap/ detergent and changing rooms with accommodation for
clothing not worn during working hours.
Fire Prevention – All work rooms should be provided with appropriate fire fighting
appliances and adequate means of escape, in case of fire for employees.
Risk assessment, evaluation and management.
Risk management Risk means the probability of occurrence of an adverse effect from a
substance on people or the environment combined with the magnitude of the consequence
of that adverse effect. The purpose of risk management is to bring the risk to acceptable
levels (Acceptable risk).
The process of risk management includes hazard identification, risk assessment and risk
control.
Hazard Identification: There are many methods of hazard identification. For the purpose
of these guidelines the following approach is recommended:
• Inspection of the workplace using a workplace inspection checklist and conducting a
walk-through survey;
• Job hazard analysis;
• Reviewing the accident, incident and ill-health records;
• Asking the workers or their representatives on the hazards they encounter
• Following the manufacturers’ instruction/ materials/ safety data sheets, and decide who
might be harmed and how:
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• Pay particular attention to young persons; persons with disabilities; inexperienced
workers and lone workers
• Develop hazard / risk register
Risk assessment
Risk assessment is a process of making a determination of how safe a situation is and then
making judgement of the acceptability of a risk.
Risk control
Determine the nature and severity of the risk, who is affected and the frequency of the
risk.
Engineering controls: The facility OSH committee will ensure that all recommended
engineering controls as per risk assessment are put in place by ensuring budget and
procurement of the same.
Personal Protective Equipment :
Personal protective equipment refers to protective barriers/ device or clothing that is worn
by a worker in order to prevent any part of his or her body and that of the clients from
coming into contact with a hazard (s) present at the place of work. Selection of PPE’s will
be done according to the risk assessment for specific work areas.
Different types of fire extinguishers are designed to fight different classes of fire. Every
health facility shall develop SOP on fire which shall include portable fire equipment and
fire drills.
Safety showers/ eye /face wash units: Where applicable health facility shall ensure
provision of facilities for emergency body shower, eye/face wash Every facility shall
develop instructions for body shower and eye/face wash
Spill kits. Where applicable facility shall have spill kits for chemical, biological,
radiological spills. Every facility shall develop instructions for handling chemical,
biological and radiological spills.
First Aid Kit. Every health facility shall provide first aid facilities for staff and ensure
adequate numbers of trained first aiders. The first aid tool kit shall meet the first aid rules
of 1977 requirements
Safety signage and labels Every health facility shall develop and display directional
signage and a. labels at strategic areas.
According to risk assessment findings, every health facilities should develop and display
safety signs for biological hazards, chemical hazards, physical hazards and radiological
hazards
Every facility shall develop fire safety signs and labels and display them according to the
facility fire risk assessment results Train staff on signage and labels.
Further Reading
Workers in a construction site may be exposed to various hazardous substances and
physical agents, e.g. asbestos, lead, silica dust, organic solvents, sewer gases, welding
fumes, radiation, noise and vibration. Excessive exposures to these substances/agents may
result in acute injury, chronic illness, permanent disability or even death. Loss of
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concentration at work and fatigue arising from poor health conditions may increase the
risk of accidents.
Construction work is featured by high labour turnover, constantly changing work
environment and conditions on site, and different types of work being carried out
simultaneously by several contractors. These features would further increase the health
risks of workers.
Hazard Identification
To prevent health hazards at work, all possible health hazards that may be encountered
should be identified before commencement of construction work. The health hazards at a
construction site may come from the hazardous substances used or those already present
on site. The environmental conditions may also create additional health hazards. These
factors should also be identified, for example, heat and noise. The information for hazard
identification can be obtained from the equipment and material supplier, site owner and
principal contractor. If such information is not available, then a contractor should take
actions to identify unknown substances or seek assistance from a specialist if necessary.
Risk Assessment
Risk assessment is the process to look at the conditions workers are exposed to the hazards
and determine whether the hazards likely to cause any harm to the workers. Assessment
of risks may be made by considering factors such as:
• the air concentration of fumes, vapours and dust generated from the work processes;
• the effectiveness of ventilation on site to control the air contaminants;
the likelihood of skin or eye contact with corrosive/irritating substances;
• the exposure of the workers to hazardous physical agents, e.g. noise, heat and radiation;
• the ergonomic factors, e.g. repetitive tasks and manual handling.
Both the immediate risks, e.g. being overcome by fumes in a confined space, and the long
term health risks, e.g. skin cancer from prolonged contact with pitch, should be assessed.
The assessment should be reviewed when new hazardous substances and physical agents
are used and when there is a significant change in the working environment.
Prevention
When health hazards are identified, the first step is to try to eliminate them completely. It
means either:
•Doing the job in a different way, for example, instead of using acids or caustic soda to
unblock a drain, use drain rods; or
• Using a substitute, for example, instead of using spirit-based paints, use water-based
ones which are generally less hazardous. However, always check that one hazard is not
simply replaced by another.
Control
If prevention is not practicable, the next step is to try to control the risk. The control
methods may include:
• ensuring adequate ventilation in the working area;
• using as little hazardous substances as possible;
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• applying local exhaust ventilation to particularly hazardous processes, e.g. rock cutting
and grinding and welding;
• using water suppression to control dust emission;
• segregating hazardous process so that workers not directly involved are not affected;
• administrative measures, like providing sufficient safety and health training,
instructions and information to the workers, appropriate supervision, good personal
hygiene and good housekeeping.
Personal Protective Equipment
If, and only if, exposure cannot be adequately controlled by any combination of the
measures already mentioned, personal protective equipment should be provided. These
may take the form of:
• respiratory equipment for protection against dusts, vapours or gases;
• protective clothing, such as overalls, boots and gloves for protection against irritating
and corrosive substances, abrasion and vibration;
• eye protectors for protection against chemical splashes, such as goggles or face visors.
The personal protective equipment should be selected with care. A personal protective
equipment programme, including selection, maintenance, user training and supervision,
should be set up to ensure the effectiveness of the personal protective equipment.

Medical Surveillance
Medical surveillance is basically a system of monitoring the health status of workers
engaged in hazardous occupations. The objective is to detect early signs of illness so that
intervention may be taken to prevent permanent health damage. This is particularly
useful for occupational illness with long latent period, like silicosis and occupational
deafness.
The examination should be done by a medical practitioner with sound knowledge in
occupational medicine. It is recommended that the following occupations in the
construction industry should undertake pre-employment and periodic medical
examination because they may have prolonged exposure to a high concentration/level of
hazardous substances and/or physical agents.
Health hazards in the construction industry can be grouped under chemical hazards,
physical hazards and ergonomic hazards:
• Chemicals can affect the body via inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption.
• Physical hazards include noise, heat, vibration and radiation.
•Ergonomic hazards include mainly manual handling of loads.
Silica dust
Silica is a major component of the earth's crust. Besides, a lot of building materials, like
natural stone, bricks and concrete contain silica. Therefore workers are widely exposed to
it. Any process involving breaking, crushing or grinding silica containing materials will
generate silica dust. The workers at high risk include operators of pneumatic breakers,
drillers and masons.
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Exposure to excessive dust for prolonged period can lead to silicosis, a disease with lung
fibrosis causing difficulty in breathing. The risk is highest in confined spaces with poor
ventilation, for example, caissons and tunnels. Water suppression is usually an effective
and economic means to reduce the dust level. If engineering control measures are not
possible to control the dust to an acceptable level, adequate and suitable respiratory
protective equipment should be provided and worn by workers at risk.
Lead dust
Lead dust may arise from handling materials containing lead or its compounds, such as
removal of leaded paint and handling of metallic lead. Lead fumes may arise from hot
cutting and dismantling tanks previously containing lead compounds. Excessive exposure
may cause acute or chronic health effects. Welders and flame cutting operators may be at
high risk.
Contractors are required to assess the nature and degree of exposures to lead, to take
appropriate measures to control the exposure, to inform the workers of the risks involved
and to provide washing and changing facilities.
Asbestos dust
Asbestos can cause asbestosis (diffuse fibrosis of the lung), mesothelioma (cancer of the
lining of the chest and abdomen) and lung cancer. Smoking further increases the risk of
lung cancer for those exposed to asbestos.
Asbestos dust will be generated whenever materials containing asbestos are disturbed.
These materials include sprayed asbestos coatings, thermal and acoustic insulation
materials, fire resistant walls and partitions, asbestos cement sheets and flooring materials.
Demolition work on asbestos insulation and sprayed asbestos coating can produce
particularly high level of dust. These materials should be removed by competent asbestos
contractors before commencement of demolition work.
All work involve asbestos and the required safety precautions are regulated by the
Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Asbestos) Regulation and the Code of Practice on
Safety and Health at work with Asbestos. Disposal of materials containing asbestos has to
be carried out in accordance with the Environmental Protection Department requirements.
Gases, vapours and fumes
Gases, vapours and fumes may be released from a variety of processes, including:
• welding and flame cutting;
• using internal combustion engines and LPG burners;
• burning of waste materials;
• painting - particularly paint spraying;
• using adhesive and thinners.

The harmful effects depend on the types, toxicity and concentration of the gas and vapour
present in the working environment. Some can overcome the worker quickly while others
can have long-term health effects. Adequate ventilation must be provided and suitable
respiratory protective equipment worn where appropriate.
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Other chemicals
Many substances encountered in construction work would harm the skin:
• Mineral oil or pitch may cause skin cancers on prolonged contact.
• Disinfectant, bleaches, solvents, oils, acids and alkalis may cause irritation.
• Epoxy resins, acrylic resins, formaldehyde, nickel, cobalt, chrome, natural gums and
vegetation, including timber may cause allergic reactions.
If skin contact with these substances is inevitable, suitable protective clothing and gloves
should be worn. Washing of hands after work and skin care are essential to prevent
dermatitis. However, solvents should never be used to clean hands or other body parts.

Noise
High noise level can distract concentration, cause difficulties in speech communication
and increase the risk of accidents. Long term exposure to excessive noise can cause
permanent hearing damage. Construction plants, such as compressors and concrete
breakers frequently create very loud noise level.
Exposure to noise at work should be assessed and controlled. Whenever possible
engineering controls should be implemented to reduce the noise level at source. If it is not
possible to reduce the noise to below the control limit, suitable hearing protectors must be
worn.

Ionizing radiation
Ionizing radiation is used for detecting weakness of metal structure on a construction site.
Radioactive substances which have previously been stored or used may be released in
demolition of buildings. Construction workers exposed to such ionizing radiation may
have increased risk of developing cancer and genetic disease. Recognized safe system of
work must be observed, including, for example, isolation, segregation of workers,
installing warning notices and signs (Trefoil sign), monitoring and decontamination. If in
doubt, advice should be sought from the Radiation Health Unit, Department of Health.

Vibration
Many jobs in construction involve the use of hand-held power tools such as pneumatic
breakers and disc grinders. The vibration from such equipment may cause carpal tunnel
syndrome. The disease affects the fingers and hands. In the long run, permanent
damages to the nerves will result in a loss of the sense of touch and dexterity.
Where possible, low vibration tools should be used. They should also be properly
maintained so that they are balanced and have no loose parts. Wearing anti-vibration
gloves can also reduce the harmful effect of vibration.

Heat
Prolonged work under direct sunlight in summer without precautions may cause heat
rashes, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and even heat stroke. The problem may be
50
aggravated if impermeable protective clothing is worn when undertaking heavy work or
working in an enclosed area with a strong heat source, poor ventilation and high
humidity. Examples are removal work for asbestos insulation, underground work and
maintenance of boilers.
The best strategy to prevent heat stress is to avoid heavy manual work in hot
environment. Consider if the work can be accomplished by mechanical means or done in
cooler parts of a day or season. Heat stress can be reduced by providing shelter, blowing
fans, adequate cool drinks to replace the water lost as sweat and sufficient rest breaks.

Manual Handling
Manual handling is common in construction work and is one of the most common causes
of injury at work. Many manual handling injuries are often the result of carrying out these
operations for a long period, but even one bad lift can cause a lifetime of pain and
disability.
The Occupational Safety and Health Regulation requires the responsible person of a
workplace to make a preliminary assessment of all manual handling operations before
work and to avoid the need to undertake hazardous manual handling operations as far as
reasonably practicable. Where avoidance is not reasonably practicable, the responsible
person has to make a further assessment and reduce the risk of injury by providing
mechanical aids or team lifting.
Controlling Hazardous Agents: Engineering, Ventilation
Engineering controls −Substitution −Isolation or enclosure −Modification of process
Ventilation −General area −Local exhaust
Controlling Hazardous Agents: Work Practices
Work practices −Good housekeeping −Separate eating, washing, and changing areas −Wet
methods *Training and education of workers

UNIT ELEVEN
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA)
An EIA may be defined as: a formal process to predict the environmental consequences of
human development activities and to plan appropriate measures to eliminate or reduce
adverse effects and to augment positive effects.
OR
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) can broadly be defined as a study of the effects
of a proposed project, plan or program on the environment.
EIA is a procedure used to examine the environmental consequences or impacts, both
beneficial and adverse, of a proposed development project and to ensure that these effects
are taken into account in project design. The EIA is therefore based on predictions. These
impacts can include all relevant aspects of the natural, social, economic and human
environment. The study therefore requires a multidisciplinary approach and should be

51
done very early at the feasibility stage of a project. In other words, a project should be
assessed for its environmental feasibility.
EIA should therefore be viewed as an integral part of the project planning process. Unlike
the environmental audit (EA), which is conducted on existing projects, the EIA is applied
to new projects and the expansion aspects of existing projects
EIA thus has three main functions:
• to predict problems,
• to find ways to avoid them, and
• To enhance positive effects.
The third function is of particular importance. The EIA provides a unique opportunity to
demonstrate ways in which the environment may be improved as part of the development
process. The EIA also predicts the conflicts and constraints between the proposed project,
programme or sectorial plan and its environment. It provides an opportunity for
mitigation measures to be incorporated to minimize problems. It enables monitoring
programmes to be established to assess future impacts and provide data on which
managers can take informed decisions to avoid environmental damage.
EIA is a management tool for planners and decision makers and complements other
project studies on engineering and economics. Environmental assessment is now accepted
as an essential part of development planning and management. It should become as
familiar and important as economic analysis in project evaluation.
The aim of any EIA should be to facilitate sustainable development. Beneficial
environmental effects are maximized while adverse effects are ameliorated or avoided to
the greatest extent possible. EIA will help select and design projects, programmes or plans
with long term viability and therefore improve cost effectiveness.
A study carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency (USA) in 1980 showed that
there were significant changes to projects during the EIA process, marked improvements
in environmental protection measures and net financial benefits. The costs of EIA
preparation and any delays were more than covered by savings accruing from
modifications, (Wathern, 1988).
Water resource development project (i.e. Irrigated agriculture) is crucial to the economy,
health and welfare of a very large part of the developing world. Water resources
development projects thus have major impacts on the environment. It is necessary to
determine the acceptable level and to compensate for the environmental impact. The
impacts may be both to the natural, physical environment and to the human environment.
All major donors consider water resources development projects to be environmentally
sensitive.
Clearly an EIA will not resolve all problems. There will be trade-offs between economic
development and environmental protection as in all development activities. However,
without an objective EIA, informed decision making would be impossible.
EIA facilitates pollution management through its link to environmental standards by
identifying if the proposed investment or development project satisfies applicable
52
environmental standards or needs, and mitigating impacts to comply with standards.
Furthermore, EIA enhances public participation and engages stakeholders to inform
decision makers of different views.
Additionally, EIA, in conjunction with monitoring tools and recourse mechanisms, allows
the gathering of information on environmental quality and provides a venue for
expression and discussion of diverging opinions.
DESCRIPTION AND APPLICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ASSESSMENT
The environmental assessment process would usually, according to the various
international approaches currently implemented, incorporate the following main stages:
screening to determine applicability and level of detail of an EIA;
scoping during which issues that should be taken into consideration
are identified and the terms of reference for the EIA are completed;
preparation of the environmental assessment report, including
identification of impacts, evaluation of alternatives, and design of
mitigation measures; and the preparation of the environmental
management plan, which is usually part of the environmental
assessment report, but can be a stand-alone piece for simple
projects. Public participation and disclosure are important attributes
of the EIA process in many countries.

The United States was the first country in the world to introduce environmental
assessment as part of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969 as a tool that
would lead to implementation of NEPA policies. The environmental assessment process
had two major purposes: ensure that decision makers are making informed choices
regarding impacts on the environment and open the process to citizen involvement (CEQ
2007). Over the past 40 years, EIA entered the fabric of environmental governance in over
100 countries worldwide (Glasson and others 2005).
EIA also became an important instrument for environmental sustainability for multi-
lateral development agencies, including the World Bank. The Bank introduced EIA – as
one of its ten environmental, social, and legal safeguard policies – to identify, avoid, and
mitigate the potential negative environmental impacts associated with Bank lending
operations (World Bank 1999).
The way in which an EIA is carried out is not rigid: it is a process comprising a series of
steps. These steps are outlined below. The main steps in the EIA process are:
• screening • Scoping • prediction and mitigation • management and monitoring • audit
Screening often results in a categorization of the project and from this a decision is made
on whether or not a full EIA is to be carried out.
Scoping is the process of determining which are the most critical issues to study and will
involve community participation to some degree. It is at this early stage that EIA can most
strongly influence the outline proposal.

53
Detailed prediction and mitigation studies follow scoping and are carried out in parallel
with feasibility studies.
The main output report is called an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and contains a
detailed plan for managing and monitoring environmental impacts both during and after
implementation.
Finally, an audit of the EIA process is carried out sometime after implementation. The
audit serves a useful feedback and learning function.
Terms of reference for EIA are then prepared based on results of consultations, legal
requirements, or based on generic terms of reference. An important factor in determining
the scope of an EIA is drawing the boundary of the impacts of the proposed activity issues
that are appropriately addressed through the EIA process, and making sure that issues
that remain outside of this boundary are addressed by other instruments such as Strategic
Environmental Assessment (SEA), cumulative impact assessment study, and land use
planning.

Considerations in impact prediction

Magnitude of Impact: This is defined by the severity of each potential impact and
indicates whether the impact is irreversible or, reversible and estimated potential rate of
recovery. The magnitude of an impact cannot be considered high if a major adverse
impact can be mitigated.

Extent of Impact: The spatial extent or the zone of influence of the impact should always
be determined. An impact can be site-specific or limited to the project area; a locally
occurring impact within the locality of the proposed project; a regional impact that may
extend beyond the local area and a national impact affecting resources on a national scale
and sometimes trans-boundary impacts, which might be international.

Duration of Impact: Environmental impacts have a temporal dimension and needs to be

considered in an EIA. Impacts arising at different phases of the project cycle may need to
be considered. An impact that generally lasts for only three to nine years after project
completion may be classified as short-term. An impact, which continues for 10 to 20 years,
may be defined as medium-term, and impacts that last beyond 20 years are considered as
long-term.

Significance of the Impact: This refers to the value or amount of the impact. Once an
impact has been predicted, its significance must be evaluated using an appropriate choice
of criteria.

Preparation, Approval, and Supervision.

Supervision of the EIA preparation usually falls either on the sectorial agency (for
example, Peru, Ecuador, US), or on the environmental agency (for example, Belize), or is a
54
responsibility shared by sectorial and environmental agencies (for example, Argentina).
The environment agency’s role could range from review and provision of comments about
the adequacy of the analysis and the impact on the environment, ensuring public
participation in the EIA, to the approval of the EIA, including prior approval of the terms
of the reference through the screening and scoping stages. Moreover, in many countries,
agencies at the local level (provincial / municipal) are responsible for supervising EIA
preparation

Public Participation and Public Disclosure. Countries vary widely in the extent to which
EIA relies on public participation, ranging from countries where opening the decision-
making process to citizen involvement is one of the main purposes of EIA, to countries
where public participation and involvement in the EIA process are not required by EIA
regulations and rarely practiced. Most countries fall in between, with regulations that
require public involvement at various stages of the EIA process (at screening, scoping, EA
preparation, and before and after government decisions).
A study of the effectiveness of the EIA Directive in the EU (COWI 2009) revealed that two
main benefits of the EIA procedure were it ensures that environmental aspects are taken
into consideration in the decision making process, and EIA ensures transparency in
environmental decision making, public hearings; and creation of opportunities to receive
public input during various stages of the EIA process.

ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

ASSESSMENT

Public Discussion and Participation. One major strength and outstanding feature of EIA
in many countries is increased public discussion and participation (COWI 2009). However,
in practice a number of limitations occur. In some instances where public participation is
required by EIA legislation, such participation could be limited in practice. For example,
the law in India required that a public hearing is conducted; however, NGOs often
considered the public hearing as a staged process that appeared to involve citizens when
the decision had already been made.

Over-reliance on EIA to Achieve Environmental Management Objectives. EIA should

be used in conjunction with other policy tools and should not be over-emphasized for
achieving environmental management objectives.

Time-Intensive Process. An effective screening system is important to ensure that the EIA
does not become a prerequisite for too many activities, thus limiting the responsible
authority’s ability to adequately assess important projects and weakening the legitimacy
of EIA.

55
Lack of screening has led to a situation where the EIA regulations become a hurdle to
projects and add little value to the environmental planning and management processes for
which they were intended (World Bank 2007a)

Potential for Rent Seeking. Where the EIA is linked to the licensing process, it may
become a tool for rent seeking and could be a source of illegal influence on the responsible
authorities.

Interaction with other Tools and Possible Substitutes

EIA is more effective when applied in combination with other policy tools and
mechanisms for environmental management, such as environmental regulations,
standards, enforcement, and monitoring systems; land use planning; and market-based
incentives. In many legal systems, the judiciary provides an important avenue for
recourse.
Furthermore, public participation is enhanced through tools that promote access to
information, advocacy and participation in decision making, and ability to complain and
access to legal recourse.
Moreover, in many legal systems, the approval of an EIA is a requirement for
environmental licensing, and the two tools are closely linked.
Risk assessment may also feed health-issue considerations into the EIA process for projects
requiring thorough examination of risks to human health, and could either proceed
separately of EIA or be integrated within the EIA process (Demidova and Cherp 2005).
Despite these risks and limitations, EIA remains a useful tool for two reasons. First, it does
drive developers of new projects to take environmental impacts and risks into account
(partially internalizing the cost). Second, it allows or may allow governments and society
to analyze projects in depth.

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

The final EIA report is referred to as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Most
national environmental laws have specified what the content of EIS should have.
Multilateral and bilateral financial institutions have also defined what should be contained
in an EIS. Ideally, the content of an EIS should have the following: Executive Summary
Policy, Legal and Administrative Framework Description of the environment Description
of the Proposed Project in detail Significant Environmental Impacts Socio-economic
analysis of Project Impacts Identification and Analysis of Alternatives Mitigation
Action/Mitigation Management Plan Environmental Management Plan Monitoring
Program Knowledge gaps Public Involvement List of References Appendices including
o Reference documents, photographs, unpublished data o Terms of Reference o
Consulting team composition o Notes of Public Consultation sessions

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Environmental Auditing
Auditing refers to the examination and assessment of a certain type of performance. In the
case of an EIA, an audit assess the actual environmental impact, the accuracy of
prediction, the effectiveness of environmental impact mitigation and enhancement
measures, and the functioning of monitoring mechanisms. The audit should be
undertaken upon a project run in operation, for some time, and is usually performed once
or twice in the entire project cycle
Environmental auditing should compare monitoring results with information generated
during the pre project period. Comparisons can be made with similar projects or against
standard norms. Relating actual impacts with predicted impacts, help in evaluating the
accuracy and adequacy of EIA predictions.

Environmental Auditing Plan

Environmental Audit should be carried out upon the completion of project construction
and after 2 years of project operation in order to obtain information on:
• the condition of natural/social/economical resources prior to project implementation
after the project construction is completed, • whether or not, all the mitigation measures
implemented are effective to control adverse impact, or enhance beneficial impacts, •
whether or not mitigation measures implemented are effective to control adverse impact,
or enhance beneficial impact, • whether or not all degraded landscape due to project
implementation have been restored into original condition, • what are the impacts of
boom-bust scenario among the workforce involved in project implementation and the
local economy, and • The effect on the local economy of project implementation.

INDICATIVE LIST OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS TO BE MONITORED

Dams and Water Retention

Factors that may be monitored for dams and water retention facilities include:
Rainfall annual volume of sediment transported into reservoir hydrogen sulfide and
methane generation behind dam fisheries assessment surveys (species, populations. etc.)
in the river and reservoir vegetation changes (cover, species composition, growth rates,
biomass) in the upper watershed, reservoir drawdown zone, and downstream areas
impacts on wild lands, species or plant communities of special ecological significance in
and out-migration of people to area stored water volume in the reservoir ,water quality at
dam discharge and at various points along the river (quality should be measured with
indicators such as, salinity, pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, turbidity, dissolved
oxygen, suspended solids, phosphates, nitrates) limnological sampling of micro flora,
micro fauna, aquatic weeds and benthic organisms wildlife (species, distribution,
numbers) increases in erosion in the watershed public health and disease vectors changes
in economic and social status of resettlement populations and people remaining in the
river basin
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Fisheries
Factors that may be monitored for fisheries activities include:

CAPTURE FISHERIES
fish stocks (population size and structure) conformance by fishermen to regulations on
equipment use, fishing areas, catch, fishing seasons effects of land use or water
management on water quality and fishery resources contamination of fish or shellfish or
presence of conditions which could lead to contamination (e.g., red tide, oil spills) fish
landings presence of any discarded materials causing "ghost fishing" condition of nonfish
species, especially indicator species (those most susceptible to changes in water quality)
condition of coastal zone habitats (mangroves, sea grass beds, coral reefs) water quality
(including pollution and oil spills)

CULTURE (FARMED) FISHERIES

water quality in fish ponds or water bodies containing traps, nets or attachment substrates
for non-motile organisms water quality and quantity of fish pond receiving waters effect
of aquaculture on local capture fisheries (population size and structure, health condition)
contamination of fish or shellfish water quality of fish pond effluent hydrologic effects of
fish ponds presence of fish diseases or parasites increase in water-borne or water related
disease vectors or human disease attributable to fish pond establishment

Floodplain Management
Factors which influence the quantity of water entering and being withdrawn from the
river; the land's capacity to absorb floodwater; and the potential damage from floods may
be monitored. Factors that may be monitored include: quantity, intensity, timing and
geographical distribution of rainfall soil moisture conditions at various times of the year
storage, diversion and regulation of stream flows sediment content of the river water
changes in the river course and riverbed rural and urban land uses (controlled and
uncontrolled land use change on the floodplain and watersheds of the river) effects of
flood control measures on riverine, estuaries or near shore marine fisheries effects of flood
control measures on wild lands, wildlife habitats and wildlife populations
storm patterns stream discharge (including records of annual peak discharge) changes in
drainage and other factors that affect storm water runoff sedimentation problems in
downstream areas demographic changes in the floodplain and watershed areas
socioeconomic impacts resulting from the project (including changes to preproject
agricultural, pastoral, fishing practices) effects of flood control measures on floodplain
vegetation

Irrigation Projects
Factors that may be monitored for irrigation activities include:

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Climate (wind, temperature, rainfall, etc.) nutrient content of discharge water water table
elevations in project area and downstream quality of groundwater in project area physical
and chemical properties of soil in irrigation area cropping intensity erosion/sedimentation
rates in project area condition of distribution and drainage canals (siltation, presence of
weeds, condition of linings) incidence of disease and presence of disease vectors changes
in natural vegetation in the project area and on the floodplain downstream fish
population and species stream discharge above the irrigation project and below at various
points flow and water levels at critical points in the irrigation system water quality of
project inflows and return flows water salinity levels in coastal wells agricultural acreage
in production crop yield per unit of land and water relation between water demand and
supply of users (equitability of distribution) upstream watershed management
(agricultural extent and practices, industrial activity) health condition of project
populations changes in wildlife populations in the project area and on the floodplain
downstream Waste Treatment Plant trip

Additional Study Materials

Steps in EIA process
EIA represents a systematic process that examines the environmental consequences of the
development actions, in advance. The emphasis of a EIA is on prevention and, therefore, is
more proactive than reactive in nature. The EIA process involves a number of steps, some
of which are listed below:
Project screening: This entails the application of EIA to those projects that may have
significant environmental impacts. It is quite likely, however, that screening is done partly
by the EIA regulations, operating in a country at the time of assessment.
Scoping: This step seeks to identify, at an early stage, the key, significant environmental
issues from among a host of possible impacts of a project and all the available alternatives.
Consideration of alternatives: This seeks to ensure that the proponent has considered
other feasible approaches, including alternative project locations, scales, processes,
layouts, operating condition and the no-action option.
Description of the project/development action: This step seeks to clarify the purpose and
rationale of the project and understand its various characteristics, including the stages of
development, location and processes.
Description of the environmental baseline: This includes the establishment of both the
present and future state of the environment, in the absence of the project, taking into
account the changes resulting from natural events and from other human activities.
Identification of key impacts: This brings together the previous steps with a view to
ensuring that all potentially significant environmental impacts (adverse and beneficial) are
identified and taken into account in the process.
The prediction of impacts: This step aims to identify the likely magnitude of the change
(i.e., impact) in the environment when the project is implemented in comparison with the
situation when the project is not carried out.
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 Evaluation and assessment of significance: This seeks to assess the relative significance
of the predicted impacts to allow a focus on key adverse impacts. Formal definition of
significance is the product of consequence and likelihood as
Significance =consequence X Likelihood
Mitigation: This involves the introduction of measures to avoid, reduce, remedy or
compensate for any significant adverse impacts.
Public consultation and participation: This aims to assure the quality,
comprehensiveness and effectiveness of the EIA, as well as to ensure that the public’s
views are adequately taken into consideration in the decision-making process.
EIS presentation: This is a vital step in the process. If done badly, much good work in the
EIA may be negated.
Review: This involves a systematic appraisal of the quality of the EIS, as a contribution to
the decision-making process.
Decision-making: At this stage, decisions are made by the relevant authority of the EIS
(including consultation responses) together with other material considerations as to
whether to accept, defer or reject the project.
Post-decision monitoring: This involves the recording of outcomes associated with
development impacts, after the decision to proceed with the project. It can contribute to
effective project management.
Auditing: This follows monitoring and involves comparing actual outcomes with
predicted outcomes, and can be used to assess the quality of predictions and the
effectiveness of mitigation. It provides a vital step in the EIA learning process.

REFERENCES
1. Last, J. M. (Ed.). (1995). A Dictionary of Epidemiology (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford
University Press.
2. Introduction to Environmental Health, Jonathan M. Links, PhD John Hopkins
Bloomberg, School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
3. Soil Pollution Management, SOS 516, J. K. Adesodun; A. A. Soretire; S. J. Akinsete
4. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2007). Natural Environment. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_environment. Page was last modified 21:02, 4 June
2007. Site visited on 7th June 2007
5. Getting to Green—A Sourcebook of Pollution Management Policy Tools for Growth and
Competitiveness, World Bank Group publication, available online at www.worldbank.org
6. Dougherty T.C and Hall A.W (1995), Environmental impact assessment of irrigation and
drainage projects, FAO, Rome, Italy and UNESCAP Virtual Conference : United Nations;
c1998 – 2008 [updated October 30, 2004] available from
http://www.unescap.org/drpad/vc/orientation/M8_first.htm

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