Events & Issues
New Delhi, 5 April, 2017
Summer
& Acidic Rain
POLLUTION
CONTROL MUST
By Dhurjati
Mukherjee
People need to brace for a hot
gruelling summer and heat wave conditions in parts of the country. Predictions
are that temperatures this summer would increase between 1 and 1.50 degrees. In
fact, summer has already set in fast, from mid March onwards with temperatures
soaring to 40 degree in some cities. The scientific studies about global
warming have become a reality, more so in the Asian and African countries,
affecting low and middle income countries. Thus, this year would again be the
hottest summer on record, at least in India.
Moreover, with the summers becoming
extremely hot and humid, the type of rainfall received, which incidentally has
been decreasing, would add to the woes. A recent report pointed out that due to
pollution, rain water has become acidic in many parts of the country,
particularly in the past decade, as per research conducted by the India
Meteorological Department and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorological.
Analysis collected from different
parts of India
-- in the north, central south and east -- in the decade 2001-2012 showed pH
level varying from 4.77 to 5.32, indicating that these places have been
receiving acid rain. As is well known, rainwater with pH below 5.65 is
considered acidic.
The acidity in rainwater can reduce
soil nutrition, which means that these nutrients are not available to plants
and crops, and also increase heavy metal concentration in soil, thereby
affecting agricultural production and productivity. Apart from this, acid rain
may have a corrosive effect on monuments and buildings, specially old ones.
According to the study, Mohanbari
rainwater pH had worsened 16 times while Allahabad
has fallen 28 times and Pune 2.5 times. The increase in sulphur dioxide and
nitrogen oxides due to rise in coal and fuel consumptions as a result of oil
refineries, power plants and rapid increase in vehicles have largely been
responsible for rain becoming acidic. The problem has aggravated due to
increase in acid neutralising alkaline components in the atmosphere. The
coverage of open land with buildings and mechanical ware due to urbanisation
has obviously hindered the release of calcium from soil dust into the
atmosphere.
Experts are of the opinion that with
industries increasing as also the vehicle population the situation may become
worse in the coming years. Though it is being said nowadays there are no urban
forests worth mentioning while trees are being cut for various reasons, which
could have salvaged the situation to some extent. One may mention here that
Bengaluru, capital city of Karnataka,
which was once christened the ‘Garden City of India’ can no longer be called
so.
There is very little endeavour on
the part of municipal or developmental authorities to take steps towards
checking warming and its attendant effects. One may mention here the case of
the East Kolkata Wetlands where every attempt is being made to encroach it by
unscrupulous developers in connivance with politicians. A recent study
undertaken by the South Asian Forum for Environment (SAFE) with International
Water Management Institute, Colombo (IWMI) found that from 2005 to 2015 the
city “lost 53 per cent of its peri urban wetlands and currently 86 per cent of
the stretch of Adi Ganga flows below the average environmental flow volume”.
Meanwhile, a World Bank and University of Leeds report, the city already stands
third on the list of cities prone to flood risks and climate disasters. Experts
believe, and quite rightly so, the city can be saved from a very possible flood
disaster if the wetlands, which are the natural drainage system, are conserved
and protected.
The obvious reasons for temperatures
rising is thus not very difficult to find. But the tragedy is that there is
very little being done by the respective municipal authorities or the
respective State governments to understand the gravity of the situation and
take necessary steps in this regard. Though most State governments have a
minister to look after environmental concerns as also a State pollution control
board, it is difficult to know what role they have been playing.
Keeping in view the above scenario,
there is need for urgent action. Just saying in the media the need for planting
more and more trees would not do, there should be a concerted plan to ensure
that at least twice the number of trees destroyed each year for whatever reason
should be planted immediately. Trees have various advantages, which include
absorbing carbon dioxide, keeping the climate cool and ensuring rainfall.
Moreover, there should be every
attempt to reduce congestion in the central business district by dispersing
activities to other areas of the city. Heavy vehicles, specially trucks, should
not be allowed to enter crowded city limits while these vehicles are forced to
confirm to emission and other environmental standards and heavy penalty imposed
for any violation. Added to all this is the need to ensure that clean fuel, preferably
CNG, is used by most vehicles.
Additionally, there should not be
any encroachment of open spaces in the metros and big cities at any cost.
Experts and even a section of city planners have been talking about all this
for years, but very little action has been taken thus far. Whatever action has
been taken till date is due to the strictures passed by the Supreme Court. But
even then, State governments are trying to delay the process of strict
enforcement by citing various alibi.
There can be no doubt that climate
change has emerged the biggest challenge to human race. The impacts are not
just confined to warming but also to severe cyclones, floods etc. The changes
are altering the vulnerability of coast and hinterland, obviously affecting the
poor and the economically weaker sections in a big way. One may mention here
that an estimate of the Council on Energy, Environment & Water (CEEW), IIM,
Ahmedabad found that India
lost $30 billion from extreme weather events in the last five years.
Simultaneously, while consumption
and waste have been increasing, the capacity of nature’s resource pool and
waste sink, have been treated as free goods, of no value. The result has been
that resources have been dwindling and pollution reaching unimaginable heights,
leading to different adverse effects of global warming. Thus, it is time that
whatever measures that have been framed by environmental experts and policy
makers are judiciously adhered to and the authorities at the Centre and in the
States have to be tough in monitoring this action.
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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