Advances in Air Pollution Profiling and Control

In the another chapter of this volume, we have presented the details on the air quality of a highly industrialized suburb of the kind that occurs in all major cities of India—as also of most developing countries. The air quality was monitored by us round the year with a network of 11 sampling stations. We now present studies on the modeling of the air quality of the area, the forecasting carried out thereafter, and its implications.

The high peak of Himalayan range is the origin of ganges river system. Ancient Indian scriptures contain several references of worship natural forces, e.g., rivers, mountains, and forests. The world-famous three-week-long Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra starting in Nandakini River Valley. Famous Tal Roop Kund is situated in this valley. The Ramayana, Mahabharata, the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita, the Puranas, and the Smritis have underlined the significance of environmental and ecological balance vis-à-vis survival of mankind on this planet. Indians have been in prayers saying for centuries, “So long as the earth has mountain, forests, trees, etc., the human race will survive”. Himalayan mountain chain came into existence as a result of collision of northward moving Indian plate with Tibetan plate. Due to resultant tectonic forces of regional dimension, the Himalaya is still rising, though at a very slow pace. The entire Himalayan belt continued convergence was due to long going compression. Nandakini valley ranges from Nanga Parbat at 8125 m in the west and the Namcha Barwa 7828 m in the east, the 30 to 450 km broad Himalayan Range extends for a length of about 2400 km. So the title is based on Nandakini Valley and related pollution problems. Over the millions of years of geological time, the rocks of the crust of the earth have been subjected to an assortment of natural resources that tend to break them up and carry fragments away. Presently Himalayan region is under severe environmental threat of soil erosion, deforestation, landslides, decline soil fertility, overpopulation, and overgrazing. Thus, in the study of environmental changes, the systematic knowledge of landform plays a dominant role. The study finds the basis for the causes and responsible factors for degraded environment of Nandakini Valley.

In India, there has been three-fold increase in the production and consumption of mineral water for the last decade. Earlier only the Bisleri bottles were available as a brand name and today there are mushrooming of companies who are manufacturing so-called mineral water (Now marked as packaged drinking water). This is just because of deterioration in quality of possible drinking water. Earlier this type of water was used only while traveling to higher society, but now a days even a common man prefers to use mineral water as compared to available water on the railway station, bus stands, etc., even in the marriage parties people prefer mineral water to get rid of all risk related to water. Water has become the foremost requirement of all human being. In most of the developing countries the problem of drinking water is increasing day by day. This can be solved only implementing modern treatment plants at the industries and proper sewage treatment facilities at urban areas. Water harvesting and watershed management are other options available to mankind to get rid of this type of water crises. The present paper has been attempted to highlight the ground water quality of a coastal area. The water quality analysis has been carried out in 10 monitoring stations for 17 parameters and final WQI are calculated for both the periods of summer and winter season.

Microplastics have been considered as a serious pollutant that has affected the environment over decades. Microplastics, being the smallest of particles, have been getting increased attention because of the serious threat that it causes to human health and wildlife. Because of its presence in sea salts, food safety is getting compromised. It has been found in some studies that microplastics are a threat to species in the marine environment and also drastically affect human health. By going across various studies, I have come to the conclusion that the issue of microplastics in freshwater systems is a topic that is needed to be addressed, also has a strong scope in research purpose. It has also been found out that freshwater systems may have identical properties that to marine systems in relation to the forces that transport microplastics. A deeper study was done which was needed to understand the relationship between plastic degradation and the different pollutants which get absorbed. Even though the studies leading to microplastics in freshwaters have been significantly looked in the previous years, the understanding regarding this issue is to be addressed, and prior importance is needed to be given to counter this growing menace. This paper has mainly concentrated on to give a brief idea about the main problems that are arising due to the microplastics and how it is affecting the aquatic life and polluting the river bodies.

A study is presented which is specific to a highly industrialized suburb of Chennai, India, but is illustrative of similar regions that are present in most large cities of India as also in other developing countries. The study area covered by us consists of a large-scale petroleum refinery and several downstream petrochemical industries situated cheek-by-jowl in a cluster called the Manali Industrial Complex. Its airshed was continuously monitored with the help of eleven ambient air quality monitoring stations, set on the basis of the wind roses of the study area in different seasons. The findings have been discussed in terms of the compatibility of the airshed with the ambient air quality standard set by India’s Central Pollution Control Board.

Natural health is a proactive methodology for hazard administration and process industry outline, activity. It is demonstrated that the consideration of the lifetime expenses of the task and procedure is a naturally more secure methodology which is a cost-ideal choice. Natural health can be combined at any phase of plan and activity; be that as it may, its application at the most punctual conceivable phases of being used in phases of process outline. In spite of the fact that it is big way to deal with danger/hazard administration, natural wellbeing has not been utilized as broadly as different strategies, for example, hazard and operability study and quantifiable hazard appraisal. The various reasons that are responsible are absence of concentration and lack of accessibility (Khan and Amyotte 2002). Hence, personal health is one of the most preferred choices in case of hazard administration in such industry exercises. Before, it has been connected to a few parts of offshore process outline and activity. Be that as it may, its utilization is as yet restricted. The paper focusses on the application of characteristic security in these sectors. This disks the utilization of accessible innovation for use of inherent security standards in different offshore exercises, both flow and made arrangements for what’s to come.

This chapter presents studies on the air quality as it occurred downwind seven major industrial estates of Puducherry, India. The survey has revealed that in most cases, the pollutant levels are exceeding the limits prescribed for ‘sensitive’ locations (schools, hospitals)—which are situated downwind these estates—by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of the Government of India. It was also seen that even as in several cases the pollutant levels are present within the limits prescribed for residential areas, (through exceeding the limits for sensitive areas), they are close to the more liberal limits for the residential areas and can begin to exceed those limits, too, if the air quality deteriorates a little further. We have compared the present findings with an earlier survey, reported in 2005. It also shows that the air quality now, in general, is inferior to what it was in 2005.

A conceptual study has been performed on significance of packaging material in solid waste generation and its mitigation method. The theme of the paper says that after substantial progress in Iron Age and Bronze Age and civilization has reached the age of garbage. As we know exponential growth of garbage generates rates cannot be matched by the growth rates of municipal infrastructures. On another account “Study of all types of garbage (Bin drowned in garbage, drains choked with solid waste, public places littered with garbage) and ever lump of industrial garbage characterize the era of garbage”. Talking about the development of other advanced countries the figure ranges depending upon the population. As the impact of solid waste/garbage transmit different disease contributing waste stagnation in choked up drains, evacuating damages also include pollution one should take appropriate measures to cut down the growth of MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) and following different norms and applying on large scale and limit the use.

The ambient air quality of Visakhapatnam with respect to particulates showed remarkable variation between industrial and residential areas. Both PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 reported moderate level in industrial area as per the AQI and Exceedance Factor. From the results of both PM_2.5 and PM_10, it is observed that PM has recorded above permissible limits in commercial and industrial areas whereas, in residential area, both PMs were within the limits of NAAQ standard. In Industrial area, Zn is found to be dominated with 27% of the total elements analyzed followed by  aluminum, respectively. When metals exist beyond the permissible limits, they are potential to produce Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) in humans and cause various health problems. From the study, it is concluded that PM has emerged as the most critical pollutant. The existence of PM_2.5 above the permissible limit in industrial and commercial areas is a serious concern and immediate steps are to be initiated to identify the sources and the extent of their taking part in ambient air pollution.

The air pollution crisis in cities is mainly due to the emissions of various gases emitted from the vehicle. Due to the growing economic base, pressure on India’s Uttarakhand state capital Dehradun is increasing rapidly. In the last 10 years, the number of vehicles has increased more than doubled in Dehradun, due to the narrowing of roads, jams and slow moving of vehicles are also an important cause of air pollution, by increasing the smoke emissions from the old vehicles. In this research paper, various harmful gases responsible for air pollution in Dehradun have been described and they have been taken into account on the harmful effects of their animal and vegetation life. The research paper has provided detailed information on vehicle numbers responsible for air pollution in Dehradun, their transport, road conditions, harmful emitted gas and smoke etc. and the difference between 2008 and 2018 has also been noticed.

Urbanization and rapid growth in population in developing countries have contributed towards increasing vehicle density on roads while not having sufficient road capacity and crowded intersection in areas of congestion leading to air pollution. Air contamination is a standout among the most genuine natural worries in nations like India. Carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, oxides of nitrogen and sulphur, ozone, lead, and suspended particulate matter are the major pollutants that vehicles emit. These pollutants have unhealthy effects on human’s health and ecology. Larger parts of people are expected to be living in urban areas; hence, vehicular pollution and city air pollution become major concern. The study reviews the previously conducted research on vehicular pollution and its impact on the environment. This review, in addition, gives a collective study conducted in four fastest developing cities of India, viz. Mumbai, Amritsar, Kota, and Jalgaon City. This paper also suggests some measures to control vehicular pollution.

Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) are the radiations where the electric and magnetic field vary simultaneously and which generally comprises of x-rays, gamma rays and visible light. They are generally emitted from electrically charged particles and are a major source of radiation from mobile phones and cell tower antennas. EMR poses as a prominent health hazards on birds, humans, other animals, plants and environment. Sparrows, pigeons, parrots and swans are some of the birds highly affected by these radiations. These impending effects are not lesser than any form of environmental pollution. When birds come in contact with radio frequency waves they clutter and fly every which way, which hurt their regular navigational capacities. Various outcomes of these radiations lead to neural damage, locomotory defects, endangering reproductive capacities in birds. Identification of the recurrence, span of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields causing harm on environment would develop procedures for relief and would empower the best possible utilization of wireless devices to appreciate its monstrous advantages, while assuring one’s well-being and that of the earth. Hence, it is crucial that stricter radiation standards must be authorized by the legislators. A couple of investigations on negative outcomes of such radiations on birds, human well-being, and environment have been examined and inventive proposals for remediation proposed.

Indoor air quality is based on physical, chemical, and biological attributes of air in the indoor environment of any building facility. Lack of proper ventilation system employed is another main source of the indoor air pollutants (Utell 2000). The lack of ventilation system and more use of different types of products like batteries, cell phone, lights, etc., deteriorate the indoor air quality by reducing the dilution of the indoor air pollutants. Heavy metals named are mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, iron, etc. Heavy metals are highly dangerous to human, especially for children.

The rate of traffic accidents is expanding every day. One of the fundamental reasons for traffic speed is over speed. Typically speed breakers, a notable speed regulating devices are enforced. Speed breakers despite an effective control measure have a few hindrances like increment in noise pollution, air contamination, wear and tear of vehicles and moderate reaction for emergency vehicles. This paper manages the effect of speed breakers like contaminating the enclosing environment, wear and tear of vehicles and different effects and measures which can be enforced to decrease these impacts.

Naive Bayes and Bayes net are critical classification method for data mining and have built up important software tools for the classification, description, and generalization of information. All classification algorithms are open sources, which are implemented in Java (C4.5 algorithms) for WEKA software tool. This paper exhibits the strategy for increasing the performance of Naive Bayes and Bayes net algorithms with supervised filter discretization. We have used the supervised filter discretization on these two classification algorithms and compared the result with and without discretization. The outcomes acquired from experiment showed significant improvement over the existing classification algorithms.

The development of technology has lead to widespread increase in machinery and also increase in the number of industries, with this also came the noise. Noise interferes with the efficiency of the work done by the employees whose work is highly skilled and involves decision making. The noise in the refinery, at some places, can exceed 90 dBA, which can affect the worker and also the environment. The risk involved in exposure to the noise for 8 working hours is very high. In this paper, we discuss the mechanisms which are used in the industries for reducing the amount of noise in a refinery; engineering applications and protective techniques which reduce the impact of noise; administrative techniques reducing the amount of exposure of noise to the worker.