Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change.[1] Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution.
Pollution control
Pollution control is a term used in environmental management. It means the control of emissions and effluents into air, water or soil. Without pollution control, the waste products from consumption, heating, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transportation and other human activities, whether they accumulate or disperse, will degrade the environment. In the hierarchy of controls, pollution prevention and waste minimization are more desirable than pollution control. In the field of land development, low impact development is a similar technique for the prevention of urban runoff.

CENTRAL POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is an autonomous body of the Ministry set up in September, 1974, under the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. It coordinates the activities of the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) and Pollution Control Committees (PCCs), and also advises the Central Government on all matters concerning the prevention and control of environmental pollution. The CPCB, SPCBs and PCCs are responsible for implementing the legislation relating to prevention and control of pollution; they also develop rules and regulations which prescribe the standards for emissions and effluents of air and water pollutants and noise levels. The CPCB also provides technical services to the Ministry for implementing the provisions of the Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986.

During the year, special thrust was given to nation-wide pollution prevention plan, particularly with reference to combating vehicular pollution, pollution control in 17 categories of highly polluting industries, implementation of action plans for restoration of environmental quality in critically polluted areas, noise pollution control, municipal solid wastes and hazardous wastes.

The Annual Action Plan (AAP) for 2002-2003 is an attempt towards the target set in the Coimbatore Charter on Environment and Forests and to observe the effects of implemented programs for development of environment. During the year, following activities received major emphasis in preparation of inventory of polluting sources, Preparation of State of Environment Reports of State/major cities, epidemiological studies, performance evaluation of CETP/STP, Solid Waste Management (municipal, Biomedical and hazardous), plastic waste management, Vehicular and noise pollution control, Prevention and control of pollution in small scale industries, augmentation of existing air and water quality monitoring, network monitoring of updating of Action Plan for identified problem areas. In addition, emphasis has been given for bio-monitoring of national aquatic resources, monitoring of specific pollutant in ambient air, updating of information on web-site, participation of
NGOs/public in various pollution abatement programs and to effectively carryout mass awareness program. Proposals for strengthening of Zonal Offices with respect to building construction on acquired land have been made.

WATER QUALITY MONOTORING

National Water Quality Monitoring Programme

The water quality monitoring results obtained during 2001 indicated that faecal pollution, indicated by high BOD and high coliform density, continue to be the predominant source of pollution. This is mainly due to the large quantity of domestic wastewater being discharged. An attempt is made to classify the observations under different levels of pollution with respect to most critical parameters i.e. BOD, total & faecal Coliform. It is observed that 59% of the total 4119 observations taken on BOD during 2001 has BOD less than 3 mg/l, which is same as observed during the previous year. However, number of observations with
BOD more than 6 mg/l