Industrial Polluted Water example essay topic

. MAN... ENVIRONMENT... POLLUTION Y. PRAS ANNA KUMAR Department of Chemistry, College of Engineering, GIT AM, Visakhapatnam! V 530 045 Andhra Pradesh, India. Man is everywhere surrounded by a world of non-living materials and forces and a world of living forms that of plants and animals! V called the Biosphere.

These two together constitute the natural environment. At the beginning somehow or other, man could make adaptations to it. Gradually there were sociological, cultural, scientific and technological developments and the natural environment got polluted and slowly started becoming detrimental and unfavorable for human health. Man is now trying to get acclimatized to these unfavorable conditions, which are a very slow process. Before the environment becomes fully unsuitable for human existence, the environment has to be modified and pollution controlled.

Modification of the environment and controlling or preventing pollution means assuring necessary favorable contacts and minimizing the unfavorable. Its problems are manifold and to their solution bring in the resources of many of the fundamental branches of science. Hence the approach should be on a multidisciplinary basis for its solution. At the very foundation of this lie the Biological sciences, especially physiology and bacteriology.

The Biologists and Medical Practitioners are to find out the living causative's of deceases in the biosphere, their behavior and find out preventive measures in addition to supplying information to Engineers, Technologists and Basic Scientists for its control. Living agents do not only pollute the environment but also by non-living matter, for which information is needed from Basic Sciences. Now the Engineering principles and Techniques based upon biological and scientific data are employed in the specialized field of control of the environment with those modifications and protective and preventive measures that have been found desirable for providing optimum conditions for health and well-being. So then it becomes obligatory for inclusion of environmental education in all branches of Engineering and Technology, Medical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Basic Sciences and Social Sciences. Again every individual from birth to death is responsible for polluting the environment either deliberately or out of ignorance. For the former legal enforcements are required but for the latter enough education is necessary.

A primary school child does not know what is the harm in wearing dirty clothes or taking food with soiled hands. Similarly a countryside dweller does not know what harm he is causing to himself or to his society by burning bricks inside the community or by dumping cow dung or garbage near his house or on the roadside. For this, teaching of Environmental science is required at all levels of education, which has again to be intensified in rural areas all over India. Man is more a dissatisfied Socrates than a satisfied pig. His thirst for learning is a never-ending process. He, in due course, invented machine to minimize time and labour.

Thus came a period known as! yen Industrial revolution! | in the annals of human civilization. But alas! The after effect of the industries shattered the very fundamental purpose of the mankind. This after effect exploded a new challenge to the mankind known as Environmental Pollution. The environment is now conceived in terms of far broader than could have been imagined by a previous generation of planners. As with other areas of social endeavor and human intervention, there has been both a knowledge explosion and a painful awareness of the fact, that in the real world, everything is related to everything else.

And thus traditional thoughts and professional boundaries have been submerged under a tide of concern-improvement of the total environment affected by! yenPollution! |. The amount of oxygen available for is like a thin coat of varnish around the globe. We can live without food for five weeks, without water for five days but without air (oxygen) not even for five minutes.

Yet we don! |t bother for this valuable oxygen carrying air. Slowly the oxygen content in air reducing and is getting substituted by the dangerous gasses like carbonmonoxide, sulphurdioxide etc. thereby is making it unusable for us gradually. This gives rise to the problem Air Pollution. It is worthwhile to mention some of the recent comments on air pollution about the most civilized city of our country by leading news weekly, i. e., ! SSThe pollution of atmosphere at Bombay city due to large number of industries and BARC has converted it into a gas chamber having skyscrapers all around it acting as walls. To describe the agony of the inhabitants in this lovely city acting as a death hole, it mentioned again!" .

What does all this and portend except genocide of a whole city.! yen It adds citizens are literally sick with pollution, what with un-decarbonizes trucks, busses and automobiles rushing around filling its lungs with carbon monoxide. Buses run by BARC and TIER are the worst offenders exposing how indifferent even scientists are to human life and health. There never was a government or municipality which abdicated its responsibilities more that those that manage the affairs of this doomed city!" . The chief contributors to this air pollution are chimneys of many industries, thermal power station, paper plants, iron and steel industries, petrochemical complex, fertilizer plants and numerous chemical industries. Also numerous old vehicles, heavy vehicles add to pollution. The most common constituents responsible for air pollution are Carbonmonoxide, Sulphur dioxide, Oxides of Nitrogen, Hydrocarbons ash, Petrochemical Oxidants (O 3) and particulate matter.

Polluted air also contains carbon, ash oil, grease microscopic bits of metals and metal oxides. Among all these sulphurdioxide is the best-known and most widespread hazardous man-made pollutant. All the industrialized areas of the world that simultaneously happens to be densely populated, adverse concentration of SO 2 have been reported. Based on experimental work of Kuhn and Faller as well as Law ther and Bowel SO 2 concentration below 400 mg / m 3 can be tolerated by vegetation, animals and human beings.

Based on some recent data the maximum SO 2 concentration of Bombay is 456 mg / m 3. The annual rate of increase of SO 2 in the atmosphere is about 10 mg / m 3. EFFECTS: The ministry of labour, Government of U.K. have mentioned that low conch of SO 2 is irritant to the eyes, nose, throat and induces reflex coughing. At higher concentration it is likely to induce rapidly severe toxic effect. WHO has recorded SO 2 is a water-soluble gas that acts as a powerful irritant to the mucous membrane to the eyes and the upper respiratory. The possibility of particles of dust as smoke and H 2 SO 4 in some physical form may enhance the irritancy of SO 2.

SO 2 at 1 ppm has not shown ill effects on man. But it's a mixture of soot, the carbon particles suspended in fog droplets acts as synergists. SO 2 dissolves in this layer of fog water and with the surface of the carbon particles acting as a catalyst, SO 2 oxidizes to SO 3 (using oxygen from air), at much more rapid rate than when SO 2 is merely mixed with dry clean air. The SO 2 then formed immediately takes up water from wet carbon particles or from the fog droplets or from water vapor in the air to form Sulphuric acid (H 2 SO 4). So it depends on the humidity or amount of water vapor present in air (If the relative humidity is 50% roughly 1/5th of SO 2 changes to H 2 SO 4 at 90% about 3/4th).

A healthy person can breathe roughly 3 mg / m 3 of SO 2 or 1 mg / m 3 of H 2 SO 4 mist before toxic reactions occur on a dry day. But if the humidity raises SO 2 will change to H 2 SO 4. This is more toxic than 3 times the concentration of pure SO 2. Not only will SO 2 with moisture affect animal breathing but plants, buildings and textiles too. Air pollution is also a danger to the buildings.

Building materials are corroded and disfigured by SO 2 and SO 3. The presence of moisture with their gasses can react with limestone to form CaSO 4 (gypsum). These are soluble in works of art. The best example is the frieze on the Earthen on in Athens.

More ever, according to one information, by 1924, almost 30 tons of limestone had already crumbled loose from the British museum building due to Air pollution. Even Taj mahal is being attacked by SO 2. A synergistic action is going on there. However, 30 f'Yg / m 3 is said to be minimum to keep the polish and purity of marble. More would start eating away the marble. The presence of SO 2 generally results in accelerated corrosion.

The presence of moisture and dust further increases it. Atmosphere containing SO 2 has been found to be extremely corrosive, even more than that in moraine atmosphere. It is due to the excess presence of SO 2 the corrosion in carbon areas is more than that in rural areas. The solid particles, than various industrial activities contribute to this atmosphere, are often in the form of smoke. Some times the smoke is mixed with fog to produce the type of pollution called SMOG (smoke + fog). In these communities the presence of particles of soot and other polluting substances tends to increase the formation of fogs.

The particles provide centers on which the water vapor in the air can collect. As the smog blankets the community it holds in suspension the products of pollution and prevents them from escaping to the upper atmosphere. The inhabitants must breathe the polluted air long as the smog persists. Smog is particularly liable to develop in areas where temperature inversion takes place. Smog is frequent in Los-Angles where only for this reason. This is an atmospheric condition that often crises on calm, clear nights when the soil cools rapidly as heat radiates away from it.

REMEDY: Electrical precipitator can remove suspended particles from power station, cement industry that causes many lungs tremble. It is able to remove particles of less than one-micron diameter. Scrubbers can remove harmful gases. The undissolved gases like SO 2 are oxidized before it can be trapped in a scrubber. By this way the oxides of Nitrogen from Sulphuric acid plant, Fertilizers complex and Petrochemical complex can also be eliminated. The pollutants are generally grouped into two classes. (a) Dissolved solids, liquids and gases where the chemical species is present in ionic or molecular state. (b) Suspended solids or liquids (Known as settle ble solids and liquids) where the species exist as particles larger than single molecules we may follow any one or combination of some from the following processes for the removal of the material of the first category (a) Ion exchange (b) Reverse osmosis (c) Neutralization (d) Phenol destructions (e) Oxidation and reduction (f) Recovery of acids (g) Carbon absorption These are explained in!

SS Water Pollution!" . The carbon soot and unburnt gasoline from the exhaust pipes of vehicles also add substantially to air pollution. The main cause is due to incomplete combustion in old, outdated vehicles. So restrictions should be made on movement of such vehicles in populated areas.

This can also be done by improving the combustion in vehicles or installing after burner as in jet engines. Water Pollution: Water like air is also polluted by man himself, which is used by his fellowmen elsewhere sometimes. Most of our people drink water from wells, ponds, streams those are polluted with wastage materials of village or city. It is horrifying to see. Villagers using the same water in a pond for drinking purpose, which is also used for bathing, cleaning the domestic animals even cleaning the dirty clothes. The industries drain up their wastages to the nearest stream or river without a thought of danger, it will cause to the people, using the same water for drinking, bathing purpose.

A few examples show the alarming disaster waiting for us, if this water pollution is not properly dealt with. Mercury is thrown with the wastages from caustic soda and paper plant having mercury shell. It can damage man's nervous system, paralysis and painful death. Large amount of arsenic with wastages of Agro chemical industries produces death of aquatic animals. On 1973, Goa's lovely beach at Cola was littered with dying fishes. The mishap occurred when a pipe (from Zu ari Agro chemicals) carrying toxic wastes broke midway close to the shore.

Water pollution arises also due to sewage disposal in river, making its water unusable. Unpolluted river contains water with dissolved oxygen. The waste matter will use up the oxygen to decompose. When all the oxygen is used up then it cannot use by any living organism.

Especially fishes, which extract oxygen from water, will die. The disposal of ash from thermal power station and chemical wastages of paper plant when drained to the river, pollute the water. Mercury coming with the waste of caustic soda plant when mixes with river water kills many aquatic animal with causing nervous damage to human beings using the water. The exhaustion of oils and lubricating materials by the marine vessels has also made a threat to the life of aquatic animals and the swimmers. The oil layer will act as a thin layer of impenetrable layer for air to come in contact with water. By this it becomes a death trap for aquatic animals.

Recently one alarming news is obtained from the environmental source of U.N.C.E. the seawater is getting polluted day by day. The oil and coal tar floating over Medit are indestructible by any means. Almost 90% polluted water from 10 cities is getting mixed with this seawater. The swimmers are likely to be affected by this. Similar cases are also happening at other seas also.

It is seen that the wastes of plastic industry of Hong Kong are floating around the sea near East Asia, heavy metals are spreading around Japan. Even it is seen that fertilizers are floating in Indian Ocean due to leakage and breakage of tankers, almost 25000 tons of oil are emptied to all the seas. The extent of pollution is measured by two main factors i.e. Suspended solids and Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Also the pollution caused by Ordinary man, Laundryman, Creamery, Leather, Textile, Paper Industries are also measured by another parameter called! SS equivalent population. !" Due to limited reserve of freshwater in the earth the pollution should be tackled in two ways i.e. Minimum waste of freshwater and reuse of polluted water.

The reuse of water is a good answer to further increase of water pollution. A simple example being the water circulates for cooling purpose can be reused many times. The purification of polluted water can be done by several ways as mentioned before. Ion exchange has been used for the de ionisation of water for the past several decades. Now efforts are going on to make tailor made ion exchange polymers which will be specific for particular group of ions. We know that if a dilute and concentrated liquid are separated by a membrane the solvent of the dilute liquid passes on through the membrane to that of the concentrated liquid.

This is the process commonly known as OSMOSIS. If however, pressure is applied on the concentrated solution side, an opposing flow takes place resulting reverse osmosis. It can be seen that the solute particles gets concentrated in more concentrated solution side. This process is known as super filtration or hyper filtration. Here, the only difficulty is the comparative high cost of the membrane. But this technical barrier should not be barrier in this modern age.

Reuse of this polluted water can be done in sewage disposal plant. Screening or settling can remove the suspended particles. But the chemicals present in polluted water can only be removed by chemical treatment. A crude method can be done for purification of polluted water like passing it through intermittent sand filter. Various new chemical treatments have to be done to purify the industrial polluted water. NEERI has found an easy way to recover the usable water from polluted water.

This is inexpensive and easy to work. They are called Stabilization pond, aerated lagoon and Oxidation ditch. Here the wastages i.e. polluted water is kept in a shallow pond exposed to enough sunlight. According to Dr. G.K. Seth of NEERI! SS when exposed to sunlight, algal and bacteria are formed. Through the natural process of self purification, the bacteria speedily digest the organic waste and render it harmless.

The effluent can be used for fish culture and irrigation farm land without any danger of pollution. The sewage can be used for irrigating farms since it contains Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium which will enrich the soil. Fish farm can also be developed in suitably treated sewage water. Even some of the useful material can be recovered from the pollutants.

For example The Union carbide India Ltd. at Chem bur, is processing 4.5 million liters of domestic sewage water everyday through its sewage treatment and water treatment and water treatment plants and producing water of an acceptable quality for cooling processing and air-conditioning purpose. Even in many advanced countries the urban drainage and sewage water is processed by physio-chemical methods of treatment and chemical treatment for use as irrigation water. CONCLUSIONS: Thus as we find, the problem of! yen Environmental pollution! | leads us to a stage of dilemma as to the very existence of the future generation in our beloved planet. To be frank enough this is due to the lack of co-operation in between the researcher and the man in the industry. The researcher is completely engrossed in work, may be fundamental, but often receptive and isolated from the needs of the country. The profit mongering man in the industry, on the other hand, is so completely production oriented that he feels works in those areas to be largely counter productive, and so is least interested about the Pollution!

|. To get rid of such a ghastly problem like! yenPollution! | it is high time, that the two should come forward and join their hands. The man in the industry should not only be production oriented, but also, help the researcher in money and materials. The researcher besides suggesting the ways to better the production of the industry should also emphasize the after effect of the industry thereby saving the! SS much talked civilization of ours!" from the great hazard of! SS Pollution!" .

The pollution control cannot be achieved only by individuals but has to be subject to public-control, which can be made more thorough, efficient and economical than individual control Administrative bodies should act as watch-dogs by setting safety limits for all pollution factors by legal means and making the possible violation of the limit, punishable by law. But all along the responsibility of studying the biological facts and engineering principles that have been or may be employed in its solution lies with all educationists.

Bibliography

1. Chemical Age of India March, April, May 1999.2. Popular Science Mc. Grow Hill 3. Environmental Science 4.! SSThe Blitz!" 5.! SSThe illustrated Weekly of India!" 6.! yen The Samaj! |.