Air & Water Pollution - CASE STUDY

Question 1

What is the name of the river which flows through Mumbai?

Answer 1

The River Mithi

Question 2

Why does the river contain untreated sewage, chemicals and disease causing microbes?

Answer 2

Citizens illegally dump raw sewage, industrial waste and municipal waste into the river.

Question 3

What else is dumped into the river?

Answer 3

Hazardous waste, such as zinc, lead and sulphates. Oily drums, animals and other vessels are also washed in the river.

Question 4

What are the solutions?

Answer 4

• The river channel was dredged to allow it to hold more water, also widened and obstacles removed.
• The banks were also smoothed near corners
• These changes allowed the river to flow into the sea more easily
• However, none of these made the river any cleaner, so waste discharges fro factories are now checked and public toilets built.

Question 5

Effects of air pollution:

Answer 5

• Can lead to acid rain, damaging building and vegetation
• Can cause health problems such as headaches and bronchitis
• Some pollutants destroy the ozone layer, which protects us from the sun’s harmful rays

Question 6

Effects of water pollution:

Answer 6

• Water pollution kills fish and other aquatic animals, disrupting food chains
• Harmful chemicals can build up in the food chain and poison humans who eat fish from polluted water
• Contamination of water supplies with sewage can spread diseases such as typhoid.

Question 7

Management of air pollution:

Answer 7

Air quality standards set for industries and constantly monitoring levels of pollutants

Question 8

Management of water pollution:

Answer 8

Involves building sewage treatment plants and passing laws to force factories to remove pollutants from their waste water

Question 9

Reasons for poor waste disposal:

Answer 9

• Money: poor countries cant afford to dispose of waste safely. There are more urgent things to spend money on eg. healthcare
• Infrastructure: poor countries don’t have the infrastructure needed, eg. poor roads in squatter settlements means that lorries cant get down them.
• Scale: the problem is huge. A large city will generate thousands of tonnes of waste every day.

Question 10

What is the main cause of air pollution in New Bombay?

Answer 10

Rubbish incineration by the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation)

Question 11

What are the effects of burning rubbish on the air?

Answer 11

• The level of cancer-causing particulate matter in the air has increased alarmingly in the last few years, now way over 10 times the safe limit of 150 micrograms
• Respiratory illnesses such an bronchitis and asthma are more common and in 2010, chlorine gas leaking from the Sewri industrial led to 86 people being hospitalised.

Question 12

How are pollution levels being targeted?

Answer 12

• A new metro system aims to encourage people to use public transport
• The city has also banned diesel as a fuel in all of its taxis. Many of Mumbai’s 58,000 taxis now use compressed gas instead.
• The main roads in and out of the city have been upgraded with over 55 new flyovers. Smoother flowing traffic means less congestion and less pollution.