Environmental Science

Dr. Harihara Padhy, Ph.D.

Department of Chemistry
VIT Bhopal University
 EVS- An Insight
Module-1: Ecosystem: Key environmental problems and their basic causes; Ecosystem, earth – life
support system and ecosystem components; Energy flow in ecosystem; Ecological succession; Nutrient,
Till phosphorous, carbon, nitrogen, cycles; Effect of human activities on these cycles. Urban ecology.
CAT1 Module-2: Biodiversity: Importance, types, mega-biodiversity; Species interaction - Extinct,
endemic, endangered and rare species; Hot-spots; GM crops; Threats to biodiversity: Natural and
anthropogenic activities; Conservation: Terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity.
Module-3: Environmental pollution and climate change: Environmental hazards: Biological,
Chemical, Nuclear; Risk and evaluation of hazards; Types of pollution: Air and water – Pollution sources,
effects and mitigation. Water quality management and its conservation; Water footprint and virtual water,
Solid waste management; Climate disruption and ozone depletion (Kyoto protocol, Carbon sequestration
CAT1 methods and Montreal Protocol –Effect of climate change on lives on earth. Carbon credit, carbon audit.
to Module 4: Natural Resources: Water resources – properties of water, pH, conductivity, colour,
CAT2 use of surface and subsurface water; Water contamination from industries, Domestic water pollution.
Water management practices. Energy resources - oil, Natural gas, Coal, Nuclear energy. Energy
efficiency and renewable energy. Solar energy, Hydroelectric power, Ocean thermal energy, Wind and
geothermal energy. Energy from biomass, solar-Hydrogen revolution. Natural resources and economics of
India.
Module-5: Environmental Impact Assessment: Introduction to environmental impact analysis.
EIA guidelines, Notification of Government of India (Environmental Protection Act – Air, water, forest
CAT2 and wild life). Impact assessment methodologies. Public awareness. Environmental priorities in India and
to sustainable development. Importance of Agriculture.
FAT Module-6: Human Population and Environment :Urban environmental problems; Consumerism and
waste products; Promotion of economic development – Impact of population age structure – Women and
child welfare, Women empowerment. Sustaining human societies: Economics, environment, policies and
education.
 Module-5: Environmental Impact Assessment
•Introduction to environmental impact analysis. EIA
guidelines,
•Notification of Government of India (Environmental
Protection Act – Air, water, forest and wild life).
•Impact assessment methodologies. Public awareness.
•Environmental priorities in India and sustainable
development. Importance of Agriculture.
 Introduction
• Every country strives to progress:
– economic development through manufacturing and trading.
• Every country want to give employment:
– builds industries, serve the consumers needs and help to generate
revenue.
• Development projects in the past:
– without any consideration to their environmental consequences;
pollution reached at threatening level.
– Industrialization and economic growth provided material
comforts and luxuries of life but at the same time deteriorated
the quality of life.
• people are now concerned about the environmental
impact of developmental projects.
 What is EIA?
• Environment Impact Assessment or EIA can be defined as
the study to predict the effect of a proposed
activity/project on the environment.
• EIA is a tool that links the environment with developmental
activities.
• It is an assessment of the impact of social development on
environmental health.
• It ensures that the development of a project is
environmentally sound and sustainable.
• The Ministry of Environment and Forest under the
Environmental Protection Act of 1986, initiated the
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in 1994. It was
reengineered in 2006.
 OBJECTIVES
• protecting the environmental side by side with industrial
development;

• define the concept, methods, procedures and legal aspect

of EIA;

• enumerate how undesirable impacts of developmental

projects can be anticipated and also overcome;

• state about alternate scenario of evaluation of EIA;

 Important aspects of EIA

❖ risk assessment,
❖ environmental management and
❖ post product monitoring.
❖ EIA provides a cost effective method to eliminate or minimize
the adverse impact of development projects.
 Legal bases of EIA
EIA is to-
• serve as a primary environmental tool with clear
provisions.
• apply consistently to all proposals with potential
environmental impacts.
• use scientific practice and suggests strategies for
mitigation.
• address all possible factors such as short term, long term,
small scale and large scale effects.
• lay down a flexible approach with and provides for public
involvement.
• include mechanisms for monitoring, auditing and
evaluation.
 ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE
• Environmental clearance granted by the EIA Agency in the
Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government
of India.
• Category and its approval
– Category A projects: At Central level MOEF, based on decisions of Expert
Appraisal Committee (EAC)
– Category B projects: At state level, the State Environment Impact
Assessment Authority (SEIAA), based on decision of a State level
Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) as to be constituted for in
this notification
• Who require EIA
– Construction of new projects or activities
– Expansion or modernization of existing projects or activities
– Change in process and or technology
 Categories
categorized in to two categories - Category A and Category B, based on the
spatial extent of potential impacts and potential impacts on human health and
natural and man made resources

EIA notification
 ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE FROM CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

1. Nuclear Power
2. River Valley projects
3. Ports, Harbours, Airports
4. Petroleum Refineries
5. Chemical Fertilizers
6. Bulk drugs and pharmaceuticals.
7. Synthetic Rubber.
8. Asbestos and Asbestos products.
9. Hydrocyanic acid and its derivatives.
10. Primary metallurgical industries

11. Chlro alkali industry.

 WHAT ALL IS ASSESSED IN EIA
• Existing environmental status.
• various factors of ecosystem (air, water, land,
biological).
• Analysis of adverse environmental impacts of the
proposed project to be started.
• Impact on people in the neighborhood.
• Environmental Impact Value

Vi = Relative change of the environmental quality of parameters;

Wi= Relative importance or weight or parameter;
N = total number of environmental parameters
 Steps involved in the EIA process:
1. Screening: it takes into account whether a project requires environmental
clearance or not.
2. Scoping: it is the preliminary assessment. It scans the Ministry’s guidelines to
see which significant issues are to be addressed in the EIA study.
3. Baseline Data: it monitors the existing data and the environmental status of
the area under study. It learns it and supplements it with secondary data.
4. Impact prediction: it is the most important analysis. It involves assessment of
impacts of projects. Impacts can be:
direct, indirect or Cumulative impact AND Positive/negative, Reversible/irreversible
5. Mitigation measures and EIA report: it involves the possible alternatives
6. Public Hearing Law: the public has to be informed and consulted on any
development after the completion of EIA report through local associations,
environmental groups, etc.
7. Decision Making: it involves the consultation between the project proponent
and the impact assessment authority.
8. Monitoring as per the clearance conditions: it has to be done during both
construction and operation phases of the project.
9. Risk assessment: it mainly involves the hazard identifications including any
probability of natural hazards.
 Steps
• Services of EIA Consultant (registered with MOEF) is mandatory.
• Online and Hard copies of Form1 submission to MOEF website.
• Acceptance of form1 by MOEF in 15 days time.
• Committee has 10 to 15 experts on air pollution, water pollution, meteorology, mining,
flora-fauna, CSR etc.
• After collections of 3 months baseline data, EIA report is prepared.
• Report is submitted to Pollution Control Board; PCB organizes public hearing within 45 days.
• Proposals, objections, suggestions of community is recorded (video) .
• Final EIA report with minutes of public hearing is submitted to MOEF.
• MOEF invites project proponent to make presentation to expert committee.
• Committee evaluates EIA report, impacts on environment and community.
• Committee may ask to submit more information and after complete evaluation grants EC or
reject the proposal.
• EC shall be valid for a period of five to thirty years.
• It shall be mandatory for the project management to submit half-yearly compliance reports

EIA notification
Guidelines
Guidelines
Coordination and follow-up with statutory authorities.
• Pollution control board
• MOEF
• Forest Department
• Mining Department
• CGWA
• District Collector
• Localities
 Guidelines for Location of industry
• To avoid use of Agricultural land/forest land for
industrial site as far as possible.
• Minimum - 500 meters from highways and railway line.
• 25 km from Major Settlements (3,00,000 population) .
• 1/2 km from the high tide line as per CRZ notification.
• 200 meters from the estuary boundaries.
• 500 meters from flood plain.
• Land Size - adequate to provide green belt ,solid
waste etc.
• Plant Layout must conform to the landscape of the
surrounding area.
 History of EIA in India
It started in 1976-77 when the Planning Commission asked the Department of Science
and Technology to examine the river-valley projects from an environmental angle. This
was subsequently extended to cover those projects, which required the approval of the
Public Investment Board. Till 1994, environmental clearance from the Central
Government was an administrative decision and lacked legislative support.
On 27 January 1994, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF), Government
of India, under the Environmental (Protection) Act 1986, promulgated an EIA
notification making Environmental Clearance (EC) mandatory for expansion or
modernisation of any activity or for setting up new projects listed in Schedule 1 of the
notification. Since then there have been 12 amendments made in the EIA notification of
1994.
The MoEF recently notified new EIA legislation in September 2006. The notification
makes it mandatory for various projects such as mining, thermal power plants, river
valley, infrastructure (road, highway, ports, harbours and airports) and industries
including very small electroplating or foundry units to get environment clearance.
However, unlike the EIA Notification of 1994, the new legislation has put the onus of
clearing projects on the state government depending on the size/capacity of the project.
Certain activities permissible under the Coastal Regulation Zone Act, 1991 also require
similar clearance. Additionally, donor agencies operating in India like the World Bank
and the ADB have a different set of requirements for giving environmental clearance to
projects that are funded by them.
 Forms of impact assessment
Social Impact Assessment
Risk Assessment
Life Cycle Analysis
Energy Analysis
Health Impact Assessment
Regulatory Impact Assessment
Species Impact Assessment
Technology Assessment
Economic Assessment
Cumulative Impact Assessment
Strategic Environmental Assessment
Integrated Impact Assessment
 Environmental protection Acts
1. Air
2. Water
3. Wildlife
4. Forest Conservation Acts
5. Public environmental awareness
 Facts about Indian Pollution
India is the seventh most environmentally
unsafe country in the world.
❖ Most of the industries do not stick to the environmental
guidelines, regulations and laws.
❖ It has been found out that lungs of a non smoker Indian
performs 30% less than a European because of pollution.
❖ Among hospitalized children in India, 13% deaths are
caused by the acute respiratory infection.
❖ Because of high vehicular pollution, Delhi school children
show poor lung function

‘Prevention is better than cure’

 The Air Act
• Air pollution is more acute in heavily industrialised areas
and densely populated places.
• The presence in air, beyond certain limits, of various
pollutants has a detrimental effect on the humans,
animals, vegetation and property.
• In the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in
Stockholm in June, 1972, decisions were taken to take
appropriate steps for the preservation quality of air and
control of air pollution.
• It is felt that there should be an integrated approach for
tackling the environmental problems relating to pollution.
• It is, therefore, proposed that the Central and/or State
Board for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution.
 The Air Act
1981
• An Act to provide for the prevention, control and
abatement of air pollution, for the establishment,
and functions relating thereto and for matters
connecting therewith.

• The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act was

enacted in 1981 and amended in 1987 to provide for
the prevention, control and abatement of air pollution
in India.

Air (Prevention and control of Pollution) Act 1981

 Functions of Pollution Control Boards
Prevention, control or abatement of air pollution
• to plan and execute a comprehensive programme
• to advise the State Government for the prevention or
control of Air pollution
• to verify the suitability of any location for industry which
is likely to cause air pollution
• to collect and distribute information relating to air
pollution;
• to collaborate and to organize mass-education programme
• to inspect air pollution control areas, industrial plant or
manufacturing process
 Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
1. Pollution control boards at Centre and state level have
regulatory authority to implement the air act.

2. Under section 17, the board can monitor the emissions

from an industry on a regular basis and control, penalise
etc.

3. Section 20, ensures the emission control from

automobiles

4. Under Section 19, an area can be protected as pollution

free.

Air (Prevention and control of Pollution) Act 1981

 National Ambient Air Quality Standards
• The Ministry of Environment and
Forest (MoEF), Govt of India in 2009
have notified the National Ambient
Air Quality Standards by amending
the Environment (Protection) Rules
1986.

• Two areas
– Industrial , Residential , Rural, and
other areas
– Ecologically Sensitive Area

• Ambient air quality data generated

under National Ambient Air Quality
Monitoring Programme (NAMP)
NAAQS
 Ambient Air Quality Monitoring

RSPM values have exceeded the national limit (60.0 μg/M3) in all measured years
whereas SO2 and NOx are within the limit during the period 2006-2013.
High levels of RSPM may be due to the construction activities and vehicular movement
and road dust.
 The Water
• The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act was enacted in
1974 to provide for the prevention and control of water pollution,
and for the maintaining or restoring of wholesomeness of water in
the country.
• The Act was amended in 1988. The Water (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Cess Act was enacted in 1977, to provide for the levy and
collection of a cess on water consumed by persons operating and
carrying on certain types of industrial activities.
• This cess is collected with a view to augment the resources of the
Central Board and the State Boards for the prevention and control of
water pollution.

THE WATER ACT

 THE WATER (PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION) CESS ACT, 1977

• There shall be imposed and collected a cess for the purpose of the
Water and utilization there under.
• The cess shall be payable by--
– every person carrying on any specified industry;

– every local authority,

• For the purpose of measuring and recording the quantity of water

consumed, every person carrying on any specified industry and
every local authority shall affix meters.
• Person or local authority, installs any plant for the treatment of
sewage, be entitled to a rebate of twenty five per cent of the cess .
• INTEREST PAYABLE FOR DELAY IN PAYMENT OF CESS
• PENALTY OF AMOUNT DUE UNDER THE ACT
 THE WATER (PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION) CESS ACT, 1977

The Central Government shall take into consideration

• the nature of raw material used;
• the nature of manufacturing process employed;
• the nature of waste generated;
• the source of water extraction;
• the nature of waste receiving bodies;
• the production data, including water consumption per unit
production, in the industry
• the location of the industry.
 Water Cess
Purpose for which water is Maximum rate under Maximum rate under
consumed sub-section (2) of Sub-section (2A) of
section 3 Section 3
1. Industrial cooling, spraying in Five paise per kilolitre Ten paise Per kilolitre.
mine pits or boiler feeds
2. Domestic purpose Two paise per kilolitre Three paise per kilolitre.
3. Processing whereby water gets
polluted and the pollutants are Ten paise per kilolitre Twenty paise per
kilolitre.
easily biodegradable; or non
toxic;
4. Processing whereby water gets
polluted and the pollutants are Fifteen paise per kilolitre
not easily biodegradable; or
toxic; Thirty paise per kilolitre."
 Wildlife
• The Government of India enacted Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972
with the objective of effectively protecting the wild life of this
country and to control poaching, smuggling and illegal trade in
wildlife and its derivatives.

• The Act was amended in January 2003 and punishment and

penalty for offences under the Act have been made more
stringent.

• The objective is to provide protection to the listed endangered

flora and fauna and ecologically important protected areas.
 THE WILDLIFE (PROTECTION) ACT, 1972
• “animal” includes amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles, and
their young, and their eggs.
• The Central Government, for the purposes of this Act appoint, a
Director, Assistant Directors and other officers for Wildlife
Preservation;
• Constitution of the Wildlife Advisory Board: Minister in charge of
Forest,2 MLA, Forest secretary, etc.:
– meet at least twice a year

– regulate its own procedure

– Decides areas to be declared as Sanctuaries, National Parks, and Closed Areas

THE WILDLIFE (PROTECTION) ACT, 1972

 THE WILDLIFE (PROTECTION) ACT, 1972
• Prohibition of Hunting:
– Hunting of Wild animals to be permitted in certain cases; wild
animal become dangerous to human life or is so disabled or
diseased as to be beyond recovery.
– Any wild animal killed or wounded in defence of any person shall
be Government property.
– Grant of permit for special purposes: Education or research
• Wild Animal, etc. to be Government property.
• Prohibition of picking, uprooting, etc., of specified plants.
– Grant of permit for special purposes: Education or research
• Cultivation of specified plants without licence prohibited.
• Dealing in specified plants without licence prohibited.
 Sanctuaries, National Park, and Closed Areas
• Declaration of Sanctuary.
– The State Government declare any area as Sanctuary for the
purpose of protecting, propagating or developing wildlife or its
environment.

• Declaration of National Parks.

– an area, by reason of its ecological, faunal, floral,
geomorphological, or zoological association or importance,
needed to be constituted as a National Park for the purpose of
protecting, propagating or developing wildlife therein or its
environment.

• Declaration of closed area.

– State Government, by notification, declare any area closed to
hunting for such period as may be specified in the notification.
 Forest Conservation Act
• The Forest Conservation Act 1980 was enacted to help conserve
the country's forests.

• It strictly restricts and regulates the de-reservation of forests or

use of forest land for non-forest purposes without the prior
approval of Central Government.

• To this end the Act lays down the pre-requisites for the diversion
of forest land for non-forest purposes.
• Restriction on the dereservation of forests or use of forest land for
non-forest purpose
• Penalty for contravention of the provisions of the Act.

• Power to make rules by central or state govt.

 Environment Priorities in India
• Population Stabilization
• Human Settlement and Public Health
• Natural Resource Assessment and Management
• Environmental Laws and Regulations and Strategies
• Environmental Education and Awareness.
• Upgrade sewage treatment plants.
• Protect and restore our fragile wetlands.
• Prevent polluted run-off from farms, industry and streets.
One suggestion:

Make polluters accountable for

clean-up and restoration!!!
Public environmental awareness
It can be created through formal and informal
education to all sections of the society
Among students through education via school
college curriculum
Among the public or common man through media
Among the planners, decision makers and leaders
THANK YOU