Environmental issues in Delhi

Environmental problems in Delhi, India, are a threat to the well-being of the city's and area's inhabitants as well as the flora and fauna. Delhi, the eighth-most populated metropolis in the world, is one of the most heavily polluted cities in India,^[1] having for instance one of the country's highest volumes of particulate matter pollution.^[2]

Overpopulation and the ensuing overuse of scarce resources such as water put heavy pressure on the environment. The city suffers from air pollution caused by road dust and industry,^[3] with comparatively smaller contributions from unclean engines in transportation, especially diesel-powered city buses and trucks, and 2-wheelers and 3-wheelers with two-stroke engines.^[4] Noise pollution comes mainly from motorcycle and automobile traffic.^[5] Water pollution and a lack of solid waste treatment facilities have caused serious damage to the river on whose banks Delhi grew, the Yamuna. Besides human and environmental damage, pollution has caused economic damage as well; Delhi may have lost the competition to host the 2014 Asian Games because of its poor environment.^[6]

Water pollution

Yamuna river

See also: Yamuna Action Plan

The river Yamuna, the reason for Delhi's existence, has suffered heavily from pollution. At its point of entry into Delhi, at Wazirabad, its dissolved oxygen (DO) content is 7.5 milligrammes per litre. At its point of exit from city limits, the DO level is only 1.3 mg/l. Similarly, coliform counts jump from 8,500 per 100 ml at entry to 329,312/100ml at exit (for DO 5 mg/litre is the norm and for coliforms 500/100ml).^[7] In 2007, roughly half of all the city's raw sewage went straight into the river. 55% of the city's 15 million people are connected to the city's sewer system and its treatment plants, but because of corrosion and clogging in the system many of the treatment plants do not run at full capacity. Waste from 1,500 unplanned neighborhoods runs straight into the river.^[8]

The Supreme Court of India took up the issue in 1994 after reports in the press,^[8] and since 2001 is actively monitoring the river and the city's efforts to clean it; in 2011, the national government announced a Rs 1,357 core drain interceptor plan (all waste water is to be cleaned before it reaches the river) that would clean up the river by 2014.^[9]

Water sources

Underground hydrological resources are a substantial supplemental source of water in Delhi, especially in the affluent sections of the city. In the residential plots called ‘farmhouses’ almost every household draws from this resource. Though water-storing rocks, i.e. aquifers, are renewed as surface rain-water percolates down, they are not inexhaustible. Delhi’s aquifers stand in danger of depletion on account of excessive use. Furthermore, rampant construction activity has contaminated them with cement, paints, varnishes and other construction materials; leaky, poorly constructed and maintained sewage lines have added to the contamination. This is an irremediable loss, as aquifers, once polluted, cannot be decontaminated; they have no exposure to air and sunlight or to micro-organisms which clear-up chemical or biological pollutants.^[10]

Contributing further to underground water degradation are Delhi’s mushrooming landfill sites. Waste material leeches underground, contaminating aquifers. Besides, land-fill sites degrade land. Delhi has twenty-five landfill sites, and more are planned.^[11]

Loss of flora and fauna

There is significant dispute over the extent of the city's green cover. City authorities claimed in 2008 that the green cover had increased from 26 sq. km to 300 sq. km; moreover, the Delhi Forest Act stipulated that for every felled tree ten saplings need to be planted. Critics point out that the data as well as the meaning of "green cover" are unclear. The actual increase may be only half of what was claimed, and there are estimates that some 100,000 trees had been cut in Delhi, due in part to the construction of the Delhi Metro and the Delhi Bus Rapid Transit System.^[12]

Air pollution

Air pollution in Delhi is caused mainly by industry and vehicular traffic.^[3] As many as 10,000 people a year may die prematurely in Delhi as a result of air pollution.^[13] The 1997 White Paper sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests already proposed various measures to bring down pollution caused by traffic, including smoothing the flow of traffic with parking regulations and bringing down total traffic by mandatory limits on driving.^[14] City authorities claim to have had some success in bringing down air pollution; for instance, during the bidding process for the 2014 Asian Games, the city's organizing committee had claimed that "pollution levels had come down drastically in Delhi with the arrival of Metro rail as well as all public transport vehicle being run compulsorily on compressed natural gas."^[6]

Contrary to popular belief, most of the air pollution in Delhi is not due to vehicular traffic. Main contributors to particulate matter in the PM10 range, as a recent study shows, are road dust (50%) and industry (23%)--vehicles accounted for only 7%. Among industrial contributors, power plants within Delhi city limits were the main culprits.^[3]

Proposed solutions

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is charged with providing "lung spaces." Of the city's 44777 hectares, 8422 hectares are reserved for "the Greens", of which the DDA manages more than 5050 hectares.^[15] There is a policy for afforestation, atmospheric pollution, bio-medical waste, domestic refuse, and water and sewage treatment. Additionally, there are action plans to encourage public participation in environmental problems.^[16]

Given the continued growth of the city and its population, problems are tackled only with difficulty--for instance, the Yamuna clean-up projects spent $500 million between 1993 and 2005, yet the river's pollution actually doubled during this same period.^[8]

References

Notes

1. ^ "‘Delhi most polluted among mega cities’". The Hindu. 17 September 2007. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/09/17/stories/2007091750901900.htm. Retrieved 19 January 2011. 
2. ^ "Kanpur tops air pollution chart". Times of India. 19 January 2011. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Kanpur-tops-air-pollution-chart/articleshow/7315560.cms. Retrieved 19 January 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Chauhan, Chetan (17 January 2011). "Blame industry, not cars, for pollution". Hindustan Times. http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/NewDelhi/Blame-industry-not-cars-for-pollution/Article1-651549.aspx. Retrieved 19 January 2011. 
4. ^ White Paper on Pollution in Delhi section 2.
5. ^ White Paper on Pollution in Delhi section 7.
6. ^ ^{a b} "Pollution, traffic may have cost Delhi the Asian Games". Times of India. 18 April 2007. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Pollution-traffic-may-have-cost-Delhi-the-Asian-Games/articleshow/1921506.cms. Retrieved 19 January 2011. 
7. ^ White Paper on Pollution in Delhi section 4.1.
8. ^ ^{a b c} Pepper, Daniel (4 June 2007). "India's rivers are drowning in pollution". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/06/11/100083453/index.htm. Retrieved 19 January 2011. 
9. ^ "Yamuna pollution to be checked by 2014: Delhi govt". Times of India. 18 January 2011. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/TNN17yamunatimcleared-by-tandon-2125------------/articleshow/7306667.cms. Retrieved 19 January 2011. 
10. ^ C J Barrow, Environment Management and Development, London: Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0415280834
11. ^ White Paper on Pollution in Delhi section 5.
12. ^ Koshy, Jacob P. (26 November 2008). "Cong claim on green cover in Delhi looks highly inflated". Livemint. http://www.livemint.com/2008/11/26003327/Cong-claim-on-green-cover-in-D.html. Retrieved 19 January 2011. 
13. ^ Faiz, A.; P.J. Sturm. "New Directions: Air Pollution and Road Traffic in Developing Countries". In Jill Austin, Peter Brimblecombe, William Sturges. Air pollution science for the 21st century. Elsevier. pp. 241–44. ISBN 9780080441191. http://books.google.com/books?id=r7QAHS1hC5wC&pg=PA242. 
14. ^ White Paper on Pollution in Delhi section 10.
15. ^ "Environment". Delhi Development Authority. http://www.dda.org.in/greens/environment.htm. Retrieved 19 January 2011. 
16. ^ White Paper on Pollution in Delhi section 9.

Bibliography

• "White Paper on Pollution in Delhi with an Action Plan". Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi. http://envfor.nic.in/divisions/cpoll/delpolln.html. Retrieved 19 January 2011.