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NREE - CHapter 5
NREE - CHapter 5
NREE - CHapter 5
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5.1. Definition and Classification of Pollution
Pollution: Definition and Concept
Pollution is a process in which waste that has been disposed off in the
air, in water or land, and that reduces the value of those resources in
alternative uses.
For example, although the substances themselves are not harmful ,the
nitrogen oxides produced by industry are often referred to as pollutant. In
fact, it is solar energy (sunlight) that converts these compounds to smog.
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Cont’d
Taxonomy of Pollutant and Pollution
Generally, pollutants are classified in to two as stock and fund
pollutants.
Pollutants for which the env’t has little or no absorptive capacity are
called stock pollutants (PoP = Persistence organic pollutant).
Examples are non biodegradable bottles, heavy metals such as lead,
plastics, nuclear wastes, and synthetic chemicals, .
Pollutants for which the env’t has some absorptive capacity are called
fund pollutants NPoP = Non- Persistence organic pollutant).
Example are organic substances.
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. . . Con’d
Classification of Pollution
Essentially, there are different types of pollution. Yet, let wee focus on the ff:
i) Air pollution: It is the addition of harmful chemicals to the atmosphere.
Alternatively, it can be defined as any atmospheric condition in which
substances are present at concentrations, above their normal ambient
levels, to produce measurable adverse effect on man, animal, vegetation or
materials.
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. . . Con’d
ii) Water pollution: Water is polluted if certain substances or physical
factors affect the quality of water and functioning of ecosystem and as a
result, the use of water for particular purpose is restricted
Water pollution is not only confined to surface water but also spread to
groundwater, sea and ocean.
Water pollution sources are classified in to two as:
Point source pollution: includes
o agricultural wastewater
o oil and oil product pipelines
o pipes for draining treated or untreated urban or factory wastewater into
reservoirs, rivers, lakes and seas
• Non-Point source pollution: these sources are dissipated, and it is
much more difficult to identify and assess them. Typically includes,
• runoff from agricultural fields
• drainage from landfills
• surface runoff from building areas
• runoff from abandoned and active mining sites and quarries
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Cont’d
iii) Soil pollution: addition of unwanted substances to the soil w/c
negatively affects physical, chemical and biological properties of soil and
reduces its productivity is called soil pollution.
The factors which disturb the biological balance of the soil and
deteriorate the quality, texture and mineral content are called soil
pollutants
Control measures
Afforestation, reforestation and use of organic farming.
Solid waste management and reduction of waste from the construction area.
Stop the use of plastic bags and use bags of degradable materials like paper
Biomedical waste should be collected and incinerated in incinerators.
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. . . Con’d
iv) Sound Pollution: When unpleasant noise is created by machines or
people which is annoying, distracting and physically painful then it is
called noise pollution.
In fact, sound is measured in decibels (dB), a person’s hearing can be
damaged if exposed to noise levels over 75 dB over a period of time.
WHO recommends 30 dB sound levels for indoor.
Outdoor sources
It includes loudspeakers, industrial activities, automobiles, rail traffic,
aero-planes and activities in social, and religious places etc.
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Cont’d
V) Radioactive Pollution: is a phenomenon of emission of alpha, beta and
gamma rays due to the disintegration of atomic nuclei of some elements.
There are many ways of radiation pollution like nuclear wastes from
nuclear power plants, mining and processing of nuclear material etc
Sources:
Natural sources: cosmic rays from space and terrestrial radiation in
earth’s crust etc.
Man-made sources: nuclear power plant, disposal of nuclear waste,
nuclear transportation, uranium mining and nuclear weapons etc.
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5.2. The efficient allocation of pollution
Since it is hardly possible to have zero level of pollution, we
should have to determine the optimum level of it to protect the
environment.
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Cont’d
Do you recall how we determine the efficient allocation of resources
from your course of Microeconomics?
The efficient level pollution (or the optimal level of pollution) occurs
where the marginal abatement cost (MAC) is just equal to the marginal
damage cost (MDC).
Graphically
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. . . Con’d
Graphically,
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Cont’d
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Cont’d
At points less than Q*, say at point A above, it is the case that amount spent
on controlling pollution (MAC) is greater than the damage due to pollution
(MDC).
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Cont’d
On the other hands, at points greater than Q*, say point B above, it is
the case that the damage caused by pollution (MDC) is greater than
the amount spent on controlling pollution (MAC).
Hence, equilibrium will occur at Q*, where MAC = MDC, because that
is where the market forces of MAC and MDC will be balanced such
that there is no incentive to change.
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. . . Con’d
The Ecologist operates at X because they have zero tolerance for
damage due to pollution.
The economic optimum occurs where MAC =MDC (or at Q*). At this
point, the damage is not zero, nor the amount be paid for contorting
is zero.
The diagram suggests that, the optimal level of pollution is not
zero.
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5.3. Environmental Policy Instruments
As we discussed earlier efficiency is achieved when the marginal cost of
control (MCC) = Marginal damage cost (MDC) caused by the pollution
of each emitter.
However, while the efficient levels of policy instruments (by setting
Q*) can be easily defined in principle, they are very difficult to
implement in practice.
To implement, we must know the level of pollution at which the two marginal
cost curves cross for every emitter.
That is a tall order, one that imposes an unrealistically high information
burden on control authorities. Means, control authorities typically have
very poor information on control costs and little reliable information on
marginal damage functions.
So, env’tal authorities prefer the cost minimization (or setting the
thresholds to select specific legal levels of pollution that provide
adequate margins of safety for human or ecological health) or the
cost-effectiveness criterion.
The policy instruments to reduce pollution are:
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. . . Con’d
1) Emission standards (Command-and-Control)
An emission standard is a legal limit on the amount of the
pollutant an individual source is allowed to emit.
Emission standards are supported by enforcement or high punishment to
those violate the standard (the controlled quantity).
Three commonly used command and control instruments are
A) Non-transferable emissions licenses: Once the EPA is committed to
attaining some overall emissions target for a particular kind of pollutant, and
after adopting some criterion for apportioning licenses among the individual
sources, the EPA distributes licenses to emissions sources. But, the licenses
cannot be transferred (exchanged) between firms: each firm’s initial
allocation of pollution licenses sets the maximum amount of emissions that
it is allowed.
B) Instruments which impose minimum technology requirements: it is
specifying required characteristics of production processes or capital
equipment used. In other words, minimum technology requirements are
imposed upon potential polluters.
C) Location: dislocation of peoples form pollution place or vice versa
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Cont’d
2. Economic incentive instruments: Command and control instruments
operate by imposing mandatory obligations or restrictions on the
behavior of firms and individuals. But, this instruments work by creating
incentives for individuals or firms to voluntarily change their behavior.
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Cont’d
D) Deposit-Refund Schemes: under these schemes, a surcharge is levied on a
product at the point of payment. When pollution is avoided by returning the
product, or its polluting components, to a specified collection stream the
surcharge is refunded. These economic instruments have been used for
drinks containers, batteries and packaging.
5.4. Trans-boundary Environmental Problems
It is reading assignment
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