Assessment of the Status of Urban Air pollution And Its Impact on Human Health in the City of Kolkata

Air pollution has significant effects on exacerbation of asthma, allergy and other respiratory diseases. Like many other magacities in the world the ambient air quality of Kolkata is also being deteriorated day by day. Automobile exhausts and certain industrial pollutants produce O₃ by photochemical reactions. The particulate matter, particularly less than 10 μ in size, can pass through the natural protective mechanism of human respiratory system and plays an important role in genesis and augmentation of allergic disorders. Sources of air pollution in the area and the unique problem arising out of the emission from the vehicles, industries, etc. have been described. Ambient air quality was monitored along with micrometeorological data and the results are discussed. The status of air pollution in the area has been evaluated and a questionnaire survey was conducted to estimate the allergic symptoms and exposure to assess the respiratory disorders. The data are analysed to evaluate the critical situation arising out of the emission of air pollutants and the impact on human health due to respirable diseases (RDs) to middle class sub-population (activity-wise) in the area are assessed. A strategic air quality management plan has been proposed. For the mitigation of air pollution problems in the city, the different measures to be adopted to maintain the balance between sustainable development and environmental management have been discussed.     

Generation and Quantification of Hazardous Dusts from Coal Mining in the Indian Context

The increasing trend of opencast coal mining in India tends to release huge amounts of dust. But there is no well-defined method of estimating dust emission due to different coal mining activities. This paper examines the sources of dust emission due to coal mining activities, and focuses on the quantification of dust emission with the development and use of emission factors. Because of their site-specific nature, emission factors developed for one site may not give the correct results for another site. In the present investigation, prediction equations are utilized for the development of emission factors. For the applications of this concept, one large opencast coal project of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. (BCCL) was investigated, and the total amount of dust emitted due to different mining activities was calculated by the utilization of emission factor data, which was estimated to be 9368.2 kg/day. This paper also focuses on the significance of this study in the field of environmental protection and likely impacts of such study. The paper concludes that once the amount of dust generation is estimated, the impact on air quality can be assessed appropriately and a proper air-pollution control strategy can be developed.     

Assessment of Dust Generation Due to Opencast Coal Mining– An Indian Case Study

Every mine in India has to obtain environmental clearance fromthe Govt. Air pollution is one of the most important parametersto be considered in preparing an EIA. However, there is no welldefined method for predicting thr air pollution impact due tomining. Increasing trend of opencast (O/C) mining leads toproduction of huge quantities of dust. Emission factor data havebeen utilised to quantify the generation of dust. The projectunder study is one of the largest opencast project (OCP) forcoking coal. The main sources of air pollution have beenidentified. The rate of emission per unit of a given activityknown as an emission factor has been utilised, taking localfactors into account. It has been estimated that due to topsoilremoval, overburden (O/B) removal, extraction of coal, sizereduction generated 7.8 t of dust per day. Wind erosiongenerated 1.6 t of dust per day and the whole operationproduced dust which accounted for 9.4 mt/day. They cause airpollution in the work zone and surrouding locations. Themethodology adopted may be used to quantify generation for otherprojects also.     

Technological challenges for boosting coal production with environmental sustainability

The global energy requirement has grown at a phenomenon rate and the consumption of primary energy sources has been a very high positive growth. This paper focuses on the consumption of different primary energy sources and it identifies that coal will continue to remain as the prime energy source in foreseeable future. It examines the energy requirement perspective for India and demand of coal as the prime energy source. Economic development and poverty alleviation depend on securing affordable energy sources and Indian coal mining industry offers a bright future for the country's energy security, provided the industry is allowed to develop by supportive government policies and adopts latest technologies for mining. It is an irony that in-spite of having a plentiful reserves, India is not able to jack up coal production to meet its current and future demand. It discusses the strategies to be adopted for growth and meeting the coal demand. But such energy are very much concerned with environmental degradation and must be driven by contemporary managerial acumen addressing environmental and social challenges effectively The paper highlights the emissions of greenhouse gases due to burning of fossil fuels and environmental consequences of global warming and sea-level rise. Technological solutions for environment friendly coal mining and environmental laws for the abatement of environmental degradation are discussed in this paper.