Haripriya Gundimeda2nd Roundtable on Environmental Justice, Hotel Taj Taashi, Thimpu,

30th – 31st August 2013.

Environment, Health and Pollution

Environmental qualityDeteriorating environmental quality Rising levels of air and water pollution Weak provision of sanitation services. Huge impact on human health and

morbidity Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai rank among

the top ten most polluted cities in the world,

Growth and EnvironmentGrowth and Environment

None of the rivers in India is meeting the desired quality standards.

In fact in some of the polluted rivers like Sabarmati, Tapi, Ganga and Godavari, the violation of standards was observed close to over 90 per cent of the sites monitored.

Since rivers are sink for agriculture run-offs and municipal waste also, the violation of standards cannot be entirely attributed to industrial pollution.

Growth and EnvironmentGrowth and Environment

The data indicates that in many rivers say Ganga in UP, Yamuna in Delhi, Damodar, Subarnerakha, Betwa, Noyyal, Bhavani etc. industries contribute most to the water pollution.

Though industrial pollution may account for less than 25% of the pollution load in most of the rivers, the kind of effluent waste generated by industries makes the rivers highly toxic e.g. in Ganges, Yamuna etc).

A case study of health impacts near tanneries

Objective – To look at the impact of water quality on mortality and morbidity of the children under age 5

Study area - Nakal Keni area of Pallavaram and Chromepet township of Kanchipuram district in TN.

The area is highly polluted by tanneries and other industries and the Palar river water is contaminated.

Study focus – Carried out for two groups – one near the tanneries and bit further from the tanneries

Sample size – 450 households

Main observationsContaminated water quality added with lack of

precautionary measures and lack of nutrition affects the child health.

This is especially prominent in areas near to the tanneries.

Income is not a significant factor in determining child’s health.

It is mainly the quality of drinking water/precautionary measures that affect the incidence of water related diseases.,

Some of the diseases like cold and cough can be reduced significantly by getting piped water in the residence.

In addition to the water quality lack of proper sanitation also adds to the incidence of water related diseases.

If estimated in economic terms, the burden can be very huge on the economy

Quantity of effluentQo

QTa

Demand

Marginal Private Costs

Marginal Social CostsC

osts, Benefits

Pa

Economics of Water Pollution Economics of Water Pollution Control – Externality DiagramControl – Externality Diagram

Po

 

     

 

Instruments for correcting Instruments for correcting negative externalitiesnegative externalities

Economic or Market Based InstrumentsCAC orRegulations Using Markets Creating Markets

InvolvingParticipation

1) Standards 1) Charge Systems –effluent charges;

user charges;product charges;

administrative charges;impact fees

1) Property rights /decentralisation

1) Voluntaryagreements

2) Bans 2) Fiscal Instruments orEnvironmental Taxes –

pollution taxes;input taxes;

aid in installing new technology;subsidies for environmental R&D

2) Tradeable permits /rights

2) Publicparticipation

3) Permits/quotas

3) Financial Instruments –financial subsidies;

soft loans and grants

3) International offsetsystems

3) Informationdisclosure

4) Deposit-refund systems andenvironmental performance bonds

4) Liability insurancelegislation

4) Two-tiermonitoring

Colour Labels used in Colour Labels used in PROPERPROPER

RatinRatingg

Technical RequirementsTechnical Requirements

Gold World Class clean technology

Waste minimization & polln prevention measures

Green > legally required standards for env. Protection

Good maintenance and environmental work

Blue At legally required standard

Red < legally required standards

Black Serious environmental damage – no polln control

Change in firms’ ratings because of PROPER

Rating June 1995

Dec. 1995

Dec. 1996

Change (%)

Gold 0 0 0 0

Green 5 4 5 0

Blue 61 72 94 54%

Red 115 108 87 - 24%

Black 6 3 1 - 83%

Total 187 187 187

Selection of Policy Selection of Policy InstrumentInstrumentNumber of criteria - • Static Cost Efficiency• Dynamic Cost Efficiency • Goal Fulfillment • Administrative Costs• Barrier to Entry• Politics of Implementation

Traffic Management in an intersection

Thank You