A study has been initiated to provide scientific means for validation and adoption of air quality models suitable for Indian conditions and for formulating appropriate guidelines. An exhaustive data set including emissions, plume characteristics, measured concentrations of pollutants and meteorological parameters have been generated for the chosen site and software based on Gaussian Plume Model has been developed. The software is being refined and further evaluation work of model parameters has been undertaken.

Over the years, reasonable baseline information on water pollution from point sources has been collected, but similar information on non-point sources is not available. During the year, an attempt was made to assess non-point sources of pollution in collaboration with the Punjab State Pollution Control Board. Main findings of the study are as follow:

Experiments are being conducted to quantify pollution load contributed by non-point sources.

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) is an important parameter for determining the pollution potential of domestic and industrial wastewater. During the course of its analysis, silver sulphate is added as catalyst while mercuric sulphate is added to overcome the interference from halides. After analysis, the COD waste containing the compounds of silver and mercury are disposed off. Considering the hazardous nature and cost factor, an effort was made to recover silver as metallic silver and mercury as mercuric iodide.

The COD waste was treated with dilute HCl to precipitate silver as silver chloride. The silver chloride was dissolved in dilute ammonia and sodium sulfide was added to precipitate silver as silver sulfide. The silver sulfide was mixed with flux material and ignited to 1200 ⁰C to separate silver metal and slag material.

The waste after recovery of silver, contains mercury in its compound form. Potassium iodide can precipitate mercury as mercuric iodide. But excess addition of potassium iodide will dissolve the precipitate. Hence, calculated amount of 10% potassium iodide was added to precipitate all mercury as mercuric iodide.

As much as 18 grammes of silver were recovered from 15 litres of COD waste. The recovery percent for both silver and mercury was found to be more than 95%.

Analytical Quality Control (AQC) is one of the main tools by which the performance of a laboratory can be assessed in terms of accuracy and reliability of analytical data generated by the laboratory. The Central Pollution Control Board is monitoring water quality through 507 monitoring stations under GEMS, MINARS, GAP and YAP Programmes comprising rivers, lakes, wells, and ground waters spread over 23 states and 5 Union Territories through various State Pollution Control Boards. In order to obtain reliable and accurate analytical data, CPCB had started regular and organized Analytical Quality Control (AQC) exercise for laboratories of SPCD/PCC, E(P) Act recognized laboratories Under this project, 8th rounds of AQC exercises covering 21 physico-chemical parameters were carried out for 109 laboratories during 2001. The year wise growth in terms of number of participating laboratories under the scheme is presented In Fig. 7.3.

The overall performance of the laboratories was assessed with respect to Ammonical Nitrogen, Chloride, Chromium, Calcium, Boron, Total Hardness, Potassium, Total Dissolved solids, Conductivity, Chemical Oxygen Demand, Sodium, Magnesium, Fluoride, Sulphate, Total Kjehldal Nitrogen, Nitrate-N, Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Fixed Dissolved solids, Total Suspended Solids, Phosphate-P and pH.

CPCB is conducting AQC exercises covering various physico-chemical parameters. In the AQC exercises, bacterial parameters like Total Coliform and Faecal Coliform are not yet included because of constraints in preparation of bacterial AQC samples and their preservation and despatch under ice-cold condition. To overcome these problems it was decided to prepare lyophilized bacterial samples in solid form like the one developed for BODSEED in collaboration with the Centre for Biochemical Technology (CBT), CSIR, Delhi. The main objectives of the proposed project are:

The microbial samples developed were tested in CPCB laboratory to assess the precision and accuracy of the test results. It is planned to introduce Bacterial samples in AQC Inter-laboratory Proficiency Testing (PT) programme during the forthcoming exercises.

The need for accurate analytical measurements of metals during environmental monitoring is well recognized and accomplished with use of reference material. Standard Reference Materials (SRM`s) are well characterized materials used to maintain the quality of measurements. The use of Certified Reference Material (CRM) during routine measurement of trace metals is expensive. Therefore, it has become necessary to develop economical and indigenous Certified Reference Material (CRM). CPCB has undertaken a project for preparation of Reference Materials for toxic metals in industrial effluents under sponsorship of the Department of Science & Technology (DST).

The Certified Reference Materials for toxic metals like Chromium Copper and Nickel in Electroplating industrial effluent were selected and the homogeneous samples were distributed to 32 reputed environmental and R&D laboratories in the country for analysis. The analytical data as obtained from 32 laboratories have been compiled, statistically analysed and computed in order to certify its use as reference material. The statistically processed data are graphically presented in Fig. 7.4.

Surface and ground water of Angul-Talcher area in Orissa have been reportedly contaminated by fluoride. In absence of organized water supply, ponds, tubewells and dugwells are used by people for different purposes. The untreated wastewater contaminated with fluoride discharged from industrial units were either accumulated in the lagoon or discharged to the river without adequate treatment. As a result, groundwater was contaminated by percolating through soil. Though fluoride is an important element in drinking water but high level of fluoride replaces hydroxide in bones and is deposited in the bones leading to skeletal fluorosis. To study the level of contamination and trend, Central Pollution Control Board, Zonal Office, Kolkata, conducted a study of fluoride pollution in Talcher-Angul area. In this study, 30 tubewells, 16 dugwells, 19 ponds in the affected villages, identified by Orissa State Pollution Control Board, around Smelter units were selected for sampling and analysis. The occurrence of fluoride was observed in 57% tubewells and in 67% dugwells. The fluoride contamination was in the range of 0.5-1.0 mg/l. Though situation is not alarming with respect to permissible limit i.e. 1.0 mg/l but permissible limit may be exceeded in future, if sources are not controlled. About 10 percent tubewells and dugwells were found having fluoride concentration more than 1 mg/l. It was also observed that the level of fluoride in pond water was 0.49- 3.70 mg/l. The contamination of pond water may be due to deposition of airborne particle containing fluorides emitted from the industrial units. It was reported by the villagers that people are having fluoride related symptoms like pain in lower leg.

The organic matter, which is a source of humus and plant nutrients, is comparatively less in cultivated soils in tropics. Therefore, soil humus has to be replenished through periodic addition of organic manure in the fields. The organic manure prepared from municipal waste not only provides the plant nutrients and humic materials but also result in hygienic disposal of the organic wastes.

The research study covers the analysis of compost made up of municipal solid waste and the sewage sludge for their manure potential and toxicity due to heavy metals and pathogens, as well as their safe and economic application on agricultural land. The analysis of municipal waste compost has shown 1.26%N, 0.6%P and 0.29% K, and C/N ratio as 19.3 to 1. This compost was applied to supplement the inorganic nutrient requirement of maize crop and to replenish the organic matter in cropped soils. Among 8 treatments each in three replicates at 5840 m² land at IARI, New Delhi, the treatment with 90 kg urea and 30 kg municipal waste compost/sewage sludge has been found better in terms of yield. The harvest index was calculated as 45.63 and 45.03 from compost and sludge treated fields respectively in best found treatment with 90 kg urea and 30 kg municipal waste compost/sewage sludge. Similar experiments have also been conducted with wheat and pea as Rabi crops.

The study on the assessment of existing municipal solid waste dumpsites has been initiated with the objectives to establish the impact on water and air pollution due to municipal waste dumpsites located at Autonagar and Golconda in Hyderabad city.

Autonagar MSW Dumpsite is spread over an area of about 47 acres and receives an average of 800 MT garbage per day. About 8.7 lakh m3 MSW estimated as 4.35 lakh tonnes, has been dumped at this dumpsite. This dumpsite is in existence for more than 20 years.

Golconda MSW Dumpsite is spread over an area of about 36 acres and receives an average of about 340 MT/day of garbage. An approximate calculation shows that 6.67 lakh cubic metre MSW has been dumped at Golconda dumpsite, which weighs 3.3 lakh tonnes. This dumpsite is in existence for more than 40 years. The study reveals following findings:

Open dumping practice is commonly adopted for the disposal of solid waste, which causes deterioration of environmental quality. To improve the status of solid waste management in the cities, CPCB with the assistance of NEERI, Nagpur, has undertaken study for development of criteria for selection of sites for sanitary landfill with the following objectives:

Methodology for site selection is being developed and validity of selection criteria is being tested for Bangalore city. At present, there are no specific disposal sites in Bangalore city and waste is disposed haphazardly along the road-sides and other places. Initially, the prevailing system of solid waste management in Bangalore was studied and the landfill requirement for the next 10 years is estimated on the basis of waste generation, its composition, present and proposed processing methods. It is estimated that the total quantity of waste generated in Bangalore is approx.1896 MT/day and the land requirement for disposal for next 10 years is about 295.62 hectares.

Bangalore Mahanagar Palika has identified 4 landfill sites - Kannahalli, Medhiagrahara, Gidennhalli and Seegehalli - for landfilling. Studies on various aspects like environmental parameter, hydrological status, soil characteristics, etc. have been conducted for these sites. The validity of the criteria will be tested and modified, for its adoption in other cities.

CPCB has undertaken a study on Assessment of Impact of the Existing and completed Municipal Landfill Sites at Kanpur, with assistance from National Productivity Council, New Delhi. The objective is to assess the impact of landfills on the surroundings and to prepare an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for these landfill sites. Major findings of the study carried out are as follow:

A research project has been taken up to standardize the analysis of soil (polluted) and solid waste with the focus on conducting AQC exercises to the laboratories of SPCB/PCC and also laboratories recognized under E(P), Act. Under the project plan, different polluted soil, industrial solid waste, Hazardous wastes and Municipal Solid Waste have to be analysed.

Samples of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) from New Delhi Municipal Corporation Compost plant were collected, homogenized and analyzed for various physico chemical parameters and standardization of methodology was completed. The analytical procedure will be provided to all the laboratories for developing the analytical facilities. After fulfilling the preliminary requirements, AQC samples of these types of waste will be distributed and Inter laboratory Proficiency testing will be conducted in phased manner. The outcome of the project work will be helpful in development of the facilities for analyzing Solid wastes at various laboratories of SPCB/PCC’s and improve their analytical capabilities.

Delhi is one of the largest Municipal solid Wastes (MSW) generating cities. The quantity of wastes is more than 7000 metric tonnes per day. The wastes are disposed mainly on land at three landfill Sites (LFS), namely Ghazipur (East), Okhla (South) and Bhalswa (North). The wastes include mainly organic materials (60%) obtained from various sources like domestic, vegetable markets, hotels, commercial areas etc. These sites are not provided with any lined materials for avoiding percolation of leachate from the solids and possibility of contamination of groundwater. In order to estimate the levels of groundwater contamination in these localities, a research project on the monitoring of ground water quality around solid waste disposal sites in Delhi has been taken up.

Two rounds of groundwater samples numbering 31 from three sites have been collected and analyzed for various physico-chemical parameters (23 parameters) including heavy metals (9 metals), pesticides (5 pesticides), and bacteriological parameters (2). One round of Air borne microbial counts (Total Coliforms and Fungi) was also carried out during November, 2001. The outcome of the project will be helpful for assessing the impact of MSW sites on Ground water quality, air quality, air borne microbial organisms and to formulate strategic plans for selecting MSW land fill sites.

The survey studies were undertaken through questionnaire survey & visits to Thirty Municipalities under Kolkata Metropolitan Development Area besides Howrah and Kolkata Corporations. A varying quality of municipal solid wastes have been found handled daily by the municipalities ranging from 5 to 2500 MT. In total, daily about 5000 MT of municipal solid wastes were reportedly generated of which nearly 50 percent is from Kolkata Corporation area and about 17 percent from Howrah Corporation area and the rest from the remaining municipalities. Crude dumping of waste at dump site is a common feature. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is comparatively better organized having arrangement of waste collection, transportation, segregation of waste, weighing, covering of waste dump and lighting arrangement at sites. At other municipalities neither covering of waste nor any other arrangement has been observed except collection and random transport of portion of generated waste. It has been observed that almost hundred percent of the generated solid waste is being collected and disposed off by both, the Kolkata & Howrah Corporations. Regarding other municipalities, nearly 75 percent of the generated waste are collected and disposed off while remaining solid waste lies unattended. Composting of municipal solid waste is rare except at Kolkata Corporation, which compost about 30 percent of solid waste. Waste utilization for generating electricity of 50 MW was being tried by this corporation. No effective measures for full proof protection have yet been introduced for management of municipal solid waste by the municipalities under Kolkata Metropolitan Development Area except for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB’s) are a range of substances consisting of a biphenyl molecule with or without alkyl or aryl substitutes in which more than one chlorine atom is substituted in the biphenyl nucleus. PCB’s are the group of highly toxic, synthetic, chlorinated organics compounds, with chlorine substitution around biphenyl group as basic structural unit and constitute 209 individual congeners. It is believed that PCB’s do not occur naturally and they are resistant to chemical and biochemical process. The overwhelming problem with PCB’s is their continuing environmental impact. The PCB species are non-biodegradable, stable with high toxicity and having tendency for bioaccumulation.

The PCB’s have potential industrial applications where non-flammability and heat resistant properties are desired and these compounds are more commonly used in heat transfer system, hydraulics/lubricants, transformers, capacitors as plasticizer and as petroleum additives. The PCB congeners, which contain fewer chlorine substitutions in ortho portion, are more toxic than those have more chlorine in these portions. The most toxic PCB’s are tetra, penta and hexachlorobiphenyl congeners that are un substituted in the other position.

The laboratory of Central/State Pollution Control Board and other environmental laboratories have limited technical expertise about measurements of residual PCB’s in environmental matrices viz. waste waters, industrial effluents, sludge and soil. The project standardization of Methodology for measurement of certain hazardous organic compounds, has been undertaken with following objectives.

The Dynamic Dilution System has been fabricated and installed at CPCB laboratories for dynamic dilution of calibration gases. The system has facilities for generation of known quantity of gas for its onward use in calibration of various ambient air analyzers as well as Analytical Quality Control in air samples.

H₂S generated from various processes is subjected to amine scrubbing at individual process units and the rich amine solution is subjected to regeneration at Sulfur Recovery Units (SRU) for further recovery of sulfur by Clauss process. The sulfur recovery in the SRU unit is reportedly about 99.9% with an average inlet H₂S concentration of 70% v/v. Four Number of SRU streams along with secondary incinerators are in operation in the plant. The secondary incinerator has been installed at each SRU unit to convert the un-recovered H₂S into SO₂ from the flue gas.

Small quantity of fuel oil is used at the heaters located at various process units. The sulfur content in the fuel varied between 0.5 to 1% w/w. In addition to the fuel oil, fuel gas is being used for heating purposes in the furnaces. The sulfur content in the fuel gas has been reported as 0.02%. No inventory about the rate of consumption of each of the fuel streams is maintained. However, the fuel requirement has been computed based on the heat input capacity of the furnace and calorific value of the fuel used.

Six numbers of Gas Turbines along with waste heat boilers and steam generators cater the power requirements. The total capacity of the combined cycle power plant is about 500 MW. Low sulfur natural gas (Bombay High) and Naphtha are being used for power generation.

The studies at the refinery have been undertaken to review the process and wet study at oil refinery. The important pollution potential points are as below:

The IOCL Gujarat Refinery is a 13.7 MTPA capacity plant with sulfur recovery units. Four types of crude are being processed in the plant. The crude from each source is processed in separate atmospheric distillation units (AU). There are five AU process units are in operating in the plant. AU-5 is dedicated to process imported crude, which contains high sulfur. Furnace oil and fuel gas are being used for heating purposes in the furnaces located at various process units.

Three streams of sulfur recovery units (cold bed process) are in operation in the plant. H₂S from the main header is supplied to al three steams in the respective design loads for a maximum recovery of 35TPD and 18 TPD respectively.

Sanganer town is situated at outskirt of Jaipur and known for its textile (bed-sheets) dying and printing at twelve clusters of small-scale industries. The main process involved in textile processing units are de-sizing, bleaching, dying, screen printing and post-print washing. Most of the industries have been using rapid indigo, direct aniline black dyes however, none of the industry has any effluent treatment plant. The untreated industrial wastewater along with untreated domestic sewage may be seen accumulated in many areas in absence of proper drainage. Sometimes, the wastewater joins local nullah/canal through kuchcha drains. The possibility of percolation of coloured effluent resulting into groundwater pollution is quite high.

The proposal of installation of CETP in different clusters mooted by RSPCB was not accepted either, by the industries and their association due to high capital and operational cost. Legal action has been launched by State Pollution Control Board against these industries.

The pollution potential assessment studies have been undertaken by CPCB Zonal Office – Bhopal to assess the pollution generated by the industries in different clusters in Sanganer town and to find out a viable solution for pollution control. The findings and major recommendations of the study include the following:

Most of the industries are very small spread in twelve clusters and cannot afford individual ETPs. CETP may not be viable solution especially in the clusters having lesser number of industries, which can share the cost of CETP and its operation. Besides, providing twelve CETPs in a small town appears uneconomical and non-viable. The Public Health Engineering Department has planned to provide elaborate wastewater collection system in the area terminating into sewage treatment plant. The scheme for acceptance of industrial effluent into public sewer may be undertaken by local authorities based on "Sewer Regulations" of Gujarat State.

The study has been undertaken to determine residues of organo-chlorine pesticides like DDT, HCH, Endosulfan, Aldrin, Dieldrin and Heptachlor in various types of vegetables. The residual pesticides was predominant in radish and cauliflower whereas onion, cabbage and cucumber, comparatively less pesticide residues have been found among thirteen varieties of vegetables under the present study.

Cauliflower and cabbage, the two commercially important vegetables preferred by most consumers during winter season showed contrast picture with regard to accumulation of different forms of pesticides. Cauliflower contained all the forms of residues with higher values (i.e. 2-3 ng/gm) of Heptachlor, DDT and BHC and little lower values (2 - <2 ng/gm) of Aldrin, Dieldrin and Endosulfan. In contrast, cabbage contained only BHC and Heptachlor compounds and the concentration were below 1 ng/gm. Other compounds of chlorinated pesticides were below detection level.

The accumulation of the chlorinated pesticides in terms of pesticide residue was BHC > Endosulfan > DDT > Aldrin > Dieldrin > Heptachlor.

Coriander leaf contained pesticide residue with varying concentration ranging between 0.3 ng/gm (dieldrin) to 5.3 ng/gm (BHC). The occurrence of pesticide residues was little different as assessed in order from high to low concentration i.e. BHC> DDT > Endosulfan >Heptachlor> Aldrin > Dieldrin. In general, DDT, BHC and Endosulfan were encountered comparatively in more concentration than Aldrin, Dieldrin and Heptachlor.

With the growing number of trains/ commuters and their activities at station premises, the overall working and living environment at Railway Stations are increasingly affected. Research studies have been undertaken by the Central Pollution Control Board, East Zonal Office to assess the sanitation conditions in the station premises and other steps taken by Railway authorities.

Howrah station is the only railway station in the country, which has treatment facilities exclusively for the effluent generated from station premises. The Operation and Maintenance of ETP was satisfactory and meeting the stipulated norms for discharge into the Hugli river. Despite regular floor cleaning, the respirable dust has been found significantly high (370 to 460 ug/m³) at platforms receiving local trains. Dust concentration is relatively low (150 to 200 ug/m³) in common waiting lobbies of old and new platforms.