Dr. B.

R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology

Jalandhar, Punjab-144011

Environmental Studies Assignment- 1

Topic:- Environmental problems in your locality

Student Details:-
 Name: Aviral Gupta
 Roll No:- 1810325
 Branch:- Computer Science and Engineering
 Section:- B1(A)
 Sr. No:- 25

Environmental problems in our area- Kota , Rajasthan

Description about my city:-
Kota formerly known as Kotah, is a city located in the southeast of northern
Indian state of [Link] is located about 250 kilometres in south of the state
capital, Jaipur, situated on the banks of Chambal River. With a population of over
1.2 million, it is the third most populous city of Rajasthan after Jaipur and
Jodhpur, 46th most populous city of India and 53rd most populous urban
agglomeration of India. It serves as the administrative headquarters for Kota
district and Kota Division. Kota is a major coaching hub of the country for
competitive examination preparations and has a number of engineering and
medical coaching institutes books like Revolution 2020 by Chetan Bhagat an Life
in a Nutshell by Nitish Rajpurohit and Harsh Agarwal highlight the life of students
in the city

Environmental problems in our locality:-

 Pollution:-
1. Air Pollution:-Kota is known for stone mining, mineral-based
industries, cement factories, fertiliser and chemical units, and plants
that produce synthetic fibres, textile and rayon. A number of
polluting industrial units have been closed down in Kota following a
Supreme Court order and the Rajasthan Pollution Control Board
(rpcb) claims that air pollution levels have been falling. Yet, there are
35 large- and medium-scale industrial units and about 5,000 small-
scale units in and around Kota, according to the District Industrial
Centre. "Industrial air pollution is prevalent in Kota due to coal/gas-
based thermal power plants, calcium carbide (and) nitrogenous
fertiliser (units), steam generating boilers, and cement factories...."
says the 1996-97 annual report of RPCB .The air of urban areas get
polluted due to a lot of anthropogenic activities, Population is
increasing at a exponential rate and more humans need more facilities
and comforts. To live a comfortable life, people prefer urban areas
more than rural areas. Hence they migrate to urban areas in large
number. In our locality, the case is same. Many people living there are
migrants from the rural areas. The use of vehicles have been increased
very much to satisfy the needs of ever growing population. Vehicles
release many pollutants in the atmosphere due to which the
environment in our locality is degrading day by day. They release a
 lot of pollutants like oxides of Nitrogen, Sulphur and other chemical
pollutants in the atmosphere. Due to these factors, the sky in our city
no longer looks blue but looks covered with pollutants.

2. Water Pollution:- . The present study the quality of drinking water

supplied to the various areas of the city, through tap, which includes

tests for temperature, pH value, total solids, hardness and chlorine.

Kota is one of the most important industrial complexes city in the
state of Rajasthan which has Integrated Thermal Power Plant, a
number of coaching institutes, cement manufacturing unit,
chemicals, explosives, ceramics and distillery units and large number
of small and medium industries. A water quality standard is a rule or
law comprised of the uses to be made of a water body or segment
and the water quality criteria necessary to protect that uses. The
average temperature, concentration of pH, turbidity, TDS (Total
Dissolved Solids), total hardness, alkalinity and chloride are found to
be 27.38 ⁰C, 7.37, 2.438 NTU, 156.8 mg/l, respectively. The results
obtained from the water quality criteria parameter are within the
 drinking water [Link] people just wash their articles directly
in the water bodies and they even bath in those water bodies. Due to
this factors the water gets polluted and come mixed with underground
water to our houses via pipelines. Contaminated water can cause
many diseases like cholera, diahorrea etc. So, in our locality nearly
everyone uses water purifiers so to purify the contaminated water.
3. Noise Pollution:- The noise produced from automobiles, vehicles,
social functions, industries etc. cause noise pollution in our locality.
On many occasions like Holi or Diwali, people in our locality play
music on very high volume. This can cause physical and physiological
ailments to anyone. Particularly noise pollution is very harmful to the
older

people.
  Development of slums:- The areas within the cities and towns (urban
areas) without civic and basic amenities are called Slums. The slum
settlement arises due to un-flux of rural peoples into urban areas and
shortage of housing facilities for them. In my city also, there are many slums
on the outskirts of the city. They construct their dwellings using rusted tins,
empty tar barrels, tarpaulins, jute sacks etc. The areas of slum become
centres of a number of environmental problems. Some important
environmental problems may be outlined as follows:

(i) These areas without proper water supply dispose their waste in an unplanned
manner which pollute air and water.

(ii) The unplanned waste dumping places and open defecation become the sites of
the growth of a number of disease carriers like flies, mosquitoes etc. These cause
health hazards not only in slum areas but also in other nearby places.

(iii)The contamination of water causes diseases like typhoid, cholera, enteric

fever .
 Management of solid wastes:- My city kota is a highly populated urban
area . Generally, thickly populated urban area consumes large quantities of
material and simultaneously releases a lot of solid wastes. The solid wastes
include municipal wastes, industrial wastes, hazardous wastes etc. The same
is in case of my city and locality. The solid waste production is increasing
day by day with an increase in population. When these solid wastes are
dumped for a longer period of time, these produce foul smell and poisonous
gases and become breeding grand’s of vectors of different diseases. The
gases produced cause air pollution, surface run-off from the wastes cause
water pollution and vectors cause different diseases.
 Non availability of open space:- Due to unplanned urbanization and thick
population density, urban areas are highly congested without open spaces for
parks, play grounds and recreation centres. This results in non availability of

free and clean air and space of playing and recreation. Same is in the case of
my city. Many people are migrating from the nearby rural areas to my city.
They require some space to live in. So, the open areas are being sold to them
for construction purposes. Therefore, almost all of the open spaces in our
locality/city are converted into houses or new buildings. Our locality lacks
facilities like parks, playgrounds. Therefore, children don’t get facilities for
playing or recreation activities. They just go to schools, come back home, do
homeworks and attend tutions. After that, if they are left with some free time
they just spend on smartphones or computers due to lack of outdoor game
 facilities. Due to this, they can face difficulties in the future regarding their
health. The urbanization is unplanned. The agencies who are giving housing
facilities must leave some open space for different activities and purposes
are discussed above.

 Water logging and drainage:- In our locality the problems of water logging
and drainage are increasing day by day. The migration of large number of
poor and rural people without any civic sense, disposal of a large amount of
solid waste, unplanned settlements etc are the main cause of these problems.
Due to these problems, many a times during heavy rainfalls water get
accumulated in our locality which don’t go even after long periods of time due
to improper drainage systems. Also, many roads are broken in our locality, due
to water gets usually collected in them and becomes stagnant. Many organisms
and mosquitoes are born due to the stagnant water. Due to these creatures many
diseases are caused which can even prove to be fatal. Many a times, local
people tried to approach municipality and local authorities but no one listens
and mostly ignore these issues.
 Traffic related probems:- The number of vehicles in our locality are
increasing day by day. The main cause of this is the migration of the people
from the nearby rural areas to our city for different puposes. The accidents
 are also increasing day by day. The vehicles are more and traffic rules are
followed to a very less extent. Due to these, the rate of accidents are
increasing. Also, small children also drive vehicles which is totally against
law and cause major problems on the roads. Also, increasing level of traffic
increase the air pollution to a greater extent.

 Unusual rise in the temperature:- The unplanned constructions of large

buildings in our area or in general urban areas absorb solar radiation and in
the afternoon, these emit heat radiations increasing the climatic temperature.
Also, one cause of rise in temperature is the global warming. The term
‘Global Warming’ basically means the global rise in temperature. The
pollutants generally released in the atmosphere contribute to the global
warming. Also the increasing amount of greenhouse gases like Carbon

Dioxide contributes a lot to the process of global warming. So, due to these
factors, the temperature of the world is increasing day by day and same in
case of our area.

 Problems of stray animals:- Apart from the population of human beings, the
population of the stray animals are increasing day by day. The main problem
regarding stray animals is that they can become the cause of road accidents.
Also, they cause many other environmental problems.
 Rising in the living standards:- Most of the people living in our city or
locality are economically middle class people. The living standards of the
people of our locality are increasing day by day. They are buying those
products and equipments which are directly or indirectly harmful to our
environment. Air conditioner is one such example. Nearly everyone in our
locality have air conditioners. They release CFC,s in the atmosphere which
are a major cause of the depletion of the Ozone layer which protects us from
the harmful Ultraviolet rays of the Sun. The use of refrigeratos also realease
CFC’s in the atmosphere which again causes the consequences discussed
above. Also large number of people in our locality are having lot of vehicles
which causes air pollution and global warming also.

Some solutions which can be beneficial regarding the above

problems:-
1. Pollution Control:- Taking a cue from the Delhi government’s odd-even
scheme to resolve traffic jam problems and check growing pollution in
the national capital, the Kota Municipal Corporation (KMC) is also all set
to launch the Cycle Sharing Project (CSP) to promote rented cycle riding
in the city, providing easy, eco-friendly and economical means of public
transport to the people. It is the human beings who are a major cause of
pollution. So it is the moral duty of the human beings to control the
pollution. Global change will take place only and only if we start
changing our habits at small or local level. So a individual must start
controlling the pollution at local level by controlling the use of vehicles,
by reducing the use of noise producing systems, by not polluting the
water bodies. Individuals should also plant trees because trees help in
controlling the pollution by absorbing harmful gases like Carbon Dioxide
and releasing Oxygen gas in the atmosphere.

2. Contribution for Open Spaces:- In the areas which lacks the open space,
people living there can contribute some money and buy some land for
them and their children where they can play and enjoy in their free time.

3. Proper Drainage Systems:- Proper drainage systems must be there in our

locality. But this issue is not in the hands of local people. So the
 municipal authorities should look into these issues and get the required
works done for making the drainage system an efficient system. Also,
some kind of mosquitoes killing medicines must be sprayed in the
locality especially in the rainy seasons because in rainy seasons,
mosquitoes are born in large numbers which causes lots of diseases.

4. Control in the living standards:- We have already exploited our

environment to a great extent and in today’s world we have got almost
every facility to live our life with comforts. Now we should control our
living standards and stop exploiting the environment.

Conclusion:- In the last few years, man has been exploiting the
environment continuously and at this stage we are left with very limited
amount of resources. We are mainly dependent on non renewable sources
which are not going to last more than 50 years. So, we should control and
stop our activities that can cause harm to atmosphere and the
environment. Our health is directly related to our environment. Clean
environment will bless us with good health whereas unclean environment
will curse us with many diseases and health related problems, Also, the
upcoming generation must get good environment to survive in. Our
mother Earth is ill and now it is our duty to cure its ailment.
So, we should always remember that-

"Be the part of the solution not the part of the pollution.”