Recent air pollution rise in delhi

Recent air pollution rise in delhi heavy smog enveloped New Delhi last November.
One year later, levels of particulate matter have hit nearly 20 times what the government considers a standard for health.
Inhalable waste in the form of particulate matter 10, or PM10, hit 1,940 micrograms per cubic meter in the city whereas The Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s standard for healthy conditions is 100 micrograms per cubic meter or lower.
Air quality often deteriorates during the Diwali festival, which is celebrated with intense launching of firecrackers late into the night.
Air pollution can have serious health hazards to people…The polluted air threatens people’s lungs and leads to a spike in hospital admissions. After the thick smog of last year, the government said it would launch a campaign to improve air quality, but the momentum faded soon after the pollution lifted. Delhi remains vulnerable to more toxic episodes.
A NASA photograph last year showed a white canopy emanating from the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab and settling over the capital. In May, an environmental activist submitted the picture as evidence in a case filed to the National Green Tribunal in which he accused the three states of not doing enough to tackle crop burning.
Water pollution[edit]
Yamuna river[edit]
See also: Yamuna Action Plan
The river Yamuna, the reason for Delhi's existence, has suffered heavily from pollution. At its point of entry into Delhi, at Wazirabad, its dissolved oxygen (DO) content is 7.5 milligrammes per litre. At its point of exit from city limits, the DO level is only 1.3 mg/l. Similarly, coliform counts jump from 8,500 per 100 ml at entry to 329,312/100ml at exit (for DO 5 mg/litre is the norm and for coliforms 500/100ml).[10] In 2007, roughly half of all the city's raw sewage went straight into the river. 55% of the city's 15 million people are connected to the city's sewer system and its treatment plants, but because of corrosion and clogging in the system many of the treatment plants do not run at full capacity. Waste from 1,500 unplanned neighborhoods runs straight into the river.[11]
The Supreme Court of India took up the issue in 1994 after reports in the press,[11] and since 2001 is actively monitoring the river and the city's efforts to clean it; in 2011, the national government announced a Rs 1,357 crore drain interceptor plan (all waste water is to be cleaned before it reaches the river) that would clean up the river by 2014.[12]
Noise pollution
Delhi has some of the noisiest roads in the country, a recent decibel survey by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found. For instance, the ITO intersection sees noise levels going up as high as 106 decibels due to constant vehicular honking - a veritable rock concert on the streets. The standard for a silence zone is 50 decibels, while it is 55 decibels for residential areas.
Researchers from CSE’s Pollution Monitoring Laboratory journeyed across the capital recording sound levels using a manual meter. The lab took the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) 55-decibel limit for residential areas as the standard for comparison.
What are the health implications of noise?
We can detect sound at 10 decibels, hear a conversation at 60 decibels and are able sustain the thudding noise inside a night club at 110 decibels. Sound becomes painful as it reaches 120 decibels.
Chronic exposure to sound beyond 85 decibels for eight hours can cause irreversible hearing loss. A 140-decibel sound impulse next to the ear can tear the eardrum. Every increase of 10 decibels makes the sound twice as loud to the human ear.
So what are we doing about it?
Under the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, the CPCB provides noise norms for four different types of zones -- industrial, commercial, residential and silence. Industrial zones are allowed 75 decibels noise during daytime and 70 decibels during the night. Commercial zones can be 65 decibels loud during the day and 55 decibels at night. Residential zones cannot exceed noise limit of 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels during night hours. And the sound level in silence zones must not be more than 50 decibels during the day and 40 decibels at night.
The CPCB has now begun to rectify things: in April 2010, it launched an ambitious Real Time Ambient Noise Monitoring Network. The initial stage of this three-phase project covers seven cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Lucknow.
CSE researchers say the Union environment ministry needs to enforce regulations strictly, after the real-time data monitoring system is put in place.
LAND POLLUTION
Land pollution is the degradation of earth's land surfaces often caused by human activities and its misuse. Haphazard disposal of urban and industrial wastes, exploitation of minerals, and improper use of soil by inadequate agricultural practices are a few of the contributing factors. Also, increasing urbanization, industrialization, and other demands on the environment and its resources is of great consequence to many countries.
Causes
The earth looks a lot more dirty and ugly due to pollution. It effects the respiratory system of human beings.Skin problems are often diagnosed. Children are the worst sufferers. Pregnant women incur breathing problems and a number of diseases associated with it. This would affect the unborn child.The flora and the fauna are dislodged causing imbalance to the ecosystem.