Industrial pollution
Topic: Environment and Sustainable Development · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 7 "Factors of Production"
Meaning
Industrial pollution is damage to air, water and soil from factory emissions and effluents (liquid waste). Factories create jobs and output. But when they release untreated waste, the cost falls on people who did not produce it. The main remedies are:
- reducing waste
- treating and recycling wastewater before releasing it
- using recycled inputs
- enforcing rules through pollution control boards
Example
Class 8 describes leather factories in Tamil Nadu. They employ many workers but pollute rivers and soil. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) lists 17 categories of highly polluting industries. NCERT calls the Damodar valley an "ecological disaster" because of industrial pollution.
Don't confuse with
- Vehicular pollution: this comes from cars and two-wheelers at ground level, so it hits city residents hardest. Industrial pollution comes from factories and their effluents.
Related concepts
- Poverty-induced degradation and pollution from affluence
- Land degradation
- Deforestation
- Soil erosion
- Open access resource
- Biodiversity loss
- Air pollution
- Water pollution
- Groundwater overuse
- Virtual water