CB BureauAlthough the environment ministry failed to implement its mandate of having air and water monitoring systems in place for the 11th five-year plan, it will study the impact of the environment on the health of the population. As per the plan, India was to have at least 1,000 air monitoring stations covering 500 cities and 2,000 water quality monitoring stations by end of 2012.
However, at present, India has 461 air monitoring covering 115 cites and 1,359 water monitoring stations. Besides, there has been no capacity addition to monitor pollutants such as particulate matter (PM) of 2.5 microns, ozone, mercury, benzene, and organic compounds. Sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, suspended particulate matter, and respirable suspended particulate matter are the only four basic pollutants that are comprehensively monitored by the CPCB.
How qualitative will be the results of the study without adequate measuring and monitoring systems is a matter of concern for many environmentalists as well as healthcare professionals and economists. Moreover, the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) existing pollution monitoring mechanism is also in dire straits with its cost increasing to around Rs 30 crore, which is about 75 per cent of the pollution watchdog’s entire budget.
In case of water, India monitors only five per cent – approximately 200 rivers, 60 lakes, three ponds, 13 canals, 20 drains, and 500 wells – of the total available sources. Worse still, India has capacity to treat just 20 per cent of the sewage generated. Of this, 40 per cent is in Delhi alone. ‘Our water bodies are among the dirtiest in the world,’ Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had admitted recently in a media conference.
With negligible monitoring systems, there already seems to be a big question mark on the expected findings of Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) on the environment’s impact on the health of Indians.