water and air quality in urban ecosystem

NATIONAL SEMINAR ON

WATER AND AIR QUALITY IN URBAN ECOSYSTEM 22 MARCH 2016 ND

Compiled by Vijay Kumar, Bharti, Kiran Bamel, Parul Kulshreshtha, Virat Jolli and Nupur Mondal

Venue: Auditorium, Shivaji College SHIVAJI COLLEGE (University of Delhi) Ring Road Raja Garden, New Delhi-110027

DISCLAIMER The publisher and editors has put forward his/her best efforts in preparing this abstract book. The publisher and editors disclaim any liabilities for any loss or damage resulting from the use of the information contained in this abstract book. The views expressed and data provided in the abstract book are the sole responsibility of the author/ authors. Publisher and editors will not be held responsible by any means.

NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Prof. C.R. Babu

: Professor Emeritus (Former Pro Vice Chancellor), University of Delhi, Delhi.

Prof Anil K Tyagi

: Vice Chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi.

Prof. R.C. Kuhad

: Vice Chancellor Central University of Haryana, Haryana.

Dr. G.V. Subrahmanyam

: Scientist ‗G‘ (Rtd.) Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi.

Prof. Ashok K Prasad

: Department of Chemistry & Chairman Governing Body, Shivaji College, DU, New Delhi.

Prof. V.P. Singh

: Head, Department of Botany, University of Delhi, New Delhi.

NATIONAL SEMINAR ON WATER AND AIR QUALITY IN URBAN ECOSYSTEM 22nd March, 2016 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Patron Prof. Yogesh Kumar Tyagi Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi

Chairperson Dr. Shashi Nijhawan

Organizing Secretary Dr. Vijay Kumar MEMBERS

Dr. Aparna Jain

Department of Mathematics

Dr. Rajni Kanojia

Department of Chemistry

Ms. Bharti

Department of Physics

Dr. Sunita Gupta

Department of Zoology

Dr. Smita Tripathi

Department of Botany

Dr. Kiran Bamel


Dr. Misha Yadav


Dr. Renu Baweja

Department of Biochemistry

Dr. Jayita Thakur

Department of Biochemistry

Dr. Rajender Singh

Department of Geography

Dr. Parul Kulshreshtha


Dr. Virat Jolli

Department of Environmental Studies

Dr. Nupur Mondal


ABOUT COLLEGE: Shivaji College, a constituent College of the University of Delhi, is run under the trusteeship of Delhi Administration. It is a co-educational institution and imparts instruction in various subjects at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The College was founded in 1961 by the renowned social activist and farmerleader, Honourable Dr. Panjab Rao Deshmukh, then Union Minister for Agriculture, to meet the needs and ideals of higher education in a predominantly agrarian area. Shivaji College‘s rigorous pursuit of academic excellence, co-curricular activities, it‘s hardworking and illustrious faculty and verdant campus has attracted students in large numbers and acknowledging its role in higher education the college is accredited by NAAC with „A‟ grade.

ABOUT THE ECO CLUB Eco-Club of Shivaji College, University of Delhi is a multidimensional, highly active society that runs in co-ordination with the Department of Environment, Govt. of NCT of Delhi. The Eco-Club play an important role in creating environmental awareness amongst the future generation. It is actively engaged in overall environmental education by adopting various environment friendly approaches for conservation and preservation of environment. The objectives of Eco Club are : To sensitize the students and college staff for basic understanding of the current environmental issues. Making them realize the need of the hour for conservation, management and sustainability of resources. Organizing various activities, adopting good practices and encouraging eco-friendly life style.

COMMITTEES S. No. 1.

Committee Name Registration Committee

2.

Decoration Committee

3.

Printing Committee

4.

Finance Committee

5.

Food Committee

6.

Certificate Committee & Valedictory Committee

Teacher Coordinators Dr. Rajni Kanojia Ms. Bharti Dr. Renu Baweja Dr. Rajender Singh Dr. Parul Kulshreshtha Dr. Sunita Gupta Dr. Smita Tripathi Dr. Jayita Thakur Dr. Parul Kulshreshtha Dr. Nupur Mondal Dr. Sunita Gupta Dr. Misha Yadav Dr. Jayita Thakur Dr. Parul Kulshreshtha Dr. Virat Jolli Dr. Nupur Mondal Ms. Bharti Dr. Sunita Gupta Dr. Kiran Bamel Dr. Renu Baweja Dr. Virat Jolli Dr. Nupur Mondal Dr. Aparna Jain Ms. Bharti Dr. Sunita Gupta Dr. Kiran Bamel Dr. Renu Baweja Dr. Rajender Singh Dr. Parul Kulshreshtha Dr. Misha Yadav Dr. Jayita Thakur Dr. Parul Kulshreshtha Dr. Virat Jolli Dr. Nupur Mondal

PREFACE At the dawn of civilizations, human settlements were close to water bodies as water has always been the basis of existence of life on planet earth. In Anthropocene era, the economic growth and development is unsustainable. Rapid industrialization, change in land use patterns coupled with over exploitation of natural resources results in disruption of ecosystem processes and functions. The extents of these changes are more pronounced on water and air quality of urban ecosystem. Industrial effluents, untreated sewage water and encroachment of wetlands are the major factors for deterioration of water quality and depletion of ground water in urban ecosystem. Moreover, increased vehicles and industries are emitting harmful gaseous pollutants and particulate matter. Also, construction work contributes to dust pollution in environment. Further, disposal of diverse solid waste in urban ecosystem requires a huge land, causing adverse impact on environment. These pollutants are not only threats to urban flora and fauna but also degrade quality of life and cause public health risks. Plantation of suitable avenue trees, ecological restoration of urban green spaces and wetlands; rejuvenation of rivers and development of green ways; water conservation and water harvesting; decentralized solid waste management are some of the effective mitigation strategies. These initiatives conserve biodiversity, improve water and air quality for better health and also render wide range of ecosystem services needed for sustainability of urban ecosystem. On the occasion of World Water Day, Shivaji College is organizing a 'National Seminar on Water and Air Quality in Urban Ecosystem' to provide a platform for the interaction of young minds with experts, policy makers and NGOs. Secondly, it will make them aware of current issues on water and air quality to ensure sustainability of urban ecosystem. The focus of the seminar will be on following themes:  WATER: Water Pollution & Health Effects, Rivers & Wetlands, Water Conservation  AIR: Air Pollution & Health Effects, Monitoring of Air Quality

 URBAN ECOSYSTEM : Solid Waste Management, Sustainable Cities  MITIGATION & CONTROL MEASURES: Ecological Indicators; Ecological Restoration, Bioremediation, Pollution Control Measures Eminent personalities with their versatile experience in water and air quality have been invited to share their experiences. For the motivation of the young participants, the bio-sketches of all invited speakers along with their abstracts have been covered in this volume. An overwhelming response has been received from students, budding scholars and young faculty members for the event particularly for the poster presentation sessions for the Seminar. The abstracts have been incorporated in this volume.

Dr. Vijay Kumar Organizing Secretary

CONTENT Title

Page No.

Programme Schedule Biosketch of Invited Speakers Abstracts of Invited Speakers

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BIOTECHNOLOGICAL ENDEAVORS TOWARDS WASTE WATER MANAGEMENT Rita Kumar

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AIR QUALITY CONCERNS AND OPTIONS TO IMPROVE AIR QUALITY IN NCR DELHI Dr B Sengupta

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POLLUTION PREVENTION/ CLEANER PRODUCTION IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMES) G.V. Subrahmanyam,

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HEALTH AFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION Balakrishnan Menon

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ABSTRACTS FOR POSTER PRESENTATION Water POLLUTION STATUS OF YAMUNA RIVER - A NATIONAL CONCERN

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Rekha Kathal, Vidhi Chaudhary, Lalit Kumar, Aditi Puri, Ratul Baishya, Prem Lal Uniyal, Neeraj Yadav, Manisha Gupta, Swayam Singh, Osheen Martolia, Phalguni Wadhwa, Yamini Khatri, Rashmi Joshi, Chetna Madan, Megha Jain, Chehak Kalra, STATUS OF POLLUTION IN RIVER YAMUNA: AN OPEN DRAIN Shukla Saluja

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THE PLIGHT OF A SACRED RIVER IN DELHI: SAVE YAMUNA

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Shweta Rani POLLUTING THE SACRED: A CASE STUDY OF POLLUTION AT GANGA GHATS IN VARANASI Shahid Jamal*, Anjan Sen and Satyam Mishra GROUNDWATER: THE HIDDEN RESOURCE Saloni Bahri*, Sushma Moitra & Somdutta Sinha Roy

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Title

Page No.

EFFECT OF PAPER MILL EFFLUENT ON SEED GERMINATION , SEEDLING GROWTH, CHLOROPHYLL CONTENTS,GROWTH AND YIELD OF PHASEOLUS MUNGO Suresh Kumar METAL TOXICITY: AN ISSUE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN Sahil Mehta, Kirti, Aman Choudhry, Sunita Singh, Satvinder Singh and Smriti Babbar, Prabhakar TOXIC EFFECTS OF HEAVY METALS ON MALE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH Priyanka, Shalu Dagar, Himanshu Dalal, Shashank, Aniket Walia, Kiran Bamel, Aeshna Nigam and Shashi Nijhwan ARSENIC – TURMOIL IN GROUND WATER Gunjan Malik, Prerna Joshi, Sonali Jha, SaumyaAvasthy, Sarita Nanda, Ms. Anna Senrung, Anju Jain

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ASSESSING WATER QUALITY FOR LAYMAN UNDERSTANDING: WATER QUALITY INDEX (WQI) Swati Tailor, Shailender Kumar, & Chirashree Ghosh

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ADDRESSING POSTERIOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN OF THE 21ST CENTURY – CLEAN POTABLE DRINKING WATER IN HOUSEHOLDS Charu Khosla Gupta*, Shweta Singh, Pragya Yagnik, Bishal K. Das, Sarita Kumar and Arijit Chowdhuri**

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Air MAPPING OF CRITERIA POLLUTANTS (PARTICULATE MATTER) IN URBAN DELHI Brahmacharimayum Preetiva, Abhinav Garg, Chirashree Ghosh*

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INDIAN CAPITAL DROWNING IN ITS OWN DUST!? Baksheesh Sachar*, Tanya Aggarwal ,Sarita Nanda, Anna Senrung, Anju Jain

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AIR POLLUTION: SOURCES AND EFFECTS Dr. Preeti Tewari*, Dr. Manju Banerjee

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AIR POLLUTION AND ITS IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH, CROPS AND ECOSYSTEM Pratima Rani Sardar*, Seema Talwar, Anuradha Mal AIR POLLUTION AND LIFE IN DELHI CITY Nidhi Gautam*, V.K. Gautam and Meenakshi Sharma

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Title

Page No.

Urban Ecosystem SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN AN EPHEMERAL CITY: A CASE STUDY OF MAGH MELA IN ALLAHABAD Satyam Mishra, Dr.Anjan Sen and Deepak Kumar Dipankar WATER AND AIR QUALITY IN URBAN ECOSYSTEM Anita Goel BIO-ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION FROM FOOD INDUSTRY EFFLUENT Renu Baweja*, Dr. Anita Kapur, Ms. Divya Mohanty, Drishty Girdhar, Prachi Panwar, Ishender, Tarushi, Twinkle, Priyanka, Pratibha, Anjali and Divyanka

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HARNESSING ELECTRICITY USING MICROBIAL FUEL CELL Harsimran, Ankit, Sunita Singh, Satvinder Singh and Smriti Babbar

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BIOFUEL: A GREENER APPROACH FROM WASTE TO WEALTH Deepika Yadav*, Misha Yadav, Pratima Verma and Palak Sharda

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PERI-URBAN ECOSYSTEMS IN INDIAN DRY TROPICS: ON THE EDGE OF SUSTAINABILITY Shachi Agrawal, Shilpy Singhal and Rup Narayan*

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Mitigation and Control Measures CAN WE USE BIRDS AS AN ECOLOGICAL INDICATOR OF SUSTAINABLE CITIES? Vijay Kumar, Virat Jolli*, Sunita Gupta, Shruti Tyagi, Akash Mathan, Arunender, Manish Kumar, Bhawana, Shubham Kumari, , Anshu Kumari, Monika Garhwal, Hitakshi and Shweta Gupta GENOTOXIC EFFECT OF LEAD NITRATE ON POLYTENE CHROMOSOMES AND NUCLEOLUS OF SARCOPHAGA RUFICORNIS (FAB.) (SARCOPHAGIDAE: DIPTERA)

Akanksha Singh and Rashmi Singh

“SAVING THE ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS”: QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION OF VOCAL BEHAVIOUR OF AMPHIBIANS IN DELHI Megha Srigyan, Jyotsna Karan, Abdus Samad, Abhishek Singh, Abhishek Chandra, PoojaGokhale Sinha, GPC Rao and Robin Suyesh* RESTORATION ECOLOGY-STEP TOWARDS REJEUVENATION OF DEGRADED ECOSYSTEMS Sandeep Kaushik*, Ashish Kumar Chaudhary*, Ruchi Vir, Suman Sharma, Suman Lakhanpaul

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Title

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RHIZOFILTRATION: PLANT BASED TECHNOLOGY TO CLEAN POLLUTED WATER Dr. Renu Soni1* and Dr. Garima Malik1 EICHHORNIA CRASSIPES AND SALVINIA MOLESTA AS SCAVENGERS OF HEAVY METALS FROM CHEMISTRY LABORATORY EFFLUENTS. Navneet Manav, Jasleen Kaur, Jyoti Rautela, Chetanya Jain and AK Bhagi*

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SOIL, SEED BANK AND STANDING VEGETATION ALONG THE POLLUTED KALI RIVER BANK AT BULANDSHAHR Shilpy Singhal, Shachi Agarwal and Rup Narayan*

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APPLICATION OF GREEN TECHNOLOGY IN WASTE WATER TREATMENT Saloni Bahri, Sushma Moitra, Simran Sekhri* and Shipra Ruhal

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BIOREMEDIATION THROUGH ALGAE: A GREEN TECHNOLOGY Gaurav Kumar* and Pooja Baweja

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BIOREMEDIATION: AN OVERVIEW Charu Kalra*, Mehervi Shinde, Parul Jain and Ipsa Gupta

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BIOREMEDIATION: A STEP TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION Srishti Sharma, Rashmi Singh, Kiran, Sunita Singh, Satvinder Singh and Smriti Babbar

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ARSENIC REMOVAL STRATEGIES IN INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: POSSIBLE TREATMENTS FOR DRINKING WATER Richa Agarwal*, Gaurav Kumar** and Pardeep Singh***

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PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF PHENOLIC COMPOUND IN WASTE WATER: USING TIO2 AS CATALYSTS Pardeep Singh*, Gaurav Kumar** and Richa Agarwal***

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PLANTATION OF SHRUBS IN URBAN AREAS TO CONTEST AIR POLLUTION Monika Koul and Pratibha Thakur

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ECO CLUB, SHIVAJI COLLEGE (University of Delhi) Ring Road Raja Garden, New Delhi-110027 organises

National Seminar on Water and Air Quality in Urban Ecosystem On 22nd March, 2016 08:30 AM

Registration

08:30 AM 09:30 AM

Poster Presentation Inaugural Session

10:00 AM

Key Note Address

11:00 AM

'Wetlands as Water Resources for Urban Centers' by Prof. C. R. Babu, Professor Emeritus (Former Pro Vice Chancellor), University of Delhi, Delhi-110007

High Tea Technical Session I: Water

11:30 AM

Lecture I

'Issues of Water Pollution in Yamuna, Delhi' by Prof. A.K. Gosain, Professor of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi- 110016

12:20 PM

Lecture II

Biotechnological Endeavours Towards Waste Water Management” by Dr. Rita Kumar, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Mall Road, Delhi- 110007

1:00 - 2:00 PM

Poster Session/Lunch Break Technical Session II: Air

02:00 PM

Lecture III

'Air Quality Concerns and Options to Improve Air Quality in India' by Dr. B. Sengupta, Former Member Secretary, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB),

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Government of India, New Delhi 02:40 PM

Lecture IV

03.20 PM

Tea Break

03:40 PM

Lecture V

04.30 PM

Certificate Distribution & Valedictory Session

'Pollution Prevention/Cleaner Production In Small And Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs)', by Dr. G.V. Subrahmanyam, Scientist G (Rtd.) , MoEFCC, New Delhi. ' Health Effects of Air Pollution' by Prof. Balakrishnan Menon, Professor , Department of Pulmonary Medicine Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute University of Delhi, Delhi-110 007

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National Seminar on Water and Air Quality in Urban Ecosystem

World Water Day, 22nd March, 2016

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PROF. CHERUKURI RAGHAVENDRA BABU Prof. Cherukuri Raghavendra Babu (Prof. C.R. Babu) is presently Professor Emeritus at the Centre of Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE), University of Delhi. He served as teacher and researcher for four decades at the Department of Botany, University of Delhi. He has also been the ProVice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi for 5 years. His areas of specialization are Taxonomy and Ecology, Systematics, Genetics, Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Biodiversity, Ecosystem Dynamics and Function, Ecological Restoration of Mined Areas and Degraded Ecosystems. He is credited with 227 research papers and 1 Book. He has guided 5 M. Phil and 44 Ph. D students. He is recipient of the prestigious Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar (2009) of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, VASVIK Award (2005) for Environmental Science and Technology, and Narain Dutt Award (2008) for Conservation of Nature. He has been an important part of many projects, councils and societies. He was the Chairman of the Indian Subcontinent Plant Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission for ten years (1995- 2005); Project Director of the Programme Support under Centre of Excellence Scheme; Project Incharge of Biodiversity Parks Programme and Programme Support in Restoration Ecology of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Earlier Prof Babu was Director of School of Environmental Studies and later the Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE), University of Delhi. Prof C. R. Babu is a member of several high power academic committees like Academic Council of the Delhi Technological University, Delhi; Steering Committee and Working Group for formulating XIIth Plan for Environment & Ecology of Planning Commission, New Delhi; High Level Working Group on


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Western Ghats, Ecosystem Research Committee, Expert Appraisal Committee for Coal Mining and Thermal Power projects of Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India. He is a Member of the Task Force Committee on Biodiversity Conservation and Environment, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and UGC Committee for assessment of the Department of Special Assistance and CAS Programmes in Plant Sciences. . He has also chaired several International Academic bodies in the past like the Indian Subcontinent Plant Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (1995 – 2005), IUCN Committee on Threatened Plants of Indian Subcontinent and was a member of IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management. He is a fellow of many learned societies like Indian Academy of Sciences, New York Academy of Sciences, Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding.


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PROF. A. K. GOSAIN

Prof. A. K. Gosain, is a Professor in the field of Water Resources Engineering and GIS Technologies, in the Civil Engineering Department, IIT Delhi. Prof. Gosain has been associated with the research and development work in the area of hydrological modeling, water management, climate change impact assessment, Geographic Information System, and many allied areas. Some of the recent works of Prof. Gosain include a significant contribution to the NATCOM – national project undertaken by the Ministry of Environment and Forests for making the National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Prof. Gosain has served on many prestigious assignments with the World Bank, IWMI, Sri Lanka, USAID and many Ministries and State Governments. Prof. Gosain has to his credit a very large number of sponsored research and consultancy projects. Prof. Gosain has to his credit about 90 papers published in refereed national and international journals and conferences Ten students have completed their Ph. D. under his supervision. He has delivered a large number of invited lectures in India and abroad. Invited lectures in Harvard, USA in 1999 and in Karlsuhe University, Germany in 1996 are the prominent ones.


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DR. RITA KUMAR

Dr. Rita Kumar With a strong focus on translational research, Dr. Rita Kumar have been able to develop around 19 technologies, which are at different stages of development out of which a couple commercialized and a few have been demonstrated at field scale. She has filed 120 patents and has been granted 97 patents. In order to understand the problems of the society and industry in depth, she has interacted with different industrial houses sector wise. Scientific collaboration, managerial capabilities, interpersonal skills, and networking are her core strength. She has served as CMD, National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), New Delhi on an additional charge AugustSeptember 2012 and April-September 2013 and streamlined quite a few lag issues. She is also on the Board of Directors of Biotech Consortium of India Limited (BCIL), New Delhi. She is recipient of Arya Bhatt Puruskar 2013, organized by Indian Swadeshi Vigyan Andolan (Vigyan Bharti, Delhi), CSIR Technology Innovation Award 2012 and Merck Millipore India Innovation award 2012.


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DR. B. SENGUPTA Dr. B. Sengupta worked in Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India for more than 30 years in different capacities. He was Member Secretary of CPCB for more than 10 years (1998‐2008). He also worked in University of Florida, USA on air quality management and control. Dr. Sengupta has vast experience in the field of Air and Water Quality Management, Industrial Pollution Control, Standard Development (Ambient and Source specific), Environmental Impact Assessment Studies, Fuel Quality improvements, Clean Technology, Waste Minimization, Pollution Prevention issues, Pollution Control in SSI units, Climate Change, Hazardous and Solid Waste Management. He has worked with many International Organisations on various projects like World Bank, Washington, USA; International Council for clean transportation (ICCT, USA); Heirich Boll Stiftung, Berlin, Germany; Blacksmith Insititute, New York, USA and Institute for Industrial productivity Washington USA. He represented India in many International Meetings / Seminars / Workshops organized by UNEP/USEPA/ WHO/World Bank/UNIDO etc. Dr. Sengupta has published more than 250 technical reports while working in CPCB and also published more than 50 papers in National and International peer reviewed Journals. He also guided M.Tech and Ph.D. students of IIT‐Delhi, JNU, Delhi University etc. Dr. Sengupta took VRS from Govt service on Dec 1, 2008 at the age of 57 years after serving Govt for 34 years in various capacities. Currently, he is a visiting faculty of Rama Krishna Mission, Vivekananda University, West Bengal; Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum technology; Administrative staff college, Hyderabad and Engineering staff college, Hyderabad. He is also Chairman and technical advisors of many committees.


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PROF. G.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

Prof. G.V. Subrahmanyam has been working in the Ministry in various capacities as Environmental Officer, Joint Director, Additional Director and Director. Since then he is actively involved in policy planning and coordination for environmental protection including promotion of research, pollution prevention and control and Environmental Impact Assessment. He is actively involved in implementation of the Policy Statement for Abatement of Pollution through schemes such as environmental audit, adoption of clean technologies in small scale industries, environmental statistics and mapping, abatement of pollution in critically polluted areas, incentives for pollution control, environmental epidemiological studies, environmental pollution monitoring and analysis, green belt for abatement of pollution and environment improvement in selected cities/towns, setting up of CETPs in cluster of SSIs etc. He is also involved in implementing programmes relating to vehicular pollution control, noise pollution control, waste minimization/cleaner production in small scale industries. Prof. Subrahmanyam interacted with Central and State Pollution Control Boards for implementation of pollution control programmes including enforcement of various standards notified under the Environment (Protection) Act.


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DR. BALAKRISHANAN MENON

Dr. Balakrishnan Menon heads independent unit of Respiratory Medicine at Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute where patients of Chest Diseases such as Asthma, TB, Cancer etc are treated. He Manages Radiology services of Patel Chest Institute including X Ray, CT Scans, Ultrasound and Interventional Radiology Procedures. He also provides diagnostic laboratory services for allergy diagnosis etc. He have developed India s first PACS system which is a system of electronically transmitting and storing patient X ray and CT images. He have started latest 64 slice CT scanner at Patel Chest Institute. He is Nodal officer for Yoga services at Patel Chest Institute. In his tenure he have published 45 research publications in national and international journals and 4 chapters in books. He has supervised MD (Respiratory Medicine) and DTCD students.


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BIOTECHNOLOGICAL ENDEAVORS TOWARDS WASTE WATER MANAGEMENT Dr. Rita Kuamr Emeritus Scientist IGIB, New Delhi Water scarcity is currently one of the biggest concerns worldwide. Various anthropogenic activities in industry; agriculture and domestic space have amplified the pollution of water with chemical and biological pollutants, nutrients and leachates. However, some of these pollutants can be readily degraded or removed, thanks to the biotechnological solutions, which involve the action of microbes, plants or animals under certain conditions that lead to nonaggressive products through mineralization, transformation or immobilization of toxic compounds. General advantages of the use of biological processes for the treatment of hazardous wastes include their relatively low costs, simple and well known technologies and potential for complete contaminant destruction. In this work, we discuss various biotechnological interventions to monitor and treat municipal as well as industrial wastewaters. Pollution load of municipal/industrial wastewater is analyzed by measuring a critical parameter called biochemical oxygen demand which measures the oxygen consumed by microorganisms to degrade the organic matter in wastewater in a stipulated time (usually 5 days). The type of microorganisms introduced as seeding material for degradation determines the effectiveness of the method. The conventional seeding material – sewage is composed of variety of microorganisms whose number and types might vary. In order to get reproducible BOD values, it is important to replace this seeding material with a more reliable alternative with a defined composition. BODSEED has been developed at IGIB, which solves this purpose and serves as a reference seeding material comprising of a defined number & types of bacteria, for BOD estimation. The method of BOD estimation was further improvised for reusability by immobilizing the defined microbial consortium in the form of beads called BODBEADS. BODBEADS can be used as an instant seeding material for BOD estimation and can be used up to 5 times World Water Day, 22nd March, 2016

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without losing efficacy. To further increase the usability of the BODSEED and to implement real time monitoring of pollution load of wastewater, BODBiosensor was developed. BOD-Biosensor makes use of immobilized microorganisms to sense the biochemical oxygen demand of water in just 20 min as opposed to the standard 5 day protocol. The method is quick, robust, online and less time consuming. A large number of industries are nowadays opting for biological treatment of wastewater. However, the conventionally used seeding material (like sewage) is non-specific and may not be able to initiate degradation of wastewater components owing to the absence microorganisms capable of carrying out degradation of specific wastewater contaminants. Moreover, certain industries release harmful chemicals in discharges which might be toxic to the non-native micro-organisms. Therefore, there is a need to develop custom seeding material for different types of industrial wastewater. In this regard, we have isolated autochthonous bacteria for pulp and paper industry and for sewage sector to develop highly efficient microbial consortia which can be effectively used for the treatment of these wastewaters. Alkaneutri is another biological intervention which utilizes alkaliphilic bacteria for the pre-treatment (neutralization) of highly alkaline wastewater emanating from beverage industry. The developed method for the biological treatment of beverage industry wastewater is less expensive than chemical and physical methods, and also much faster than natural oxidation, with a lower environmental impact, thus offering a safer alternative excluding the use of corrosive chemicals. Thus, the biotechnological interventions described here not only allow efficient monitoring and treatment of wastewater, but also, generate less waste and conserve energy. Success stories of developed technologies for water management will be discussed.


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AIR QUALITY CONCERNS AND OPTIONS TO IMPROVE AIR QUALITY IN NCR DELHI Dr B Sengupta, Former Member Secretary CPCB

As per current air quality data of CPCB/MOEF the air pollution level in many cities and industrial areas are exceeding the national ambient air quality standard prescribed under EPA Act 1986. The parameters that are exceeding the standard are PM10, PM2.5, NoX, Benzene, Benzopyrene etc. In this presentation the level of air pollution, its impact on human health and climate and various options to reduce the level of pollution are discussed. The integrated approach suggested for improvement of air quality in India in general and NCR in particular are as follows:1. Vehicular Pollution Control (from existing and new vehicles) – adoption of Bharat Stage VI standard by 2020. 2. Transport fuel quality improvement and adoption of Bharat Stage VI fuel by 2020 3. DG Sets Emission Control 4. Air Pollution Control from Power Plants located in Delhi – NCR Region 5. Checking of fuel adulteration 6. Pollution Control from Industries located in Delhi & adjacent areas (Ghaziabad, Sonepat, Gurgaon, Noida, etc.) 7. Air Pollution Control from Construction Activities. 8. Air Pollution due to Agricultural Residue Burning in Punjab and Haryana. 9. Benzene and VOC Emission from Petrol Pumps due to nonavailability of Vapor Recovery System. In the presentation all above issues are discussed in detail


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POLLUTION PREVENTION/ CLEANER PRODUCTION IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMES) G.V. Subrahmanyam, Scientist G (Retired), Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India, New Delhi

The need for adoption of pollution prevention/cleaner production in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES) is well recognized due to their pollution potential and in the context of keeping the increasing rate of developmental activities within the framework of sustainable development. Pollution prevention plays an important role in the reduction of pollution load during the process operations, in recycling of wastes and in recovering materials from the waste products. Adopting such pollution prevention approach can be a source of profits for the enterprise as increased profits can result from reducing cost through improved materials efficiency and reduction in pollution load. However, such an approach to pollution prevention would require a change in attitude, a change in thinking and a change in mind-set. Like the quality initiatives, pollution prevention will reap its own rewards commensurate with the level of commitment. The present paper describes the various initiatives taken by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in promoting pollution prevention/cleaner production with particular reference to Small and Medium Enterprises.


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HEALTH AFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION Balakrishnan Menon Department of Pulmonary Medicine, V.P. Chest Institute, University of Delhi

The urban air database released by the World Health Organization reported that Delhi has exceeded the maximum PM10 limit by almost 10-times at 198 μg/m3. Vehicular emissions and industrial activities were found to be associated with indoor as well as outdoor air pollution in Delhi. Studies on air pollution and mortality from Delhi found that all-natural-cause mortality and morbidity increased with increased air pollution. Evidence shows that lakhs of Indians will die from air pollution — specifically due to particulate matter and ground-level ozone. Most of these deaths will be from chronic disease, rather than acute episodes. It is predicted that in India, there will be thousands of premature deaths due to air pollution, increased emergency-room visits, hospital admissions and doctor‘s-office visits. Air pollution is also expected to cause about two and a half million minor illnesses in this year. In the past, scientists thought that respiratory disease was the major outcome of exposure to air pollution. However, scientists such as the American College of Cardiology have now found that cardiovascular morbidity and mortality is a significant problem, too. Particulate Matter At current levels, particulate matter is the most serious kind of local air pollution. It poses more danger to human health than ground-level ozone (in smog), and other common air pollutants like carbon monoxide. From our lungs' point of view, bigger particulates are less harmful. Because of their weight, the larger particulate matter — between 10 and 2.5 microns in diameter (PM10) — settles to the ground quickly. If we do inhale it, this particulate matter collects in our nose and throat. Then our body eliminates it through such processes as sneezing and coughing.


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In contrast, particulate matter that's less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) can remain in the air for days to weeks. It can penetrate deep into our lungs, collecting in tiny air sacs (alveoli) where oxygen enters the bloodstream. Health problems begin when the body starts to react to these foreign invaders. Another danger is that PM2.5 can contain a number of potentially harmful substances, such as cancer-causing chemicals. Coughing and wheezing are two of the mild problems associated with inhaling PM2.5. However, this type of air pollution can also cause or worsen serious illnesses such as asthma, heart disease, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and pneumonia. Exposure to PM2.5 is associated with a significant rise in the number of premature deaths from respiratory and heart disease. It's also linked with more emergency room visits, hospitalization, and time off work and school. Long-term exposure in pregnant women can cause premature births and low birth weights. Senior citizens, infants, and people who already have lung, heart and other illnesses (such as diabetes) are the most vulnerable. However, healthy adults and children can be affected, too. PM2.5 and asthma are a bad mix. PM2.5 can increase the number of asthma attacks, and make them more severe. Over 1.2 million Canadians suffer from this condition, and asthma is the most common cause of medical emergencies in children. Studies of air quality found that even low amounts of PM2.5 in the air can harm our health. In fact - a safe level of PM2.5 (below which there are no health impacts) has not been found. As PM2.5 increases, so do the health problems. Long-term exposure to PM2.5 is an added health hazard.


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Ground-Level Ozone Low concentrations of ground-level ozone can irritate the eyes, nose and throat. Ozone can also irritate the lung airways, and make them red and swollen (inflammation). As the amount of ground-level ozone increases, it can trigger more serious illnesses, including coughing, asthma, bronchitis, chest pain, breathing difficulties during outdoor exercise and greater susceptibility to lung illnesses like pneumonia. Prolonged exposure can damage lung tissue, cause premature aging of the lungs and contribute to chronic lung disease. As with particular matter and other forms of air pollution, children, the elderly and people with impaired lung function are considered to be most at risk. However, even healthy people and athletes who are active outdoors can be affected when ozone levels are high. Carbon Monoxide Carbon monoxide is an invisible gas that is a fast-acting poison. When carbon monoxide is inhaled, it gets into the bloodstream. Then it attaches itself to the oxygen-carrying red cells and stops them working. Without oxygen the body cannot function properly. It doesn‘t take much carbon monoxide to make people sick. At low amounts, carbon monoxide can make healthy people feel tired, and cause chest pain in people with heart disease. Higher concentrations can cause impaired vision and coordination, headaches, dizziness, confusion, nausea — and flu-like symptoms that clear up after leaving the polluted area. Carbon monoxide is fatal at very high concentrations. Other Air Pollutants Other pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), mercury, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs), benzene, and dioxins and furans can cause a wide range of health effects. These include cancer, lowered immunity, disorders of the nervous system, and interference with child development. Dioxins and furans are among the most toxic chemicals in the world. Indoor air can also carry pollutants that cause or aggravate illness.


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POLLUTION STATUS OF YAMUNA RIVER A NATIONAL CONCERN 1

Rekha Kathal, 1Vidhi Chaudhary, 1Lalit Kumar, 2Aditi Puri, 3Ratul Baishya, 3Prem Lal Uniyal, 1Neeraj Yadav, 1Manisha Gupta, 1Swayam Singh, 1Osheen Martolia, 1Phalguni Wadhwa, 1Yamini Khatri, 1Rashmi Joshi, 2Chetna Madan, 2Megha Jain, 2Chehak Kalra, 1

Department of Botany, Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi, Delhi - 110007 2 Department of Chemistry, Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi, Delhi - 110007 3 Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi - 110007 Email: [email protected] Water pollution is a global problem which pose a serious threat to humans, animals and aquatic species. The river Yamuna, the main source of water supply to national capital Delhi, is getting polluted due to domestic, industrial, agricultural waste, sewage and religious activities. Heavy metals are one of the major pollutants which are harmful to humans, animals and tend to bioaccumulate in food chain. Use of phytoremediation technique for removal of toxic metals is an ecofriendly and sustainable approach to control water or soil pollution. This paper aims to depict the pollution status of Yamuna water and its control by phytoremediation. An investigation was conducted to study the physical, chemical and bacteriological analysis of water samples collected from three polluted sites of Yamuna river - Wazirabad, ITO and Okhla, compared to tap water, used as control. The results were compared with the standards laid by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). For phytoremediation study, the three aquatic plants Eichhornia, Salvinia and Hydrilla were selected on the basis of their availability in Delhi's climatic conditions in Yamuna river. Our results clearly indicated that ITO water sample was the most polluted as the total dissolved solids, turbidity and total hardness were the highest in those samples. Among World Water Day, 22nd March, 2016

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heavy metals, arsenic (As) content was ten times higher beyond BIS permissible limit in Okhla sample. Chromium (Cr) content was the highest in Wazirabad, followed by ITO. Plant growth was higher in polluted water than control indicating the high tolerance of the plants to the stress level. Investigation for remediation of heavy metals by phytoremediation are still under progress. Keywords: Water Pollution, River Yamuna, Phytoremediation, Sustainable Approach, BIS Permissible Limit


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STATUS OF POLLUTION IN RIVER YAMUNA: AN OPEN DRAIN Shukla Saluja Department of Botany, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, New Delhi. Email: [email protected] River Yamuna is the largest tributary of the River Ganges. The river, once a life line for Delhi city, is now among the most polluted rivers of the country and has been reduced to an open drain. The river enters Delhi at Palla village of Wazirabad. The stretch of 52 km from Wazirabad to Jaitpur in the NCT of Delhi has almost lost its life supporting potential. The 22 km stretch from Wazirabad to Okhla, that is barely about 2 percent of the total length of the river is the most polluted segment of the river contributing over 80% of the pollution load in the entire stretch of the river. The rapid growth of human population, encroachments near Yamuna banks, discharge of industrial effluents, untreated sewage and solid wastes, agricultural run-offs containing pesticide residue, cattle wading and dairy wastes, religious activities including idol immersion and over exploitation of fresh water from the river have contributed substantially to the deteriorating water quality of the river. The water quality does not comply even with the Eclass monitoring criteria for various parameters. The government has launched various initiatives including the Yamuna Action Plan to tackle the river pollution. The current state of the river is an important issue and stringent measures need to be undertaken to restore the riverine ecosystem of the Yamuna. This paper reviews pollution in Yamuna and the initiatives undertaken by the government for its conservation and restoration.


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THE PLIGHT OF A SACRED RIVER IN DELHI: SAVE YAMUNA!!! SHWETA RANI Assistant Professor Department of Geography Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003 Corresponding author (s): [email protected], [email protected]

A rapidly emerging menace i.e. ‗water pollution‘ is a big concern and challenge not only before India but across the world and poses a threat to the sustainable development of mankind. The study will examine and unravel the plight of a River Yamuna in Delhi. It is one of the sacred rivers in India traversing through the national capital. In particular, the study intends to analyze and explore the extent, trends and magnitude of pollution across the banks of river Yamuna. Primary survey has been done in seven major ghats of Yamuna as it enters and flows through the national capital. River Yamuna, together with Ganges drains the largest area in north India. It is the lifeline of Delhi. The Yamuna‘s 22 kms stretch in Delhi contributes over 70% of the pollution load which is fed by 22 sewer drains. The perpetuating level of urbanization together with the ever increasing demand for industries is a matter of great concern. Hence, the alarming pollution level is turning the river in to a ―Big Drain‖ or ―Mahanala‖. With this brief background, the present research paper tries to assess and investigate the vagaries of underlying causes, associated problems and the overall impacts on the lifeline of Delhi. Keywords: Water Pollution, River Yamuna, Sacred River, Seven Ghats


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POLLUTING THE SACRED: A CASE STUDY OF POLLUTION AT GANGAGHATSIN VARANASI Shahid Jamal*, Dr. Anjan Sen and Satyam Mishra Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of DelhI, New Delhi – 110007, India Corresponding author: *[email protected] Spiritual life in Banaras/Varanasi revolves around the ghats, a very special type of embankments that are actually long flights of wide stone steps leading down to the holy river Ganga on its western bank where people can take a holy dip. Banaras is symbolized by its chain of more than 80 Ghats and each holds some special significance of its own. Most are used for bathing but there are also burning ghats used for cremation. However with increasing population in India, the spiritual city is also being under the threat of acute problem of pollution. The river Ganga, along whose bank the city rose, is being constantly at a risk of endangering level of pollution from sewage or as a result of cremation. Thus there emerged a great concern to save and clean the river Ganga along with the Ghats in its vicinity. Several measures are taken by the Government to look into the matters more attentively. Thus it is of dire need of the people to address these problems with utmost concern.In this context the present paper will review and analyse the socio-economic factors that pollute river Ganga. This research paper is based on Purposive participatory survey through focus group discussion and unstructured interviews. It also uses secondary data and literature available on this particular topic, quasi qualitative and quantitative methodology has been used in this research paper to accomplish the objectives. Keywords: Varanasi, Ganga Ghats, Pollution, Cremation.


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GROUNDWATER: THE HIDDEN RESOURCE Saloni Bahri*, Sushma Moitra, & Somdutta Sinha Roy Department of Botany, Miranda House, University of Delhi [email protected]

Local groundwater resources play a critical role in the city‘s water supply. It is considered as a buffer resource. Urbanization and the ever increasing population in the city have resulted in population resource imbalance. This has lead to overexploitation which is the main cause of declining level of ground water. Even overexploitation of groundwater resources can not completely solve the problem of shortage of drinking water supply. Considering the availability of water in the city, groundwater is going to play a major source in the water supply. The quality of groundwater varies with depth and space in NCT Delhi. Management of groundwater resource is very important for continued supply of water to meet domestic, agricultural and industrial needs. Ways and means must be devised and followed for improving the quality of groundwater as well as for its supplementation. Some of such measures include artificial recharge, rain water harvesting and limiting the further overexploitation of groundwater resources and development of potential aquifers. Keywords: ground water, over-exploitation, management


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EFFECT OF PAPER MILL EFFLUENT ON SEED GERMINATION , SEEDLING GROWTH, CHLOROPHYLL CONTENTS,GROWTH AND YIELD OF PHASEOLUS MUNGO Suresh Kumar Department of Botany, Ramjas College, University of Delhi (North Campus), University Enclave, Delhi-110007, India, E-mail: [email protected] The industries constitute an important part of civilization and are vital for the economic development of a country.These industries in turn are always associated with the production of industrial waste,which causes invitable problems of air,water and soil pollution.Heavy metals which are present in industrial effluent have created a great ecological crisis. These metals are added into the environment through the industrialization and urbanization. Present study was carried out to see the effect of the industrial effluent discharged from paper mill which have several kinds of pollutants like heavy metals. The studies were done in different concentration of effluent. The result showed that low concentration was in favour of germination, seedling growth, chlorophyll contents, growth and yield of Phaseolus mungo cv.T-9 while there was gradual decrease with increasing concentration of effluent in germination, seedling growth, chlorophyll contents, growth and yield of Phaseolus mungo cv.T-9. The maximum inhibition was found in pure effluent.


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METAL TOXICITY: AN ISSUE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN Sahil Mehta1, Kirti1, Aman Choudhry1, Sunita Singh1, Satvinder Singh1 Smriti Babbar2, and Prabhakar3 Department of Biochemistry1, Department of Computer Sciences2 & Department of Physics3 Shivaji College (NAAC Accredited ―A‖ Grade), University of Delhi, New Delhi 110027 Corresponding Author (s): [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] The water bodies have undergone severe deterioration in the water quality due to the discharge of municipal and industrial effluents into them. The presence of heavy metals viz., Lead (Pb), Copper (Cu), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Zinc (Zn), Nickel (Ni) and Arsenic (As) have been associated with adverse effects on human metabolism and health. Heavy metals have been reported to damage liver, kidneys, central nervous system, lungs, bones and endocrine glands. The Yamuna river is one of the most polluted river, a diverse range of pollutants are constantly added into the river and their toxicity has been a major challenge for ecology and environment. The water samples at various locations in Delhi were collected and analyzed for biological and physico-chemical parameters like temperature, pH, turbidity, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) were estimated using pH meters and titrimetric methods The water at ITO was found to be of poor quality, with high biological and heavy metal contents. The Coliform levels of the water is so high that it is not fit for even bathing, let alone drinking. The ailing condition of Yamuna is of serious concern for lives of million people who are directly or indirectly associated with it. Thus, it is important to check the influx of heavy metals into the river from various sources.


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TOXIC EFFECTS OF HEAVY METALS ON MALE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH Priyanka1, Shalu Dagar1, Himanshu Dalal1, Shashank1, Aniket Walia1, Kiran Bamel1, Aeshna Nigam2 and Shashi Nijhwan3 1

Department of Botany, Shivaji College Department of Zoology, Shivaji College 3 Department of Biochemistry, Shivaji College Corresponding Author (s): [email protected] 2

Industrialization, urbanization and population explosion have lead to heavy accumulation in soils and contamination in water. Directly or indirectly the heavy metal toxicity affects the human health. One of the recent additions to the everincreasing health hazards s the effect on the reproductive health of human beings. The major heavy metal pollutants are Cu, Pb, As, Zn, Cd, Cr and Hg. The main source of heavy metals is mining, smelting, vehicular emission, industrial effluents and untreated wastewater. The vegetables grown in the fields irrigated with the contaminated water and in the soils exposed to these pollutants pose various health issues. The human male reproductive organs are affected directly or indirectly via neuroendocrine system. The heavy metals can lead to abnormal sperm morphology, poor semen quality, low sperm count and mobility. These effects maybe long lasting and irreversible. The mode of action varies from one heavy metal to the other. It maybe by inhibiting some enzyme and may have immune, endocrine or epigenetic effect. This review presents a comprehensive account of effects of heavy metals on male reproductive system.


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ARSENIC – TURMOIL IN GROUND WATER Gunjan Malik,1Prerna Joshi1, Sonali Jha1, SaumyaAvasthy Dr. Sarita Nanda2, Ms. Anna Senrung1 Dr. Anju Jain1 Department of Zoology1,Department of Biochemistry2, Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi Corresponding author: [email protected] In contemporary times ―Ground water‖ considered to be the purest form of wateris a myth. There are several reports of groundwater contamination by various pollutants of which Arsenic contamination is one. In India, first incidence of Arsenic contamination was reported in Chandigarh and different villages of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in 1976. In 1983, Arsenic contamination cases were also reported in nine districts of West Bengal. The Arsenic contamination of groundwater of these areas was found above the maximum permissible limit According to World Health Organization, i.e. 50 microg/L. The occurrence of Arsenic in groundwater is partially natural. It is obtained during weathering of sulfide minerals. Studies suggest that Ground water Arsenic contamination is restricted to aquifers of Ganga Delta. Anthropogenic sources of Arsenic include burning of coal, usage of fertilizers and increased utilization of groundwater. The Health Hazards concerned with Arsenic contamination are dermatological in many cases. In the districts of West Bengal, people were reported with Arsenic - induced skin lesions. The earliest symptom is darkening of skin on palm of hand, spotted pigmentation is another symptom. Keratosis comes as a late symptom .Other symptoms apart from Arsenic Dermatosis are edema, liver enlargement (hepatomegaly), spleen enlargement (splenomegaly) and fluid in abdomen (ascitis). The need of the hour is to think upon remediation to reduce Arsenic content in groundwater. One of the easiest ways would be to restrict the usage of groundwater sources and increase dependency on surface water. But this is a hypothetical remediation in a country deficit in surface water resources. More appropriate and safe solution would be Ex-situ Remediation of


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Arsenic by suitable removal technology. Adding on, biological treatments include Bio-augmentation, Bioventing, Biosparing and Phytoremediation degrade Arsenic concentration in groundwater. The groundwater contamination is a consequence of extensive dependence therefore; it should be fixed for a sustainable future. Keywords: Groundwater, Arsenic Contamination, Remediation, Arsenic dermatosis, Keratosis


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ASSESSING WATER QUALITY FOR LAYMAN UNDERSTANDING: WATER QUALITY INDEX (WQI) Swati Tailor, Shailender Kumar, & Chirashree Ghosh Environmental Pollution Laboratory, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi Corresponding author: Shailender kumar ([email protected])

Water is an essential life source. Safe and healthy water is a necessity for the sustenance of life. Thus, sanitary conditions must be maintained in order to meet the needs for potable water. However, due to anthropogenic activities a compromise has occurred in the sanitary conditions of drinking water. The anthropogenic activities be it, mining, agricultural practices, or daily activities; have driven the toxic metals and hazardous chemicals into the water bodies; and has led to the deterioration of the quality of the water resources. Thereby, humanity is facing a scarcity of healthy potable water. So, for measuring water quality parameters, which is generally not understandable to masses, an assessment tool is required which is known as Water Quality Index (WQI). WQI is a simple index to rate the quality of water. It gives a single number value to express the overall water quality at a particular time and location. It rates the water from the point of view of human consumption. It helps the public to understand the quality status of water in their locality. With such an effective tool, the integrity of the ecosystem to provide goods and services can be assessed on a continuous basis.


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ADDRESSING POSTERIOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN OF THE 21ST CENTURY – CLEAN POTABLE DRINKING WATER IN HOUSEHOLDS Charu Khosla Gupta*, Shweta Singh, Pragya Yagnik, Bishal K. Das, Sarita Kumar and Arijit Chowdhuri** Acharya Narendra Dev College (University of Delhi), Kalkaji, New Delhi – 110 019, INDIA Corresponding author (s):* [email protected], **[email protected] Water is accepted to be the elixir of life and its potable quality is a powerful environmental determinant of health. Assurance of drinking-water safety is a foundation for the prevention and control of waterborne diseases especially when the World Bank estimates 21% of communicable diseases prevalent in India, are due to unsafe drinking water. Moreover, 846,000 deaths occur annually the world over due to diarrheal disease. Scarcity of fresh, clean and safe water is thus seen to rank amongst one of the most urgent environmental challenges facing humankind. In order to gauge the quality of drinking water available in regular households, random samples of the same were acquired from ten different places in the DelhiNCR region and their physic-chemical parameters tested in the current investigation. The study indicated that total hardness of water for each of the sample had a value under permissible limit (600mg/l) as also the cationic concentration of most of the water samples (calcium = 75mg/l; magnesium = 30mg/l), except the water sample from Faridabad which was noted to be cation rich (calcium = 90mg/l; magnesium = 43.6mg/l). Calcium ion concentration was measured to be very high in Govindpuri (calcium = 120mg/l) while Jahangirpuri sample had a low concentration (calcium = 10mg/l). Overall anionic concentration in all the water samples were seen to be very low compared to desirable limit (chloride = 250mg/l; sulphate = 200mg/l). Reassuring result was obtained for pH values of all the water samples (6.5 to 8.5) however water sample from Jahangirpuri tested to be slightly acidic (6.2). Most of the water samples were found to be turbid (> 10 NTU). World Water Day, 22nd March, 2016

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MAPPING OF CRITERIA POLLUTANTS (PARTICULATE MATTER) IN URBAN DELHI Brahmacharimayum Preetiva, Abhinav Garg, Chirashree Ghosh* Environmental Pollution Laboratory, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi Corresponding author: *[email protected]

Air pollution is a problem of global concern, especially because of its transboundary movement. Of late, the capital city of India, Delhi has been under constant focus of media as well as the scientific community primarily because of the alarming rise in the level of air pollution. Most of the pollutants in Delhi have crossed their permissible limits set by National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). High concentrations of pollutants are always associated with adverse health impacts. Of all the pollutants, the effects of the criteria pollutants (NOx, SOx, Pb, O3, CO, PM) are of utmost importance due to which EPA have set permissible limits for these pollutants. The present work has been done to map the criteria pollutants (PM10, PM2.5) in Delhi. For the study, Delhi has been divided into 11 districts as per the guidelines of Department of Revenue, Government of NCT of Delhi, each district‘s headquarter was chosen as the monitoring site. The study was carried out for 3 months (January- March 2016). The highest concentration of PM10, PM2.5 occurs at Shahdara and North Delhi respectively. Most of the districts of Delhi showed concentration which exceeded the permissible limits set by NAAQS. This points to the fact that the air quality in Delhi is at its worst.


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INDIAN CAPITAL DROWNING IN ITS OWN DUST!? Baksheesh Sachar 1*, Tanya Aggarwal 2**,Sarita Nanda 3***, Anna Senrung 2****,Anju Jain 2***** 1 2

School of Undergraduate Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi

Dept. of Zoology and 3Dept. of Biochemistry, Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi Corresponding author (s): *[email protected], **[email protected], ***[email protected], ****[email protected], *****[email protected]

Civic establishments, high-rise colonies, swanky malls, office complexes and everything that adds a new feature to the facade of Delhi area also leads to deterioration in the quality of resources and has serious implications on the health of the residents living in close vicinity of that area. According to the WHO report (2014), Delhi holds the title of being the most polluted city in the world, with the capital engulfing approximately 10,000 premature deaths every year. Of all types of pollution, air pollution is the most harmful. A research conducted by Institute of technology, Kanpur reveals that a prodigious contributor to Delhi‘s air pollution is road dust that accounts for more than 50% of PM10 emissions, followed by vehicles. The smaller or fine particles (with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 2.5 µm) are more dangerous as they penetrate more deeply into the lung and may reach the alveolar region. It‘s high time that a proactive approach should be adopted to curb this danger knocking doors of the Indian capital. There are various ways by which the pollution levels in Delhi can be truncated. Government by all means (like the Odd- Even Policy of January 2016) is trying to reduce the pollutions from vehicles but dust pollution also needs the same heed as it is present on the roads of Delhi over many years and it just gets carried over with wind from one place to another but never gets removed from this chain, so as to eradicate it from the streets of Delhi there is a need to think of something as soon as possible because this alarming problem is soon taking the shape of a epidemic, and, what we need to understand is that all the initiatives must be launched at the grass-root level.


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AIR POLLUTION: SOURCES AND EFFECTS Dr. Preeti Tewari*, Dr. Manju Banerjee Department of Geography, Shivaji College Corresponding author: *[email protected] Air pollution has emerged as one of the major issues concerning humankind today. It may be defined as the presence of chemicals in the troposphere in concentrations high enough to harm organisms, ecosystems, materials and high enough to alter climate. The poster enlists the major sources of air pollution. The natural sources are dust storms, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, pollen, spores and other vegetative parts, emission from the digestive tracts of cattle and paddy fields. Anthropogenic sources of outdoor air pollution are automobiles, industries, power plants and construction sites. Indoor pollution emanates from pesticides, paints, varnishes, cleaning agents and other chemicals used at home, machines (like fax machines and printers), tobacco smoking, poorly maintained air conditioning and heating, and burning of wood, charcoal etc. in open fires and poorly vented stoves. Pollutants may be classified as suspended particulate matter, ozone and other photochemical oxidants; radon, sulphur, nitrogen and carbon dioxides, lead and mercury, volatile organic compounds and biological pollutants. The poster depicts the effects of air pollution with the help of pictures and diagrams. At the local level, pollution may cause a discolouring of the atmosphere, and problems like fog, smog and haze. Acid precipitation resulting from air pollution has a serious impact on aquatic bodies, vegetation (including forests), soil, buildings and monuments. Air pollution also has serious implications for human health, causing problems to the respiratory and circulatory systems, eyes and skin. It also causes climate change and ozone depletion which pose a serious challenge to humanity.


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AIR POLLUTION AND ITS IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH, CROPS AND ECOSYSTEM Pratima Rani Sardar*, Seema Talwar, Anuradha Mal Department of Botany, Shivaji College University of Delhi Corresponding author (s):*[email protected]

Air pollution damages human health, reduces plant diversity, affects other ecosystem services such as crop yield, collection of wild food and biomass, climate regulation, nutrient cycling, clean water, pollination, natural pest control, etc. It also contributes to climate change, causes forest dieback and corrosion of cultural heritage. Air pollutants like ground level ozone (O3), sulphur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), lead (Pb), carbon monoxide (CO) vary in their reaction properties, time of disintegration and diffusion abilities. A number of natural activities, e.g. volcanoes, fire, release various pollutants in the environment but anthropogenic activities are the major reasons of air pollution. Rapid urbanisation and faster economic growth has led to faster growth of vehicles in India. This increased number of vehicles resulted in high emissions of air pollutants, specially the particulate matter which reduce life expectancy and are associated with number of health problems. High levels of certain other air pollutants pose serious health concerns like chronic respiratory and heart diseases, lung cancer, acute respiratory infections in children and chronic bronchitis in adults, aggravating pre-existing heart and lung illness. Understanding the interactions between air pollution and ecosystem services is important to meet the United Nation Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is likely that the impacts of air pollutants which are also being observed in developing nations threaten to undermine the effects to a sustainable MDG attainment in terms of crop growth and maintain diverse ecosystem.


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AIR POLLUTION AND LIFE IN DELHI CITY Nidhi Gautam*1, V.K. Gautam2 and Meenakshi Sharma3 1, 3 Daulat Ram College, 2Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, University of Delhi, Delhi. *Corresponding [email protected] The rising level of water and air pollutions in the capital city of India is a matter of serious concern since it affects the health of Delhites directly or indirectly. Delhi tops the list of most polluted cities of the World that is certainly a bad news for its people. We all are victims of both out-door as well as in-door pollution and a large fraction of city population is suffering from various respiratory disorders, heart diseases and lung cancer. The chief contributors of air pollution are industrial emission, photochemical smog and acid deposition that add high amount of toxic gases, volatile organic compounds and SPM to the air and are responsible for weakening of immune system and poor lung health. In addition continuous construction activities, increased number of tall buildings and rise in average temperature worsen the situation. The vehicular emission also adds a significant amount of pollutants to the air. Many remedial measures are taken up by the government during the last 15 years including the switch over to CNG, start and expansion of Delhi Metro network, stringent traffic regulations and introduction of PUC certificate, restrictions on heavy duty vehicle movement, etc are put in force to mitigate the air pollution of the city. The implementation of first phase of Odd- Even formula during 1-15 January 2016 was a wise and welcome step taken by the state government, whose second phase in April 2016 is in the pipeline. In spite of all these efforts there is very little improvement in the air quality. The present article will deal with the causes, effects and control of air pollution in Delhi.


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SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN AN EPHEMERAL CITY: A CASE STUDY OF MAGH MELA IN ALLAHABAD Satyam Mishra1, Dr.Anjan Sen2and Deepak Kumar Dipankar3 Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi – 110007, India Corresponding Author (s): [email protected]

Allahabad an important city at state of Uttar Pradesh in India, also culturally known as Prayag, is eulogized in Puranicmythic as the ―tirtharaj‖, the king among all sacred places, situated picturesquely at the confluence of the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and invisible Saraswati. Every year pilgrims and devotees to Hinduism and its various sects come by the hundreds of thousands to the religious bath-fair at river banks of Ganges and Yamuna that is Magh Mela, it is known as Kumbh Mela after each 12 years. Making of this temporary mega city inhabited by pilgrims and tourists requires proper planning and execution that is done by state Government of Uttar Pradesh, by the investment of huge capital and human-technical support. With the congregation of millions of visitors there, rises the problem of sanitation and maintenance of hygienic conditions. For the purpose of sanitation Mela administration deploys sanitation workers through middlemen but the sanitation workers faces negligence in planning of Magh Mela. This paper attempts to discuss the role of solid waste management in planning of mass gathering events like Magh Mela and its bad impacts on people at the bottom of pyramid. This research paper is based on primary data collected through focus group discussion and unstructured interviews through individual interaction. It also uses secondary data and literature available on this particular topic. Inductive methodology has been used in this research paper to accomplish the objectives of the study.


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WATER AND AIR QUALITY IN URBAN ECOSYSTEM Anita Goel Department of Biotechnology, I.P. College, Campus II, Bulandshahr Affiliated to C.C.S. University, Meerut Development is the need and demand of time but it should not be at the cost of nature. Increasing urbanization has slowly left the air and water vulnerable to use. Incredible growth has been experienced over the last 30 years. Industrial development has an enormous impact on the ecology of a habitat at multiple levels. Urbanization has resulted not only in the fragmentation and isolation of the habitat of the diversified species but also degrades their dwelling areas. This may result in the homogeneous species composition, losing their gene potential to diversify the different habitat which makes them so unique. Deforestation on mass level just to keep the pace with rapid industrialization or rather be in competition of progress has left us to the door of global warming. Air we breathe in no longer hygienic and so the quality of water. Development made in a past few years through rapid urbanization silently interact with the nature alarming about the repercussions of what we have achieved. This has affected our biodiversity also. Biodiversity is essential for the functioning and sustainability of an ecosystem. Different species play their specific role and changes in species composition or species richness affect the efficiency with which resources are processed within an ecosystem. In cities, industrial wastes discharged directly in to the soil with out giving any preliminary treatment making the soil heavily loaded with heavy metals. This not only harms the vegetation but a common man also. However, there are some ecofriendly plant species capable of absorbing these toxic metals from the soil with out any harm to them. But what is needed is to ask question to ourselves-do we want to purify the air for our own survival and making the water drinkable or continuous urbanization at the cost of nature. The time has come to think over the issue. May be we could find a solution to the problem addressed as-Water and Air Quality in Urban Ecosystem. This can be defined in terms of resilience in an urban ecosystem which depends on the ability of the city to maintain ecological and human functions simultaneously. This ability is often

considered an accurate measure of ecological health. This ability is often considered an accurate measure of ecological health. Also strategies could be formed for maintaining the ecological health of an urban ecosystem.


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BIO-ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION FROM FOOD INDUSTRY EFFLUENT Dr. Renu Baweja*1, Dr. Anita Kapur2, Ms. Divya Mohanty2, Drishty Girdhar3, Prachi Panwar3, Ishender3, Tarushi1, Twinkle1, Priyanka1, Pratibha1, Anjali1 and Divyanka1

*1Department of Biochemistry, Shivaji College, 2Department of Botany, Shivaji College, 3

Deaprtment of Zoology, Shivaji College Corresponding author: *[email protected]

Water pollution has always been a serious concern for the entire world, posing a threat on the health and survival of human beings, plants and animals both at present times and as well as for future. The industrial revolution and other anthropogenic activities are prime causes. As this problem of water pollution cannot be eradicated at once, it necessitates employment of various possible control measures to improve the conditions either by focusing on methods to reduce the waste or ensuring proper treatment of the generated waste. One of the upcoming ways to reduce the pollution caused by the industrial effluent is either to treat them with Microbial Fuel Cell (MFCs) or to use them for the production of MFCs so that the microbes present in effluent sample can be exploited to generate power. MFC or biological fuel cell is a bio-electrochemical system utilizing the natural metabolisms of the microbes. The microbes from effluents can catalyze organic substrates by oxidation-reduction reactions and produce energy in the form of electricity or hydrogen. With the impending energy crises, this eco-friendly and multi-disciplinary approach is the need of the hour. Early 20th century witnessed the demonstrations of first MFCs while the turn of the 21 st century saw its commercial application for wastewater treatment. Along with that, MFCs as a form of renewable energy can find applications as biosensors like for BOD sensing, for hydrogen production, as power supply to remote sensors and underwater devices. Keywords: Industrial Effluent, Anthropogenic, Microbial Fuel Cell


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HARNESSING ELECTRICITY USING MICROBIAL FUEL CELL Harsimran1, Ankit2, Sunita Singh1, Satvinder Singh1 and Smriti Babbar2 Department of Biochemistry1 & Department of Computer Sciences2 Shivaji College (NAAC Accredited ―A‖ Grade), University of Delhi, New Delhi 110027 Corresponding Author(s): [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Microbial fuel cell (MFC), is a bio-electrochemical system which is reported to convert chemical energy stored in the biodegradable substrate to electrical energy via microbial catalyzed redox- reactions. The performance of MFCs are dependent on various factors like type of organic molecule, proton exchange system, the type of electrodes, the use of mediators and the nitrogen gas sparging. Anode performance and proton exchange membranes are important factors in deciding the efficiency of MFCs for large scale applications. Highly efficient Nicoated carbon cloth electrodes that are electrometrically and biologically stable have been reported to enhance the efficiency in turn synthesized at much lower cost by chemical vapour deposition. The MFCs composed of dual electrodes have also been reported to contributed significant increase in generation of electricity. Thus, it provides an attractive option for the production of clean energy, waste water treatment, as biosensors and bioremediation by the use of river water or other sources of water with high organic content. It thus leads us towards a system which generates green energy and carries out bioremediation of heavy metals at the same time. The MFC, establishes as an alternative future sustainable source of energy generation.


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BIOFUEL: A GREENER APPROACH FROM WASTE TO WEALTH Deepika Yadav*, Misha Yadav, Pratima Verma And Palak Sharda Shivaji College, Ring Road, Raja Garden, New Delhi-110027 *Corresponding Author: [email protected] The rising levels of air and water pollution have led the world to shift towards alternative like biofuel over petro‐diesel. This biofuel can also be produced from waste cooking oils by base‐catalyzed trans‐ esterification. Any refined vegetable oil obtained from restaurants, food courts, snack bars, cafeterias, lunch trucks can act as a feedstock source for making this fuel. Food production facilities may have waste oil in bulk storage while it can be collected from residential areas as well. The high viscosity vegetable oil must be chemically converted for proper operation in a diesel engine as raw vegetable oil does not meet biodiesel fuel specifications and can damage the engine. These biodegradable combustible fuels are made of vegetable oils and animal fats and can be used in any compression ignition engine that accepts a regular diesel fuel. Biodiesels can be stored and handled exactly like regular diesel fuel. They have a higher flashpoint and are therefore safer than petroleum diesel fuel. It also aids in keeping the fuel system clean and also improves engine lubricity. The biodiesel production process predominantly results in two primary waste products: water and glycerin, which can be subsequently used for soap making. Optimal Calorific values (CV) have also proven the efficiency and effectiveness of these fuels. Biofuels are proven proficient in lowering Carbon monoxide (CO), Particulate Matter (PM), unburned Hydrocarbons (HC) and other harmful gases. As decreased level of green house gases emission is noticed from production and usage of biodiesel fuel, it represents a promising technology for a sustainable environment.


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PERI-URBAN ECOSYSTEMS IN INDIAN DRY TROPICS: ON THE EDGE OF SUSTAINABILITY Shachi Agrawal1, Shilpy Singhal2 and Rup Narayan2* 1

Department of Botany, Gargi College, New Delhi 110049 , 2

Department of Botany, I. P. Post-Graduate College, Bulandshahr 203001 (U.P.) India

Corresponding author (s): *[email protected] The peri-urban areas represent the transition or interaction zone, where urban and rural activities are juxtaposed. Today‘s world is rapidly urbanising, with particularly radical urban expansion predicted in developing countries. Urbanisation, undoubtedly, has created new opportunities, but has also accelerated environmental degradation in peri-urban zones due to increased pressure on common natural resources here. In these areas, landscape features have witnessed rapid modifications due to human activities. These peri-urban zones are often far more environmentally unstable than either urban or rural settings. A variety of land use changes have often been discerned in dry tropical peri-urban regions at relatively lower spatial scale. Due to persistent anthropogenic pressure in dry tropics, the ecosystems in these areas are highly fragile from the point of view of their structure and functioning. Nevertheless, these fragile areas are highly dynamic both ecologically and economically. The dynamic and shifting nature of the peri-urban areas, coupled with its indeterminate and ambiguous status as a place and/or space, questions about sustainability of these areas and of course of the environment. Despite offering immense opportunities, the peri-urban interface is little understood ecologically, often disregarded and characterised by increasing marginalisation and environmental degradation. The present ecological study was designed to understand the vegetation structure and soil characteristics across six differing land-uses in three seasons in a dry tropical peri-urban area of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh. Vegetation sampling was done through quadrat method. The species nativity, growth-form, habit, invasion-status, and soil characteristics were investigated to understand their


52


deterministic impact on vegetation structure. A total of 125 plant species, predominantly annuals (67%), belonging to 34angiospermic families were recorded. 89% were exotics (largest of American and Asian origins). 48% of exotics were invasive and 16% naturalized. The soils showed relatively lower soil organic carbon and total nitrogen. In conclusion, this study indicated highly heterogeneous peri-urban vegetation both spatially and temporally, with a large number of intruded invasive species in these disturbed peri-urban ecosystems. Due to persisting anthropogenic pressure in and around the investigated region, these areas have turned into low productive invaded systems indicative of an ecological omen for its sustainability.


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CAN WE USE BIRDS AS AN ECOLOGICAL INDICATOR OF SUSTAINABLE CITIES? Vijay Kumar*a, Virat Jolli**b, Sunita Guptac, Shruti Tyagic, Akash Mathanc, Arunenderc, Manish Kumara, Bhawanaa, Shubham Kumaria, Anshu Kumaria Monika Garhwala, Hitakshic, and Shweta Gupta a a b


Department of Environmental Studies c


*Corresponding Author: *[email protected] **[email protected]; Birds have been widely used as an indicator of habitat quality, ecological health and environmental change. Bird‘s population tends to change with changing environmental condition and they respond well to any alteration in the quality of habitat. We therefore assessed whether birds can be used as ecological indicator of sustainable cities or not? We assume optimum vegetation cover and low pollution as criteria to classify cities as sustainable or unsustainable. We selected five sites in Delhi based on the availability of air quality data. The sites were further categorised on the basis of land use pattern. Bird surveys were conducted during 3 months of winter season (December 2015-February 2016). Line transect method was used to estimate bird species diversity, community structure and composition. Our assessment showed that in all the studied sites only fewer species dominates. Blue Rock Pigeon Columba livia, Common Myna Acridotheres tristis and House Crow Corvus splendens were the dominant bird species in all the studied sites. However with increase in tree cover and parkland the diversity of birds increased. Columba livia, Acridotheres tristis and Red Vented Bulbul Pycnonotus cafer showed significant variation in its population across the studied sites. Vegetation cover provides food, shelter, hideout, roosting and nesting sites for birds. At the highly dust polluted sites birds abundance was lowest. The fugivorous bird‘s abundance also showed significant variation across different sites, with highest in low pollution and high percentage of tree cover. Our preliminary assessment showed that birds can be used as an ecological indicator of sustainable cities however similar studies are required to validate it further.


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GENOTOXIC EFFECT OF LEAD NITRATE ON POLYTENE CHROMOSOMES AND NUCLEOLUS OF SARCOPHAGA RUFICORNIS (FAB.) (SARCOPHAGIDAE: DIPTERA) Akanksha Singh1and Rashmi Singh2 1 Dept. of Zoology, University of Allahabad -211002 Dept. of Zoology, Shivaji College, University of Delhi-110027 Corresponding author: [email protected] The flesh fly Sarcophaga ruficornis belonging to sarcophagidae family of Diptera, is a medically important which are known to spread myiasis in cattle as well as it has withdrawn a great attention of forensic entomologist. The use of insects as bio-indicators in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is of great interest in eco-toxicological studies. Stress response to genotoxic effect of lead nitrate was analysed in polytene chromosomes and nucleolus of pupal foot pad of flesh fly Sarcophaga ruficornis. During present study a single large puff was induced at the 12 A locus of the chromosome arm IIL and activity of nucleolus was impaired, when treated with lead nitrate at different concentrations and time intervals. The same puff is known to be induced as well as impaired nucleolar activity has been observed by heat shock and chemical stresses in several sarcophagids. Thus the induction of this puff and size of nucleolus in sarcophagids may be used as a bioindicator for the assessment of genotoxicity of environmental pollutants.


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“SAVING

THE ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS”: QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION OF VOCAL BEHAVIOUR OF AMPHIBIANS IN DELHI

Megha Srigyan1, Jyotsna Karan2, Abdus Samad2, Abhishek Singh2, Abhishek Chandra3, PoojaGokhale Sinha4, GPC Rao4and Robin Suyesh3* 1

Department of Biochemistry, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi 2

3

4

Department of Biological Science, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi

Department of Environmental Studies, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi

Department of Botany, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi Corresponding Author(s): *[email protected]

High levels of noise in metropolitan cities affect humans and wildlife alike. This is especially true of animals such as frogs, where vocal behavior plays a key role in reproduction. In most species, male vocalizations, often termed as advertisement calls, serve dual functions: Apart from calling out to females, they also indicate territory occupancy to other competing males, thus governing aspects such as individual fitness, mating preferences, reproductive success and competition. All these processes could be affected by surrounding noise, such as traffic, which by interference, may influence female perception to the signal and/or her ability to discriminate between individuals. The first step towards making a systematic study of such effects requires documentation of vocal behaviour of the target species. In this study, we aim to make quantitative description of vocal behavior of frogs in Delhi. The information can also assist in acoustic surveys as an attempt to generate information about their distribution in Delhi. Given the lack of existing field studies conducted on amphibians in the area, our work would definitely serve as primary data to conduct relevant studies in the future, as well as potentially aiding in conservation of these ecological indicators. Keywords: Amphibians, Vocal Behaviour, Conservation, Delhi


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RESTORATION ECOLOGY-STEP TOWARDS REJEUVENATION OF DEGRADED ECOSYSTEMS Sandeep Kaushik1*, Ashish Kumar Chaudhary2*, Ruchi Vir3, Suman Sharma1, Suman Lakhanpaul 2 1

Department of Botany, Ramjas College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007, 2

3

Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007,

Department of Botany, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110003, Corresponding author:*[email protected]

Ecology as the name suggests is the scientific analysis and study of interactions between biotic and abiotic components. The balance between these components may have taken million of years before making a stand-still or in other words a harmony, a mutual agreement made by biotic components in form of adaptation, acclimation resulting in form of morphological and genetic variations. Unfortunately with rapid increase in anthropogenic activities has resulted in deforestation, urbanization, industrialization, mining, pollution and uncontrolled use of toxic substances etc. and thus have posed threat to the biodiversity as a whole. In other words it has led to habitat destruction, species extinction, genetic erosion and introduction of exotic species as a whole leading to decline in the natural ecosystem and its services to mankind as a whole. Not only the biotic component but also the abiotic too has been hampered due to change in the microclimatic arena as a whole thus having a deep impact on the local flora and fauna. A need thus arises to reclaim this degraded, damaged or destroyed ecosystem through active human intervention by restoring the natural ecosystem through scientific means terming this as restoration ecology, a growing branch of ecology. Biologist E.O. Wilson thought ―Here is the means to end the great extinction spasm, the next century will, I believe, be the era of restoration ecology‖. Mangroves Restoration in Andhra Pradesh, Restore Pachnada River, Ecological Restoration of lime stone mined areas of Purnapani's (Orissa) and Restoration of Lantana-Invaded Landscapes in Corbett Tiger Reserve are some of the few successful restoration stories from India among the several across the landscape. But still a large number are waiting for…Thus there is a dire need for gaining a


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momentum towards the restoration of these degraded, damaged, dwindling ecosystems by not only biocentric but also taking other aspects such as ecosystem functions and services which may also serve the sustainable goal of development.


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RHIZOFILTRATION: PLANT BASED TECHNOLOGY TO CLEAN POLLUTED WATER Dr. Renu Soni1* and Dr. Garima Malik1** 1

Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, Gargi College, University of Delhi-110049 Corresponding author (s):

*[email protected], **[email protected], The human quest for economic gains has led to the rapid ecological degradation of natural resources present on the earth. More than 70% of our planet earth is covered with water; however, the fresh water that is used for various purposes by living organism is only 3% of the total water content. Anthropogenic activities such as urbanization, industrialization and agricultural have accelerated the rate of environmental pollution worldwide. One such global problem is accumulation of excess amount of heavy metals in our water bodies which show hazardous effects on phytoplankton‘s, plants, animals and human health. Lead is one such heavy metal that disrupts the food chain and is lethal even at low concentration. Phytoremediation i.e. use of plants to clean pollutants from the environment, is a promising green technology that can be used to mitigate the effect of various pollutants. Rhizofiltration is a subset technique of phytoremediation which involves utilization of plant roots to absorb, concentrate, and precipitate contaminants from polluted water bodies. In this review, we will discuss the mechanism, significance and limitations of Rhizofiltration technique and focus on potential of certain aquatic plants that can be used as a tool for Rhizofiltration.


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EICHHORNIA CRASSIPES AND SALVINIA MOLESTA AS SCAVENGERS OF HEAVY METALS FROM CHEMISTRY LABORATORY EFFLUENTS. Navneet Manav, Jasleen Kaur, Jyoti Rautela, Chetanya Jain and AK Bhagi* Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003 Corresponding author (s): [email protected]

The untreated laboratory effluents contain high levels of toxic heavy metals. It thus entails environmental and health hazards and consequently must be immediately be conveyed away from its generation sources and treated appropriately before final disposal. Public health and social economic concerns are the ultimate goal in treating these toxic laboratory effluents. Several studies indicate the capacity of aquatic plants as scavengers of heavy metals from the water in which they grow. These aquatic plants show promise for treating water bodies rich in toxic heavy metals with minimal environment disturbance. In present work we aim to investigate potential of Eichhornia crassipes and Salvinia molesta in scavenging Co (II) and Cr(III) from chemistry laboratory effluents. Removal of metal ions increased with increasing contact time initially and becomes constant after few days. Kinetics of adsorption of metal ions by these aquatic plants was studied. It showed that the adsorption follows second order kinetics. Langmuir model for adsorption of toxic metal ions by phytoremediation was also studied. The results indicated that phytoremediation could be used as a substitute of expensive conventional clean up technologies.


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SOIL, SEED BANK AND STANDING VEGETATION ALONG THE POLLUTED KALI RIVER BANK AT BULANDSHAHR Shilpy Singhala, Shachi Agarwalb and Rup Narayana* a

Department of Botany, I.P. Post-Graduate College, Bulandshahr 203001 (U.P.) India, bDepartment of Botany, Gargi College, New Delhi 110049, Corresponding author: *[email protected]

The Kali River is an intermittent river in western Uttar Pradesh, with massive flow during monsoon months. Originating near Khatoli town, it flows through the district of Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Kasganj and finally merges with river Ganga at Kannauj. This river has been a witness to the dumping of urban wastes and considerable amount of domestic and industrial wastewaters every year. Thus, its water is severely polluted, which impeccably must impact the characteristics of associated soils, soil seed bank and the standing vegetation. The present study aimed to understand this impact through the assessment of physico-chemical characteristics of soils at Kali river-banks, and the dominants in vegetation aboveground and belowground. Surface soil samples (0–10 cm) were investigated for different physico-chemical properties and seedbank‘s floristic composition. The dominants in the standing vegetation of Kali river bank were estimated by quadrat method (species IVI analysis) and the dominants in belowground vegetation (soil seed bank) by seedling emergence method (density analysis). The surface soils of the riverbank exhibited poor soil nutrients in terms of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen, albeit they were higher than some of the more disturbed ecosystems in this region. Diversity of standing vegetation, comprising of mainly the weedy species, was comparatively higher compared to reported diversity across other landuses here. However, seed bank density recorded was much lower along the river bank soils. This is indicative of mainly the phyto-toxic effect of the pollution load carried along the river flows. values. A total of 33 plant species were recorded in this study. Species dominants altered with the season. Cynodon dactylon (L.) Persoon, Sida acuta Burm


64


F., Digitaria adscendens (Kunth) Henrard, Parthenium hysterophorus L., Sida cordifolia L. were the top five dominants in rainy season accounting for 59% of total species RIVI. However, in the winter season, Parthenium hysterophorus L., Rumex dentatus L., Argemone maxicana L., Croton bonplandianum Baillon, Sida cordifolia L. together accounted for 83% of total species RIVI. Large scale prevalence of these dominant plant species reflects their successful colonization ability along the bank of polluted Kali river, and also suggests their phytoremedial implications across diverse anthropoecosystems in dry tropical peri-urban region in Bulandshahr..


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APPLICATION OF GREEN TECHNOLOGY IN WASTE WATER TREATMENT Saloni Bahri, Sushma Moitra, Simran Sekhri*, Shipra Ruhal Department of Botany, Miranda House, University of Delhi Corresponding Author(s): *[email protected]

Organic pollutants and heavy metals have adverse effect on the environment as well as the human health. The contamination of aquatic systems by toxic metals has recently increased due to anthropogenic activity. The most important anthropogenic sources of pollution in aquatic environment are urban discharges, agricultural material run off, mining fossil fuel use, industrial discharges, burning of coal and pharmaceutical production. Heavy metals can be removed using algae as a source of green technology. Algae based waste water treatment systems offer more simple and economical technology as compared to the other environmental protection systems. Algae such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii show a high capacity for accumulation of heavy metals as a result of tolerance mechanisms and many algae synthesize phytochelatins which are metal binding oligopeptides that can form complexes with heavy metals and translocate them into the vacuoles. Algae utilize these heavy elements for their growth and other metabolic activities. Algal based water treatment has low maintenance, high efficiency and show better result. Green technology has emerged as the most desirable and efficient technology in checking of heavy metals and hardness from water. Keywords: heavy metals, green technology, anthropogenic activity, algae.


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BIOREMEDIATION THROUGH ALGAE: A GREEN TECHNOLOGY Gaurav Kumar1* and Pooja Baweja2** 1

2

Department of Environmental Studies, PGDAVCollege, Nehru Nagar, New Delhi- 110065

Department of Botany, Maitreyi College, Chanakya Puri, New Delhi – 110021. Corresponding author (s): *[email protected],**[email protected]

The effluents from various residential and industrial discharge rich in various nutrients constitute a major source of water pollution. Huge loads of such wastes find their way into rivers, ponds and other water bodies and results into large scale deterioration of water quality leading to unavailability of potable water. If untreated and added into water bodies nearby, such effluents can also cause the eutrophication posing negative impact on downstream communities. Bioremediation is a cost efficient technology that uses biological organisms to degrade and transform various pollutants or toxic elements to less harmful or non-hazardous elements and ―Algal Bioremediation‖ or phycoremediation is the process where various species of algae are used to remove excess dissolved nutrients from industrial effluents. It is an alternative technology in which sewage wastewater is treated in economical and sustainable way as compared to conventional methods. The potential for algae in waste water remediation is however much wider in scope than its current role and various species now a days being used are Chlorella, Scenedesmus or Arthrospira in isolation or as mixed culture. These microalgae are able to remove various heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, nickel etc. Apart from these micro algae various macroalgae are also being screened to use as biofilters or for biosorption such as Gracilaria, Ascophyllum and Sargassum.But still there is a need to look for other species of algae for the process. Therefore in present work an attempt has been made to discuss the application and potential various algal species which can be used for the process of ―Algal Bioremediation‖


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BIOREMEDIATION: AN OVERVIEW Charu Kalra1, Mehervi Shinde2, Parul Jain3 and Ipsa Gupta4 1

Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, University of Delhi

2,3,4

Botany (H) IV Semester, Department of Botany, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, University of Delhi Corresponding Author (s): [email protected]

Bioremediation is the upcoming most efficient and natural technology which involves use of living systems to degrade, detoxify or transform heavy metals, radio nuclides, xenobiotics compounds, organic waste, pesticides etc. from polluted sites. It‘s a green technology without any ecological side effects. Bioremediation can be done either in situ or ex situ involving treatment of the contaminated material at the site or taking and treating the contaminated material off the site. Usually employed bioremediation technologies include bioaugmentation, phytoremediation bioventing, bioleaching, and biostimulation. Treatment of waste material is either done by making it less toxic i.e. detoxification or by transforming it into inorganic compounds i.e. mineralization viz. methane, carbon dioxide and water. Bioremediation primarily focus on procedures which are eco-friendly and cost effective. In bioaugmentation actively growing specific microbial strains are added to the already existing microbial community to enhance their ability to degrade different contaminants. A number of enzymes useful in biodegradation of contaminants have been reported from bacteria, fungi, and plants. In phytoremediation various plants have been known to absorb and mobilise heavy metal pollutants in their body, which are later on harvested and incinerated or may be used for extraction of important metals. In this review of we have endeavoured to give an overview of the bioaugmentation and phytoremediation technologies involving use of microorganisms and plants for degrading and detoxifying various contaminants.


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BIOREMEDIATION: A STEP TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION Srishti Sharma, Rashmi Singh, Kiran, Sunita Singh, Satvinder Singh and Smriti Babbar Department of Biochemistry & Department of Computer Sciences Shivaji College (NAAC Accredited ―A‖ Grade), University of Delhi, New Delhi 110027 Corresponding Author (s): [email protected]; [email protected]

Bioremediation is an efficient method using naturally occurring micro-organisms to break down hazardous substances into less toxic or non-toxic substances. This practice is generally used for the removal of metals and toxic pollutants from waste/polluted water or soil. Bioremediation is based on metabolic activity of effective microorganisms (EM) that have certain advantages over the others. The micro-organisms used to perform the function of bioremediation are known as Bioremediators such as bacteria, archaea and fungi are the prime bioremediators. Bioremediation processes are very attractive in comparison to physicochemical methods employed for the removal of heavy metals as these are cost effective and have much higher efficiency at low metal concentrations. The important issue in the practice is efficacy of the microbes for the uptake of the toxic heavy metals. To estimate the efficacy of bioremediation of metals by the chosen bacteria, these metals are added in the known amounts at the time of inoculation. The culture is kept for varying incubation periods along with the measured metal quantity and centrifuged. The collected supernatants were checked for the metal levels using spectroscopic and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). It was found that the efficacy of Zinc uptake by E.coli is to be more efficient than that of Chromium. The effect of metal uptake on bacterial morphology can be analysed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Hence bioremediation is an effective step towards restoration of the environment.


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ARSENIC REMOVAL STRATEGIES IN INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: POSSIBLE TREATMENTS FOR DRINKING WATER Richa Agarwal1*, Gaurav Kumar1** and Pardeep Singh1, 2*** 1

Department of Environmental Studies, PGDAV College, University of Delhi, New Delhi-110065, India 2

Department of Chemistry Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi 221005, India Corresponding author (s): *[email protected]; **[email protected]; ***[email protected]

The present review emphasizes on low cost treatment processes for the reduction of arsenic in drinking water in Indian subcontinent and other parts of the world. It is suggested that the combinations of low cost treatments like ion exchange, filtration and adsorption along with biological methods may provide to be useful options for arsenic removal from drinking water. The World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. EPA have recommended 10 μg/L of arsenic as the maximum permissible concentration in water to be safe for human consumption. Populations in Indian Subcontinent face several health problems due to presence of high arsenic contents in ground as well as surface waters. The physicochemical properties of ground and surface waters in India are different from those in the developed countries. Moreover, the problems related to water quality in India are still largely unidentified. The most common and appropriate technologies for arsenic removal from water to be applied in the subcontinent are summarized in this article. Conventional technologies are also briefly described and the emphasis has been given to the emergent decentralized cost-effective methods because of their importance in palliating the situation of the deprived, isolated and dispersed populations of the subcontinent. Keywords: Arsenic, Subcontinent, Removal technologies, Low cost treatment.


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PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF PHENOLIC COMPOUND IN WASTE WATER: USING TIO2 AS CATALYSTS 1

Pardeep Singh1, 2*, Gaurav Kumar1** and Richa Agarwal1*** Department of Environmental Studies, PGDAV College, University of Delhi, New Delhi-110065, India 2 Department of Chemistry Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi 221005, India Corresponding author (s): * [email protected]; **[email protected]; ***[email protected]

Pollution of soil-water interface due to the release of hydrocarbons in environment is a major public health concern, and therefore, remediation of these pollutants is needed to reduce risk to human and environment. Various methods such as biological, chemical and physical method are used to degrade these pollutants from waste water. In the present work photochemical degradation of phenolic compound in waste water are studied by using activated Carbon−TiO2 nanocomposites as catalysts in the presence of UV irradiation in photochemical reactor. Activated carbon is synthesized from agricultural waste after converting into activated charcoal has been used to immobilize the TiO2 nanoparticles. In addition, it increases the surface area of TiO2 particles; enhance the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 by stepping up the photocatalytic efficiency. Composite are prepared by sol gel method and was further characterized by Xray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transformed-Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR).The Photocatalytic efficiencies of the synthesized composites were determined by the mineralization of phenolic compound under UV irradiation in photochemical reactor. Degradation rate was estimated by spectrophotometer. It was found that in the presence of TiO 2 activated carbon composite degradation rate was higher as compare to TiO2 and activated carbon when used separately. Kinetics of degradation was also studied. Keywords: Phenolic Petrochemical, Pollutant

compound,


Photochemical

degradation,

TiO2,

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PLANTATION OF SHRUBS IN URBAN AREAS TO CONTEST AIR POLLUTION Monika Koul and Pratibha Thakur Hansraj College, University of Delhi, Delhi – 110007 Corresponding author (s) : [email protected], [email protected] According to the reports published by CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board), New Delhi, the air quality of Delhi is going worse in the world according to data based on various environmental parameters and SPM (suspended particulate matter) is a major culprit. Due to the higher incidence of air pollution in the state, many people in Delhi especially children and elderly are suffering from various respiratory ailments. Along with SPM, ozone is also considered to be responsible for increasing pollution levels in the environment. Various steps are being taken by the Government as well as public for improving the air quality index. The initiatives include social consciousness and awareness and use of various policy interventions to tackle the issue. It is important to use the biological methods to combat the problem and increase in green cover and plantation of trees is one important way to control the menace. However, in an urban city like Delhi there is not much land available to be brought under tree plantation. Trees need a lot of space as these have large canopy as well basal cover area. Moreover, these produce spreading branches as they overgrow and also take a lot of time to grow. Tree plantation and other associated practices for managing these are under stringent government control. Besides, tree is a problem when it needs to change the land use pattern which is common in urban cities. Therefore, it is proposed that instead of emphasizing on tree plantation, the focus should be on plantation of shrubs and tall herbs. Shrubs and herbs form an important component of vegetation and ground cover. These grow fast and play an important role in cleaning and purifying air in urban areas. Many shrubs such as Duranta, Lawsonia, Bougainvillea, Tabernemontana and Carissa have wonderful potential of reducing air pollution in urban regions. These can be grown anywhere, need low inputs in plantation and do not need much land to grow. In urban landscapes where space is a crunch, these can have aesthetic,


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ornamental as well pollution combating roles. Many shrubs have leaves that are robust with thick cuticle that helps them to stay healthy in harsh conditions. Shrubs can also be planted in home, kitchen gardens and indoors and thus help in controlling particulate matter in air. Shrubs such as Putranjiva and Tecoma can be grown along roadsides as they can capture pollutants from air and enhance the beauty as well. Shrubs can also be managed frequently by pruning and using efficient practices.


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