Context

• Rampant urban pollution in India necessitates a mindset shift in citizenry and policymakers.

Status of Urban pollution in India

• Urban pollution has a multiplier effect on quality of life, productivity and human health with an overwhelming share of seven million lives lost globally per annum. 
  • Eighty per cent of all families in Delhi are noted to be suffering respiratory ailments due to severe pollution. 
  • Over 11 cities in Uttar Pradesh have recorded poor air quality. 
  • More than 1,10,000 infants are likely to have been killed by air pollution in India in 2019.
  • 72 percent of urban sewage is untreated in India’s urban freshwater bodies. 
  • The Central Pollution Control Board says that more than 50 percent of 351 river stretches are polluted. 

How we can improve air and water quality in urban spaces

1. Expand green cover across urban areas to reduce dust pollution. 
   1. Eg: Ahmedabad’s municipal corporation has planted over 20,000 trees using the Miyawaki technique to create the city’s 43rd urban forest.
2. Push for airshed management, with a focus on understanding meteorological, seasonal and geographic patterns for air quality across a large region. 
   1. Eg: In the US, the passage of the Air Quality Act (1967) saw the state of California being divided into 35 districts which had similar geographic and meteorological conditions and pollution was regulated at the state level. This approach was successful in reducing emissions by 98 per cent from 2010 to 2019. 
3. Improve sewage treatment plant capacity and ensure linkages with the drainage network. 
   1. Mangalore’s City Corporation (MCC) has wastewater treatment plants with end-user linkages. The MCC offered to supply treated water to such industrial end-users in the city’s special economic zone if the end users agreed to fund about 70 per cent of the operations and maintenance cost of the pumps and the sewage treatment plant.

Way Forward

• At the household level, citizens have to be encouraged to take up rainwater harvesting, urban roof terrace greening, urban roof water retention tanks and having a green corridor around residential buildings.
• Municipalities could be encouraged to make existing roads permeable with a push for green landscaping and rain gardens. 
• At the city level, policymakers should push for “sponge cities” and incorporate disaster planning. 

reference:

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/our-choking-cities-how-we-can-improve-air-and-water-quality-in-urban-spaces-8259527/