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| Effects of Noise Pollution |
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| The immediate and acute effect of noise pollution is impairment of hearing. Damage to the eardrum can be caused by impulsive loud sounds or by prolonged exposure to noise. Long exposure to loud noise may result in hearing loss which may become permanent. |
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| Effects on general health |
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| Apart from hearing impairment, the first effects are anxiety and stress reaction and in extreme cases fright. The physiological manifestations are : |
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 Increase in the rate of heart-beat, increased cholesterol and blood pressure. |
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 Constriction of blood vessels |
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 Digestive spasms and stomach disorders |
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 Dilation of the pupil of the eye |
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 It interferes with proper communication, peace of mind and behavior |
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 It causes headache, irritability and nervousness, feeling of fatigue and decreases work efficiency. |
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 Noise also affects the developing embryo in mothers uterus. |
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 Construction of sound proof rooms for noisy machines in industries. |
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 Use of horns with jarring sounds to be banned. |
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 Noise producing industries, aerodromes, and railway stations to be shifted away from the inhabited areas. |
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 Proper law should be enforced to check the misuse of loudspeakers and public announcements systems. |
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 To enforce silence zones near schools / colleges, hospitals etc. |
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 Growing green plants/trees along roadside to reduce noise pollution as they absorb sound. |
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 Loud speakers are banned from 10pm to 6am. India enacted Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and noise pollution has been declared an offence. |
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| Controlling the pollution has been a most challenging field for human civilization. Understanding the gravity and variety of pollution in different walks of life and studying their serious implications on human health, animal health, ecological problems, urban life style, and many managemental problems has been a great challenge for human knowledge. As the cities grow faster and as the use of chemicals in agriculture is at an increasing rate and as more industries are established year after year the problem of pollution is attaining wider dimensions. |
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| Control of the pollution requires recognition of pollution in different parts of society and quantitative studies about pollution. Several control measures have been suggested and used to control the pollution. Pollution control has been the combined responsibility of |
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 administrators and policy makers |
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 industries |
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 civic bodies |
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 agriculturists |
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| as well as all the people who create pollution and who are affected by pollution. |
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| Infact, creating awareness of pollution itself is a part of its control, because many pollutions could be avoided instead of being controlled. In this respect, most civilized societies attempt to control the pollution with more alertness and sophisticated methods than most developing countries. Because, most developed and civilized countries have |
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 higher public awareness about pollution |
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 generated most advanced technologies to control pollution |
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 large capital base to spend on pollution control. |
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| In many developing countries all of the above factors are limiting. In addition, the problems due to pollution are more aggravated in developing countries due to high rate of population growth. |
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| Nevertheless, the attempts are being made in our country to reduce the pollution in many ways. Some of them are: |
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| a) Treatment plants established to treat industrial effluents before they are released to rivers. |
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| b) Reuse of treated water for non drinking purposes. |
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| c) Use of sewage and city waste water for irrigation to agricultural and horticultural crops. |
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| d) Ban and imposition of fines on industries not following pollution control methods. |
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| e) Ban on dumping of industrial wastes in unsafe ways. |
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| f) Recycling and composing the city wastes. |
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| g) Safe handling of sanitary wastes by internal drainage system. |
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| h) Compulsory adoption of septic tanks for safe disposal of sanitary wastes. |
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| Water, Food and Soil Pollution |
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 Promoting the sustainable system of agriculture which encourages use of as less chemicals as possible in agricultural operation. |
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 Reduced use of fertilizers in a method called Integrated Farming System - which promotes the use of all natural resources along with fertilizers. |
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 Replacement of chemical control of pests by eco - friendly approaches like Integrated Pest Management (IPM) System - where in biological methods are integrated with chemical control. |
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 Ban on some pesticides like DDT, BHC - which are known to have high persistence values due to their non - biodegradable and bio-accumulative properties. |
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 Discouraging the use of pesticides on vegetables. |
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 Suggesting and adopting several domestic methods to avoid dangers of pollution. |
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 Use of filtered water through devices like aqua - guard, Kenstar, etc. |
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 Reducing the urbanisation pressures by encouraging many urban centres to develop than development of single agglomerate. |
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 Frequent surveys of pollution of air, food, water at many urban centres to exercise checks on pollution causing agents. |
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