Water Pollution and Abatement Policy in India: A Study from an Economic Perspective

278 Pages·2014·2.03 MB·English

by  Debesh Chakraborty

Global Issues in Water Policy 10
Debesh Chakraborty
Kakali Mukhopadhyay
Water Pollution
and Abatement
Policy in India
A Study from an Economic Perspective
Water Pollution and Abatement Policy in India
GLOBAL ISSUES IN WATER POLICY
VOLUME 10
Series Editors
Ariel Dinar
José Albiac Murillo
Stefano Farolfi
Abel Mejia
Rathinasamy Maria Saleth
For furthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/8877
Debesh Chakraborty (cid:129) Kakali Mukhopadhyay
Water Pollution and
Abatement Policy in India
A Study from an Economic Perspective
DebeshChakraborty KakaliMukhopadhyay
DepartmentofEconomics DepartmentofNaturalResourceSciences
JadavpurUniversity AgriculturalEconomicsProgram
Calcutta,WestBengal McGillUniversity
India Quebec
Canada
ISSN2211-0631 ISSN2211-0658(electronic)
ISBN978-94-017-8928-8 ISBN978-94-017-8929-5(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-94-017-8929-5
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergNewYorkLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2014941879
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaDordrecht2014
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Foreword
Shortly before the publication of this book, Professor Debesh Chakraborty, the
renowned academician, internationally acclaimed economist, and, most impor-
tantly, the main author of this book, passed away after a short illness. Having
meticulously worked on the proofreading of this manuscript, Professor
Chakraborty, however, did not have the opportunity to see the printed volume.
Hisinspirationandguidancesawmethrougheverylineofthisbook,andIdedicate
thisbooktothememoryofhim.
ProfessorChakrabortywasafacultyatthedepartmentofEconomics,Jadavpur
University, Calcutta, India, for more than three decades. He began his academic
career as a postdoctoral researcher at New York University with Nobel Laureate
Prof. W.W. Leontief, a distinction that shaped him into one of the pioneers and
forerunners of multisector quantitative research in Applied Economics and Input-
outputmodelinginIndia.Hewillberememberedfordevelopingemergingareasof
researchwithspecialfocusonApplicationoftheInput–Outputframework,Global
CGEmodel,andAppliedQuantitativeTechniquesinEconomics.Hewas,without
anydoubt,oneofthemostrenownedandmostthoughtfulacademiciansinthefield
ofInput-OutputEconomics.
Professor Chakraborty coauthored several books and leaves behind more than
100publicationsinvariouspeer-reviewedjournals.Hehadcontributedextensively
totheanalysisofmultisectoralmodelsandwasoneoftheearlyresearchersinthat
fieldinIndia.Hisworkshavebeenwidelycited,settingthetrendformanyyoung
researchers in that field. Always on the lookout for research on fundamental and
emerging issues, he continued his engagement in supervising Ph.D. students and
directed large research projects even after his retirement. Twenty-three scholars
earnedtheirdoctoraldegreesunderhissupervisionindiversefieldsineconomics.
Professor Chakraborty was attached as a fellow or visiting fellow to various
universitiesandinstitutionssuchasUNESCAPinBangkok,NewYorkUniversity
in the USA, Tilburg University and MERIT-Maastricht University in the Nether-
lands, the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii, the Korea Institute of
PopulationandFamilyPlanninginSouthKorea,theUniversityofNewcastleinthe
v
vi Foreword
UK, Oulu University in Finland, and the Department of Agricultural Economics,
McGillUniversity,Canada.
Hepossessedtherarepersonalitythatcouldblendacademicswithrealissuesof
ourdailylifetodevelopavisionforsocietalprogressatlarge.Akeenobserverwith
asharpintellectandempathyforthecommonman,hebefriendedpeoplefromall
walksoflife.Aboveall,hewasawonderfulhumanbeingwhoalwaysgavehisbest
to his students, friends, and colleagues. I will forever remember a man with such
deepcommitmenttoacademicsandsocietyandloveforequalityandbalance.Itis
hardtobelievethatsuchavigoroushumanpresenceisnomore.
Withgreatsadness,
KakaliMukhopadhyay
Preface
Thegrowingecosystemdegradationaroundtheworldisaffectingthevastpopula-
tion especially the poor in developing countries who often depend solely on
ecosystem services. Water is one of the most fundamental natural resources and
isvitaltothesurvivalofalllivingorganismsandsmoothfunctioningofecosystem
and society. Decades of rapid industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural
development have resulted in lifestyles that increase the demands on water
resourcesalongwithdramaticincreasesinwaterpollutionlevels.Pollutingwaste-
water from industrial discharges is one of the main causes of ecosystem degrada-
tion.Apartfromindustrialwastewater,agrochemicals,fertilizers,organicmanure,
and nutrient solution pollute water significantly when they enter into the water
through rains. Water pollution is one of the main reasons behind a decline in
freshwater reserves. Polluted water has adverse effects on both environment and
health.Waterpollutionhasbeenincreasinginalarmingproportionsovertime,and
thisneedsimmediateattentionandcallsforappropriatemeasures.
Traditionally, India has been well endowed with large freshwater reserves but
increasing population, urbanization, and agricultural growth are leading to
overexploitation of surface and groundwater over the past few decades. Thus, the
availability and the quality ofthe freshwater resources is the most pressing of the
many environmental challenges India is facing today. Growth of the Indian econ-
omyisdrivingincreasedwaterusageacrosssectors.Ontheotherhand,wastewater
amount is increasing significantly and, in the absence of proper measures for
treatment and management, is polluting existing freshwater reserves. As a result,
waterpollutionhasemergedasoneofthegravestenvironmentalthreatstoIndia.In
thisbackdrop,thecurrentstudymakesacomprehensiveanalysisofwaterpollution
inIndia.
A significant number of industries such as livestocks, chemical industries,
beverages, leather, cotton textiles, miscellaneous textile, paper, pesticides, milk,
andmilkproductsinIndiaareproducingwaterpollutionaboveMINASbyseveral
times.Wehavealsoseenthatanumberofindustriesarecontrollingwaterpollution.
Sincepollutionabatementactivitiesinvolvecost,theyaffectthepriceandoutputof
differentindustries.
vii
viii Preface
The current book attempts to develop an input–output model to link water
pollutiongenerated by different industries with various economic activities of the
Indianeconomy.Itconstructsadetailedwaterpollutioncoefficientmatrixinvolv-
ing different types of water pollutants and estimates the total amount of water
pollution generation directly and indirectly from different sectors/activities of
India. The analysis of the effect of pollution abatement scheme shows that the
demandforsectoraloutputwillchangeandsoalsothepriceofthedifferentsectors
of the economy. We find that chemical, mining, and electricity are key sectors
whichhaveextensivelinkagesinthedemandforcleanwater.
Further,thestudyderivesaninterestingfindingfromthewaterpollutioncontent
intrade.Indiaisexportingmorewaterpollution-intensivegoods,whileimporting
less. So India is pollution heaven particularly for a number of water pollution
parameters such as dissolved solids, chloride, sulfide, BOD, and COD for the
years2006–2007.
Thebookalsooffersaportfolioofpollutionabatementpoliciesandevaluatesthe
implications of such policies on pollution generation in the economy. Analysis
reveals that water pollution-generating sectors such as inorganic and organic
chemicals, mining, sugar, and cotton textile will grow rapidly and therefore also
thecleanwatersector.Thestudycalculatesthewaterpollutionloadattheendofthe
12th five-year plan. Furthermore, the study accounts for defensive expenditure
arising from water pollution and estimates Green GDP of India for the year
2006–2007. We have applied various scenarios to estimate the loss in GDP due
to water pollution and related activities. The loss accounted for GDP varies
accordingtoscenariosrangingfrom3.50to3.91%.
ThereisacontroversyregardingthesettingupofCETP/orETPplantinIndia.
An assessment has been made in the book through different case studies across
different states in India. The findings on West Bengal reveal that measures to
control water pollutants by setting up Environmental Treatment Plant (ETP) in
fiveindustrieshavebeensuccessful.TheexperiencesfromleatherindustryinNorth
and South India show a similar result. Both of them have used CETP to control
water pollution. On the other hand,a typical clusterof pulp and paper industryin
NorthernIndiashowsthefeasibilityofETPcomparedtoCETP.
The book suggests that the foremost attempt should be made to achieve clean
water and for that technological improvement is a must. Increase in research and
development expenditure has to be taken by the different industries and the
government involving scientists, social scientists, and technologists. The book
has also analyzed the possibility of using economic instruments and command
andcontrolpoliciesfortheabatementofwaterpollution.Itconcludesthattheuse
of economic instruments together with existing command and control approaches
willbringgreatbenefit.
We hope this effort will make a modest contribution to solving the water
pollution problem of a developing country like India and provide some direction
forabatementpolicies.Itpresentsathoroughreviewofwaterpollutiongeneration
fromdifferentsectorsoftheIndianeconomyandtheimpactofabatementpolicies.
The book integrates macroeconomic and microeconomic approach on a single
Preface ix
platform,arareattemptintheliteratureonwaterpollutioninIndia.Thebookwill
help policy makers, researchers, and the world bodies like ADB, World Bank,
UNEP, IWMI, and Water Research Institutes derive policies and pursue further
researchforthoroughinvestigation.Inaddition,thecentralpollutioncontrolboard
and various state pollution control boards of India will also find the book useful.
Thus,thebookwillbeagoodadditiontothefieldofwaterpollutionindeveloping
countriesparticularlyinAsia.
18.11.2013 DebeshChakraborty
KakaliMukhopadhyay