ES 200 Environmental Studies

: Science and Engineering

Introduction
(Multidisciplinary nature of environmental problems)

Lectures prepared
by

Subhankar Karmakar
Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering
IIT Bombay
Powai, Mumbai 400 076, India
skarmakar@iitb.ac.in
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Course Content

Multidisciplinary nature of environmental

problems; Utilization of natural resources
and environmental degradation; Indicators
of environmental pollution; Ecosystems;
Biodiversity and its conservation;
Environment and human health;

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 Evaluation (for Module 2 by S Karmakar)

2 Assignments (13 %)

Final Semester Examination (20%)

(during Mid Semester Exam week)

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 References

Cunningham W.P. and Cunningham M.A. (2002), Principles

of Environmental Science, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company,
New Delhi.
Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science by
G. M. Masters, W. P. Ela; Prentice Hall, 2008
.. [mainly Chap. 4 & part of Chap. 9]
Davis, M. L. and Cornwell D. A. (1998), Introduction to
Environmental Engineering, 2nd Ed., McGraw Hill, Singapore. [Chap. 4]
Supplementary Reading Materials (Selected Book Chapters and Papers)

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 Environment Today is a global issue

Vast areas in the world have lost their forest cover

Our drinking water (surface and / or subsurface)
has become impotable
Our food is contaminated with toxic chemicals
Even the air we breath is slowly poisoning and disabling us

. Main Problem is our blindness of approaching

collective suicide 5
 Fundamental Objectives
Considerable overlap . because of
the relationship between the quality
of environmental conditions and the
well-being of people
Public health
protection Environmental
health protection

To help prevent the

transmission of diseases To preserve the quality
among human beings of our natural surroundings
including water, land, air,
vegetation and wildlife
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Environmental Technology
. involves planning, design, construction and
operation of the following systems
Drinking water treatment and distribution
Sewage disposal and water pollution control
Stormwater drainage and control
Solid and hazardous waste management
Air and noise pollution control
General community sanitation

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 The Environment

the term is derived from a French word environ

means to encircle or surround

Einstein has defined environment as

Everything that is not me

In Oxford Dictionary the environment is defined as

natural world in which people, animals and plants live

Environmental studies is a branch of study of inherent

or induced changes in the environment

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 Environmental Studies in India

In 1991, Supreme Court issued a directive to prepare all

curricula environment oriented

The directive was, in fact, in response to a Public Interest

Litigation (PIL) filed by M.C. Mehta (a Supreme court lawyer),
who is popularly known as One Man Environ-Legal Brigade
that prompted the apex court to give a mandate for creating
environmental awareness among all citizens of India

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Natural Resources

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Example - Optimal Water Allocation for Multicrop Irrigation

Source: Mujumdar et al. (2004)

N different crops
2 seasons Rabi & Kharif
Reservoir Deterministic & known
River
supply of water
Main Canal

Distributary
2
1

3 Branch Canal
N

Crops

An irrigation reservoir system

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 Example - Optimal Water Allocation for Multicrop Irrigation

Influencing factors :
Crop Areas, Rainfall, Soil Moisture, Irrigation Supply,
Time of the year, PET (Potential Evapotranspiration), Crop
sensitivity to deficit supply, Competition among crops for water

Objective:

The objective is to deliver water to the farmers in such a manner,

to ensure maximum agricultural production using optimal
quantity of water which is delivered in a predetermined schedule
fixed for each farmer
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Example - Optimal Water Allocation for Multicrop Irrigation
Real time irrigation water scheduling

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 Example - Optimal Water Allocation for Multicrop Irrigation

Optimal Crop Water Allocation

Objective Function: Maximization of overall crop yield

in the command area

Soil Moisture Balance

AET-PET Relationship
Constraints Availability Constraint

Minimum Allocation to Each Crop

Non-negativity of all variables when linear

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Example - Optimal Water Allocation for Multicrop Irrigation

Optimal Water Allocation for a particular Crop P

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Example - Optimal Water Allocation for Multicrop Irrigation

Optimal Water Allocation for a particular Crop P (with area updation)

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 Natural Resource

. is the stock that can be drawn from nature

. Natural resources are the components of the
environment that can be drawn upon for supporting life

Earth is a store house of various resources such as: land, water,

soil, minerals, vegetation, forests, fuel, solar energy, etc.

Types of natural resources

. can be categorized on the basis of their
(1) Chemical Nature
(2) Area of Occurrence
(3) Availability or Abundance
(4) Origin
(5) Utility 17
 Types of Natural Resources
(1) On the basis of Chemical Nature

I. Inorganic resources: air, water, mineral ores

II. Organic resources: plants (forests), animals, microbes,
fossil fuel (oil, coal, natural gas)
III. Mixed resources: soil is the best example
(2) On the basis of their Occurrence
I. International resources: are available to all countries and
have no boundaries (atmosphere with sunlight)

II. Multinational resources: are shared by more than one

country (Brahmaputra river-common to Tibet, India and
Bangladesh) . Migratory birds also form multinational resources
III. National resources: are restricted to a particular country
(physical features, geological structure) 18
 Types of Natural Resources

(3) On the basis of Availability and Abundance

I. Inexhaustible resources: not likely to be exhausted by
human consumption (solar energy, air, tidal energy)
II. Exhaustible resources: likely to be depleted. May be
Non-renewable or Renewable
a) Non-renewable resources: lack ability of recycling and
replacement (fossil fuel - natural, polythene man made)

b) Renewable resources: can be replenished, recycled and

reproduced (water, forests, microorganisms)
. A judicious balance is required to be maintained
between their exploitation and replenishment
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 Types of Natural Resources

(4) On the basis of Origin

I. Biotic resources: vegetation with variety of plants,
wide variety of animals
II. Abiotic resources: composed of non-living matter (land,
water, minerals)

(5) On the basis of Utility

Forest resource
Water resource
Food resource
Energy resource
Land resource
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 Depletion of Natural Resources

Reasons:

People are extracting natural resources at a rate far

greater than their capacity to regenerate
Continued and careless use of natural resources

Life time is a period along time scale up to which its

availability for human use is assured on a global basis

Depletion time is the period along the time scale when

the availability of the resource will decrease to such an
extent that it is not available to meet human requirements

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 Depletion of Natural Resources

Rapid depletion time

: policy of extract use and throw away

Production
Extended depletion time
: proper management for
waste reduction
Indefinite
depletion time
: involve prevention
of wastage
and recycling
Time

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 Problems Associated with Natural Resources

1. Uneven distribution of resources: South Africa contains

most of the worlds gold and platinum but has little silver

2. Population growth: Expanding needs of people

. increasing demand of resources

3. Industrial development: Rapid industrial development,

without regard for environmental standards, consumes
large quantities of minerals and energy

4. Over exploitation for economic development:

Prices of resources are increasing due to shortage of
resources, affects economic conditions of many countries
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 Water Resources

Water is the only inorganic liquid that occurs naturally

on this earth
Sources 97% in Oceans
2% is locked in the form of ice
1% is available as fresh water
Most of the ocean water is contained in Pacific ocean.
Altantic ocean is roughly of the size of the Pacific ocean
In India, total surface flow per year is about 1,800 cu. km.
About 9.86% of the total fresh water resources is in the
form of ground water
0.3% of the total volume of water of hydrosphere is available
for human use
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