Causes of air pollution

A. Population growth: The growth of population is rising day by day. As a result people need some of their basic needs in everyday life. More people mean more manufactured goods and services. This is the reason of air pollution.

B. Expansion in industry & technology: The growth of industrial activity has likewise been remarkable in terms of expansion of existing plant capacity, and the increase in number of new manufacturing establishments. The nature of the airborne wastes from some of these new technologies was completely unknown until adverse effects on man and his environment. New industries and processes introduced on a large scale within recent decades include oxygen lancing in steel production, catalytic cracking of petroleum products etc. In most cases raw materials and by-product wastes initially had been of unknown toxicity and create serious air pollution.

C. Social changes: Two important social changes taking place such as:          

• Urbanization: The unrelenting movement of people from rural sections into urban centers brings about the rapid evolution of cities into large metropolitan complexes. There have been no longer the open and the sparsely populated spaces between these cities that existed twenty or more years ago. Within a few years, over three or fourths of the nation’s population will reside in about 1% of the land area. The result of this development has been an ever increasing areal density of population and of industrial and commercial activity. Again, for urbanization the number of industry, mills, factories increased. The number of vehicles, transportation system is updated. So, the amount of plant areas is decreased and by the toxic gases emitted by the vehicles is created serious air pollution.
• Another other social factor which is indirectly contributing to the intensification of air pollution over relatively recent years is the rising standard of living which has prevailed during this period. Large segments of the population have been economically able to enjoy a better life, including higher quality of nutrition, housing, transportation, and a variety of labor saving devices. Few families today have been without this kind of facilities. The vast majority of these conveniences need electric power and this, in part, accounts for the fact that the demand for electric power doubles every ten years. Most of this power has been generated by thermal power plants by burning coal or oil. As the combustion of these fuels produces large volumes of contaminant emissions, the potential for air pollution from this source is rapidly increasing. The motor vehicles is another major source of pollutants, which are emitted largely from the internal combustion engine.