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♤ Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) is a rational number to characterize the environmental quality at a given location following the algorithm of source, pathway, receptor and various parameters like pollutant concentration, impact on human health and level of exposure have been taken into consideration for the calculation of pollution indices for air, water and land.
♤ The present CEPI is intended to act as an early warning tool. It can help in categorizing the industrial clusters in terms of priority of planning needs for interventions.
Classification of industrial clusters:
CEPI score | status | measures |
> 70 | critically polluted | detailed investigations and appropriate remedial action |
60 - 70 | severely polluted | surveillance and implementation of pollution control |
< 60 | normal |
♤ The Central and state Pollution Control Board, in collaboration with IIT, Delhi has applied the CEPI for environmental assessment of 88 Industrial Clusters across the country. 43 such industrial clusters having CEPI greater than 70, on a scale of 0 to 100, have been identified as critically polluted.
♤ The effective implementation of the remedial action plan will help in pollution abatement and to restore the environmental quality of respective industrial clusters and its sustainable use.
♤ The polluted industrial clusters/areas shall be further explored in order to define the spatial boundaries as well as the extent of eco-geological damages.
♤ There are still some aspects that need to be improved include, consistency in pollution monitoring data, selection of sampling locations for the environmental monitoring, and collection of data on adverse impact on human population and other geo-ecological features due to industrial pollution.