VPE 511: Environment and Environmental Hygiene (2+1)

EFFECT OF AIR POLLUTION

Art Treasures

• Polluted air containing oxides of sulphur and nitrogen and particulates deteriorate building materials and may ultimately result in a loss in structural integrity. When buildings dating from antiquity and structures of great artistic and histortic values are disfigured the loss is irreparable.
• Less than 100 years of exposure to air pollutants in London has done more damage to the Cleopatra’s Needle than what was caused by nature during 3500 years in the dry atmosphere of Egypt.
• The miraculous and historical monuments built by long years of hard labour are losing their faces. Disintegeration of stone caused largely by the expansion of iron by corrosion had badly demaged the houses of parliament in London.
• In India, Taj Mahal, a miracle in marble is facing the grave danger from pollution caused by foundaries , power houses, railway yards, Mathura refinery and other industrial units. Similarily, Sri Channakeshava temple at Belur (Hasan district, Karnataka), Jagannath temple at Puri, and Konark Sun temple on East Coast of India are badly by particulates present in the air