The state of India's environment has been deteriorating steadily over the past two decades. Ambient standards of air, water and soil pollution are routinely exceeded with potentially disastrous consequences. Recognising the seriousness of the problem, the Indian government has recently introduced a series of measures which concentrate on practical aspects of implementation. | However, there are few studies available which can guide the formulation of policies in terms of the most appropriate choice of instruments which can contain pollution and protect India's environment. | That is the central purpose of this pioneering study - namely, to assess the efficacy of alternative instruments for pollution abatement based both on theoretical explorations and real-life case studies. The authors begin by reviewing the existing policy regime and analysing its impact on the quality of air and water in India's cities and rivers respectively. They then proceed to assess the choice of instruments for pollution control by linking economic and environmental systems.

What laws, processes, and institutions exist to protect the American environment? To what degree do they succeed, and where do they fall short? This important new book concisely describes and evaluates America's pollution control system. It concludes, "For all its accomplishments... the pollution control regulatory system is deeply and fundamentally flawed." The authors, analysts with RFF's Center for Risk Management, examine the fragmented tangle of statutes, regulatory bodies, and programs designed to control environmental degradation in the United States. CRM Director Davies and Mazurek employ carefully chosen criteria such as pollution reduction, economic efficiency, and responsiveness to social values in order to judge the effectiveness of the various instruments -- and the system as a whole -- in protecting the environment. Their description of the system is concise and clear, and their selection of criteria is an important contribution to program evaluation. The book also compares U.S. performance with that of other countries. The authors' goal is a critical understanding of pollution regulation in the United States, thus laying the groundwork for improving it. Regulating Pollution emerges from a major research project undertaken by RFF's Center for Risk Management with support from the Andrew W. Mellon and Smith Richardson foundations. The three-year project constitutes the first in-depth, systematic evaluation of U.S. pollution control efforts.

Afin d'évaluer les effets de la pollution organique sur le développement et le fonctionnement des films biologiques hétérotrophiques bactériens, nous avons comparé 3 types de substrats (billes de verre, silex et petits cylindres en ciment). Nous débattons de leur utilisation en tant que modèle de description du fonctionnement des films biologiques naturels dans des environnements d'eau douce. La réaction de ces films biologiques benthiques a été discutée pendant le rejet d'eaux usées d'une station d'épuration, imitant une pollution organique dans un système expérimental (microcosme) à l'aide de l'eau de la rivière. Les résultats correspondent aux résultats pratiques décrits dans les ouvrages spécialisés. Les rejets faiblement pollués d'une station d'épuration (DOC = 7 mg/l) ont augmenté dans la biomasse microbienne en fonction de la nature des substrats. De la même manière, l'activité des enzymes présente une évolution variée : les films biologiques qui ont poussé sur les substrats de verre ont une capacité hydrolytique inférieure à ceux qui ont poussé sur des substrats de pierres. En dépit d'une utilisation aisée, l'utilisation d'un substrat de verre pour des études de microbiologie aquatique pourrait conduire à une étude expédiée de la présence bactérienne des films biologiques benthiques et de la quantification de leur participation dans les procédés de biodégradation. | In order to assess the effect of organic pollution on the development and the functionning of bacterial heterotrophic biofilms, we have compared 3 kinds of substrata (glass beads, flint stones and small concrete cylinders). We discuss their use as a descriptive model of the functionning of natural biofilms in freshwater environments. The response of these benthic biofilms was studied during a wastewater treatment plant (WTP) discharge, mimicking an organic pollution in an experimeental system (microcosm) using river water. Results are consistent with field results described in litterature. A low-polluted outfall from a WTP (DOC= 7mg/l) increased in the microbial biomass depending on the nature of the substrata. In the same way, enzymativ activities have a varying evolution too : biofilms grown on glass substrata have a lower hydrolytic capacity than those grown on stones. Despite an easy use, the implementation of glass substraum for aquatic microbiology studiess could induce an expedient in the study of benthic biofilms bacterial activities and in the quantification of their participaation to the biodegradation processes.

The discharge from a sewage treatment plant results in the degradation of the environmental conditions of the receiving milieux that is more or less marked depending on the quality of the treatment given to the effluent and on the capacity of the receiving milieu to dilute and/or assimilate the residual pollution discharged by treatment installations. The determination of the IBGN at various levels of a watercourse reflects the general quality of the area under study. It is an integrating index that gives relevant indications on changes in the quality of a milieu. Macro-invertebrates constitute the living memory of any disturbance. | Les rejets de station d'épuration entraînent une dégradation des conditions environmentales des milieux récepteurs, plus ou moins marquée selon la qualité des traitements effectués sur les effluents et selon la capacité du milieu récepteur à diluer et/ou assimiler la pollution résiduelle rejetée par les installations de traitement. La détermination de l'IBGN à différents niveaux d'un cours d'eau donne un reflet de la qualité générale de la zone étudiée. Il s'agit d'un indice intégrateur donnant des indications pertinentes sur les modifications de la qualité d'un milieu. Les macroinvertébrés constituent la mémoire vivante de toute perturbation.