Pollution

Such pollutants that are released are as follows; ; Zinc, which comes from the weathering or age of pipes; ; Copper, which can come from brake linings, worn pipes and fittings; Pollutant Hazards ; Used Motor Oil; ; Organic Waster such as garbage, animals droppings, leaves and grass clippings; ; Nitrogen and Phosphorus from lawn and garden fertilizers All of the above pollutants are distributed through the storm drains and into the fresh water streams and rivers, causing our fresh water supply to be significantly polluted. (Kennedy, Robert F. ,Jar. “Who speaks for the environment? There are also polluted runoffs which go into fresh water and occurs when precipitation over and through the soil. This causes the pollutants to be picked up and carried away being delivered into our lakes, rivers, oceans and other wetlands, sun pollutants are as Tools; ; Fertilizer ; Pesticides ; Live stock ; Mining waste ; Construction sediments ; Soil erosion and etc. With our Fresh Water supply facing the many factors than continue to cause our water supply to constantly be polluted, also causing a depletion in our fresh water supply.

For a human to consume water that is contaminated on a regular daily basis an create enormous health hazards to both human and animals. (Kennedy, Robert F. , Jar. “Who speaks for the environment? ) Ocean water pollutants are contributed by land, river’s emptying in the ocean, oil spills, gas spills, marines, fisherman and many others. Ocean waters may suffer from “beach”, which is when dolphins, turtles, and other sea or ocean creatures are unintentionally killed by fisherman.

Then there is what they call “”, which occurs when trawl catching nets that are dragged along the Ocean floor to catch fish destroy the habitats taking everything with it or pulling it room the Ocean floor and to drop it in another location when it is released from the net. The pollutants that are released into the ocean water ultimately effects our fish and the quality of our produce that we feed off of as well as slowing the rate in which sea and/or ocean animals may populate.

Ground Pollutants Ground pollutants are contributed by both air and water pollution, which is hazardous for all including but not limited to crops as well as humans and Pollutant Hazards animals that feed from those plants and crops. Ground pollution is also caused by he everyday garbage found on the streets within your community, along with terrestrial land which is being used as a land fill for everyone’s garbage including recyclable, because it is commonly overlooked.

When it comes to our environment suffering and the individuals that live within our environment that suffering from the hazards of pollutions, it is time to make changes. There is no good impact when discussing the issues of pollution. Reaching Sustainability One way to lesson the air pollutants released each day would be to reduce the amount AT rolling Ana transporting jean person does everyday commuting Deck Ana Roth from place to place.

I think that it would help if factories and other corporations found other means of energy versus releasing large amount of air pollutants into the environment each day. There needs to be more individuals that take an interest in not only helping their environment but as well as their health. It is time fore every individual to become aware of the health risks that air pollutants cause to them, their children and unborn children due to the mother inhaling the pollutants, it also affects animals and plants that required air to breathe to continue their existence.

Due to the health risks that air pollutions can also cause, it is suggested that during the time we are trying to undergo Pollutant Hazards control of the air pollution that all individuals cut down on and all physical activity during high-pollution days. (In brief; Heart aches for clean air. Harvard Health Letter) “The Environmental Protection Agency has a Web site, dubbed Air Now (wean. Gob/rainbow), that lists particulate and ozone levels throughout the country. (In brief; Heart aches for clean air. Harvard Health Letter) “High temperatures in the days ahead increase ground-level ozone, but the seasonality of articulate pollution depends on where you live. ” (In brief; Heart aches for clean air. Harvard Health Letter) “East of the Mississippi, levels are highest starting about now through September because sulfates are more readily formed from sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants in warm temperatures. ” (In brief; Heart aches for clean air.

Harvard Health Letter) “In the western half of the country, levels are higher from October to December because much of the particulate pollution there is in the form of nitrates, which form as temperatures cool off. ” (In brief; Heart aches for clean air. Harvard Health Letter) Water pollution seems like a harder pollution to try to sustain; or we could make it a little simple and take out of the contributing factors that lead to water pollution and not use them.

It is a fact that water pollution can never be 100% cured but we can make the effort to better it, such as taking away the pesticides and using natural resources that have been proven to work for the same purpose that the pesticide is being used. Then there are the garbage droppings, fertilizer and oils from vehicles that run into the water, “Clean up after yourself and your animals people”, all it takes is a moments. There are a lot of factors that contribute to water pollution that can be eliminated. Ground pollutants would be manageable and contained by the time that the air pollution and water pollution were under control.

However, I would make it mandatory for every residence or business to recycle. I would mandate certain times wherein community service would be exercised to clean up our streets and remove any garbage that and enforce a large fine upon those that continue to freely pollute Dye Legendary garbage Ana toner materials Trebly upon Lana Ana not disposing of them properly. Within this plan come exceptional benefits such as healthier individuals, cleaner air, water, and surroundings, and the conservation of our environment.

Within this land lie many challenges and the first one being that of the individuals taking responsibility for their own actions and changing a routine that most people have become all too comfortable with. Conserving our environment is not a one person job nor can 50% of our world’s population complete this task on its own, this takes the effort of everybody and the support and funds from the government. I do not for see seeking global support being a complication considering a significant amount of people are working to gain control and reduce the amount of pollution we are subjected to each day.

However, changes that need to be made and enforced will require funds Pollutant Hazards from the government to help assist such as financing solar panels, providing each place of residence or business a recycle bin and possible taking a few of the abandoned building that have been forgotten about because of new terrestrial land being destroyed and making recycling factories that run off of natural energy that are placed in more local and convenient areas. Our world is a place that requires care and compassion and the time and patients to conserve our land while we as individuals that enjoy our health.

The state of Russian individuals, particularly those of the working class, known as the proliferates, like the ranchers and the production line laborers were extremely woeful as contrasted with other European nations. It was principally because of the despotic legislature of the Czar Nicholas II who threatened these individuals step by step by his degenerate and abusive arrangements. The state of the plant specialists was woeful. They couldn’t structure any exchange unions and political gatherings to express their grievance.

They misused the specialists for their narrow minded finishes. Commonly these specialists completed not getting even the base settled wages. Their conditions were miserable to the point that they had not political rights or any trust of picking up any changes until the start of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The conditions in Russia after the upset were no superior to conditions some time recently. Deficiencies of nourishment and produced merchandise really expanded as generation diminished.

Laborer ranchers were compelled to offer their yields to the glistered under Linen’s “war socialism” arrangement abandoning them with scarcely enough to survive. Workers soon lost motivation to develop more products or stored what they did develop. Workers who did this and were figured out were ousted, detained or executed. Mechanical yield really fell underneath the levels they had been at under the Tsar. Lenin distinguished this and expecting that the Russian individuals might rebel against him and the Bolsheviks, organized the New Economic Policy. It finished almost no assistance.

Anybody voicing resistance or feedback of the way the Bolsheviks were running things was marked a counterrevolutionary and likewise banished, Imprisoned or executed. All things considered, the predicament of the workers and workers deteriorated. The Russians where experiencing, to a great degree of harsh times. For example, starvation, Issues In law enforcement and requirements that the law hadn’t met. A couple of capable Individuals saw this as a chance to seize power. They shaped the Soviet Union Intended to get once more on the world for what It had done to them.

The union was structured not too long after World War II had begun. Their tradition became deceased, hence leaving Russia a communist country. The revolution had quite a few short term and long term effects. All of which Include, murder of the Czar and the royal family, along with Russia dropping out of World War 1 . A few long term effects were, Russia becoming the world’s first communist country and thus the spread of communism. Not to mention Russia becoming a superpower. Change in Russia By drinkable likewise banished, imprisoned or executed.

All things considered, the predicament of starvation, issues in law enforcement and requirements that the law hadn’t met. A couple of capable individuals saw this as a chance to seize power. They shaped the Soviet Union intended to get once more on the world for what it had done to them. The union was structured not too long after World War II had begun. Their tradition quite a few short term and long term effects. All of which include, murder of the Czar and the royal family, along with Russia dropping out of World War 1. A few long term

Introduction

Drinking water or potable water is water of sufficiently high quality that it can be consumed or used without risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually consumed or used in food preparation. Clean drinking water has yet to be completely recognized as a basic human right. While water plays a vital role in every aspect of life, some do not realize the gravity of the shrinking clean water sources.

When unclean water is consumed, it can cause serious illnesses, sometimes leading to death. According to statistics provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), about 1. 1 billion of the world’s 6 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water sources. Drinking Water is essential to the survival of all organisms,water has always been an important and life-sustaining drink to humans. Excluding fat, water composes approximately 70% of the human body by mass. It is a crucial component of metabolic processes and serves as a solvent for many bodily solutes.

Health authorities have historically suggested at least eight glasses, eight fluid ounces each (168 ml), of water per day (64 fluid ounces, or 1. 89 litres),and the British Dietetic Association recommends 1. 8 litres. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has determined that the average adult actually ingests 2. 0 litres per day. 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. Water is available almost everywhere if proper methods are used to get it. Sources where water may be obtained include: ground sources such as groundwater, hyporheic zones and aquifers. precipitation which includes rain, hail, snow, fog, etc. urface water such as rivers, streams, glaciers biological sources such as plants. the sea through desalination Access to safe water can be measured by the number of people who have a reasonable means of getting sufficient water that is safe for drinking. Availability of safe drinking water is an indicator of the health of a country. A developed country will be more efficient in collecting, cleaning and distributing water to consumers. It is a sad fact but is true that ninety percent of urban sewage in the developing world is discharged into rivers and other water bodies.

In the developing world, millions of residents lack a source of safe drinking water near their homes. People get safe drinking water from various sources such as household connection, borehole, protected dug well, public standpipe etc.

Indian standard specifications for drinking water

Indian Standards has set various limits over different chemical and physical properties of Water, in order to label it as Safe and Drinking Water, a sample of water, lying in the permissible range set as per IS, is safe for drinking.

You don’t miss your water, an old blues sage wisely said, ’til your well runs dry. Down here on planet Earth, the well is starting to run dry. We’ve seen projections that three billion people — half of today’s population — will be short of water in 2025. The Earth has a finite supply of fresh water, stored in aquifers, surface waters and the atmosphere. Sometimes oceans are mistaken for available water, but the amount of energy needed to convert saline water to potable water is prohibitive today, explaining why only a very small fraction of the world’s water supply derives from desalination.

The Millennium Development

Goal of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water between 1990 and 2015 is a target we are aiming for. Although some countries still face enormous challenges. Rural communities are the furthest from meeting the 2015 MDGs drinking water target. Globally only 27% of the rural population has water piped directly to their home and 24% rely on unimproved sources. Of the 884 million people without access to an improved water source, 746 million people (84%) live in rural areas.

Sub-Saharan Africa has made the least progress in improved water sources since 1990, improving only 9% to 2006. In contrast, the Eastern Asian region saw a dramatic drop from 45% to 9% reliance on unimproved water in the same time period. The shortage of water in our country is slowly affecting the lives of people as well as the environment around them. Some of the major issues that need urgent attention are:

• As a result of excessive extraction of ground water to meet agriculture, industrial and domestic demands, drinking water is not available during the ritical summer months in many parts of the countr
• About 10 per cent of the rural and urban population does not have access to regular safe drinking water and many more are threatened. Most of them depend on unsafe water sources to meet their daily needs. Moreover, water shortages in cities and villages have led to large volumes of water being collected and transported over great distances by tankers and pipelines.
• Chemical contaminants namely fluoride, arsenic and selenium pose a very serious health hazard in the country. It is estimated that about 70 million people in 20 states are at risk due to excess fluoride and around 10 million people are at risk due to excess arsenic in ground water. Apart from this, increase in the concentration of chloride, TDS, nitrate, iron in ground water is of great concern for a sustainable drinking water programme. All these need to be tackled holistically. With over extraction of groundwater the concentration of chemicals is increasing regularly
• Ingress of seawater into coastal aquifers as a result of over-extraction of ground water has made water supplies more saline, unsuitable for drinking and irrigation. Pollution of ground and surface waters from agrochemicals (fertilizers and pesticides) and from industry poses a major environmental health hazard, with potentially significant costs to the country. The World Bank has estimated that the total cost of environmental, damage in India amounts to US$9. 7 billion annually, or 4. 5 per cent of the gross domestic product. Of this, 59 per cent results from the health impacts of water pollution (World Bank 1995).

Drinking water pollution

Availability of drinking water is largely affected by its pollution, which has been leading and will lead to a decrease in its availability in the coming future.

Drinking water pollution is a bigger problem than most people realize. While drinking water filters and bottled water has become a staple in our society, most consumers still use unfiltered drinking water for cooking, filling pet water bowls and bottles, and for mixing powdered drink mixes. Drinking water pollution is a big enough problem within our country to warrant the same vigilance as we give other health hazards. There are numerous sources that pile up into serious contamination potential for all drinking water.

Whether your water is coming from a well on your property or if you are using “filtered” city water sources, the chances that you have a problem with drinking water pollution is quite high. Groundwater testing has shown that in any given area throughout the country as many as 200 variable contaminants have been detected. Long term exposure can create numerous health problems, including lead poisoning. While not every single contaminant is destined to cause a serious health problem or even any health problem at all, you can not count on your local contaminants to be harmless.

Agriculture practices are one of the largest sources of groundwater contaminants. The chemical used in controlling bugs and other chemically based treatments run directly into the groundwater supply. Pesticides and poisonous agricultural raw waste can contaminate more than 40% of the surrounding groundwater. Ingress of seawater into coastal aquifers as a result of over-extraction of ground water has made water supplies more saline, unsuitable for drinking and irrigation.

Pollution of ground and surface waters from agrochemicals (fertilizers and pesticides) and from industry poses a major environmental health hazard, with potentially significant costs to the country. Another major contributor to drinking water pollution is urban run off. Another human based contribution that needs to be controlled at the source in order to save our drinking water supply. When rain washes urban trash, chemicals, and pollutants from the structures and roadways of populated areas, there is no way for the water to filter itself on its way to the groundwater.

Everything from basic trash, cigarette butts, antifreeze, motor oil, gasoline, pesticides, and other daily use products are all contributing factors in groundwater contamination caused by urban run off. Practicing safer disposal practices of automobile chemicals, putting together trash clean up projects, and using environmentally safe household products can help cut down on urban run off pollutants. Lead is one of the most concerning urban run off pollutants, as lead poisoning can cause learning problems, chronic emotional and health issues, and is non-reversible. Drinking lead-contaminated water is a serious health problem.

Water Treatment

Water treatment is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, materials, and biological contaminants from raw water. The goal is to produce water fit for a specific purpose. Most water is purified for human consumption (drinking water) but water purification may also be designed for a variety of other purposes, including meeting the requirements of medical, pharmacology, chemical and industrial applications. It is important to take measures to make available water of desirable quality at the consumer end.

That leads to protection of the treated water during conveyance and distribution after treatment. It is common practice to have residual disinfectants in the treated water in order to kill any bacteriological contamination after water treatment. Processes for treatment of drinking water: The combination of following processes is used for municipal drinking water treatment worldwide: Pre-treatment: It consists or removal of large debris such as sticks, leaves, trash and other large particles which may interfere with subsequent purification steps.

It also includes treatment of water with soda-ash to remove hardness or chlorine to minimize the growth of fouling organisms on the pipe-work and tanks. pH adjustment: Distilled water has a pH of 7. If the water is acidic, lime, soda ash, or sodium hydroxide is added to raise the pH. Acid (HCl or H2SO4) may be added to basic waters in some circumstances to lower the pH. Making the water slightly basic ensures that coagulation and flocculation processes work effectively and also helps to minimize the risk of lead being dissolved from lead pipes and lead solder in pipe fittings.

Flocculation: It is a process which removes any turbidity or color so that the water is clear and colorless and is done by causing a precipitate to form in the water which can be removed using simple physical methods. Coagulants / flocculating agents that may be used include: Iron (III) hydroxide Aluminium hydroxide PolyDADMAC Sedimentation: Water exiting the flocculation basin may enter the sedimentation basin, also called a settling basin. The dimensions of the tank are chosen such that it can lead to maximum particles settling down. As particles settle to the bottom of the basin, a layer of sludge is formed on the floor of the tank.

This layer of sludge must be removed and treated accordingly. Filtration: After separating most floc, the water is filtered as the final step to remove remaining suspended particles and unsettled floc. Different types of filters are: Rapid sand filters Slow sand filters Lava filters Disinfection: It is accomplished both by filtering out harmful microbes and also by adding disinfectant chemicals in the last step in purifying drinking water. Different types of disinfections are: Chlorine disinfection Chlorine Dioxide Disinfection Ozone disinfection Ultraviolet disinfection

Hydrogen peroxide disinfection Various portable methods of disinfection Solar water disinfection Biological processes are also employed in the treatment of wastewater and these processes may include, for example, aerated lagoons, activated sludge etc. There is no unique solution (selection of processes) for any type of water. Also, it is difficult to standardize the solution in the form of processes for water from different sources. Selection of any of the following methods depends on the scale of the plant and quality of the water. Wastage/Conservation of Water Water is needed for our survival.

It is the most important resource for us. So its high time for us to realize this and start conserving water. So we need awareness among people so that each individual puts effort at their level and contribute to the larger cause on the whole. Saving the earth from such a crisis would not be possible without the efforts of each individual. People can start at home by not letting their taps open and by not spilling the drinking water. People should not let their taps run when its not needed. It is important for them to realize that millions of people don’t even get access to drinking water.

Government needs to implement stricter laws to avoid wastage of water during distribution. Higher fines can be imposed on people who waste water and higher incentives can be given to those conserving water. Recycled water can be used for gardening, washing etc. Due to the current water crisis. Only during times of shortage, do we take emergency measures; saving water should be followed even when there is surplus. If not for the current water shortage, not many would have taken notice of such occasions. During the time when we used to get good rainfall, we never conserved water.

A large city needs billions of litres of drinking water every day to service the needs. We will have to make alternate water sources like rainwater harvesting, dig wells and bore wells for our use. The civic corporation should take the initiative to check the broken water pipelines. Such networks rupture occasionally which result in wastage of water every day and should repair it. There should be a specific limit for using water, every society should strictly abide by it should be enforced by society’s office bearers. Due to leakage to existing drinking water pipelines, every day millions of litres of drinking water is going waste.

If wastage is stopped the drinking water supply will improve to some extent. The supply of drinking water is not increasing according to demand. As a result, drinking water scarcity is arising. Urban Water Supply Even though the rate of urbanisation in India is among the lowest in the world, the nation has more than 250 million city-dwellers. Experts predict that this number will rise even further, and by 2020, about 50 per cent of India’s population will be living in cities. This is going to put further pressure on the already strained centralised water supply systems of urban areas.

The urban water supply and sanitation sector in the country is suffering from inadequate levels of service, an increasing demand-supply gap, poor sanitary conditions and deteriorating financial and technical performance. According to Central Public Health Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) estimates, as on 31 March 2000, 88 per cent of urban population has access to a potable water supply. But this supply is highly erratic and unreliable. Transmission and distribution networks are old and poorly maintained, and generally of a poor quality. Consequently physical losses are typically high, ranging from 25 to over 50 per cent.

Low pressures and intermittent supplies allow back siphoning, which results in contamination of water in the distribution network. Water is typically available for only 2-8 hours a day in most Indian cities. The situation is even worse in summer when water is available only for a few minutes, sometimes not at all. A Stress Situation According to a World Bank study, of the 27 Asian cities with populations of over 1,000,000, Chennai and Delhi are ranked as the worst performing metropolitan cities in terms of hours of water availability per day, while

Mumbai is ranked as second worst performer and Calcutta fourth worst. In most cities, centralised water supply systems depend on surface water sources like rivers and lakes. Chennai, for instance, has to bring in water from a distance of 200 km whereas Bangalore gets its water from the Cauvery river, which is 95 km away. Where surface water sources fail to meet the rising demand, groundwater reserves are being tapped, often to unsustainable levels.

Delhi: The nation’s capital is perpetually in the grip of a water crisis, more so during the dry season, when the situation gets particularly worse. As the demand-supply gap widens, more groundwater is being exploited. Of the water supplied by the municipality, approximately 11 per cent comes from groundwater reserves and remaining from the Yamuna river. It is, however, difficult to establish the total quantity of groundwater extracted because a large number of tubewells (owned by individuals, industries and bottled water companies) remain unregistered.

In Delhi approximately 13 per cent households do not receive water every day and in Rajkot, Gujarat, water availability in April 2000 was only for 30 minutes every alternate day. Rural Water Supply The rural population of India comprises more than 700 million people residing in about 1. 42 million habitations spread over 15 diverse ecological regions. It is true that providing drinking water to such a large population is an enormous challenge.

Our country is also characterised by non-uniformity in level of awareness, socio-economic development, education, poverty, practices and rituals which add to the complexity of providing water. Dependence on the state has meant that with the cost of water supply being high and cost recovery being poor, the financial sustainability of water schemes has run aground, and repairs and maintenance is abysmal. With people having no interest in using water carefully, the sustainability of water has itself become questionable. There are serious problems with government drinking water supply schemes.

Despite government efforts, the number of ‘problem villages’ does not seem to go down, The government has indeed invested heavily on water resources development, which focussed on large-scale irrigation development for increasing green revolution-style agriculture production and drinking water supply programmes. Yet, a large part of the country remains drought-prone. This is because no specific effort has been made to drought-proof rainfed areas which suffer from high rainfall variability from year to year.

Role of Government

Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Environment and Forest and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare all have got a different roles to play to provide drinking water of adequate quantity and potable quality to meet the health needs of the community. All of them are involved and play their respective roles to provide quality water and its management. Roles of different agencies are listed below:

• Ministry of Water Resources: The Central Ground Water Board is monitoring both quantitative and qualitative data with regard to ground water. Apart from this CGWB has developed ground water maps concerning various qualitative issues.
• Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation: Working through various Urban Bodies, the Ministry is involved in monitoring drinking water quality in the urban agglomerations. There are quite a few Water Boards especially in Metro Cities who are equipped to take up the job, but not all urban bodies keep watch of the quality of water being provided on regular basis.
• Ministry of Rural Development: Department of Drinking Water in the Ministry is working through State public Health Engineering Departments or Water oards are monitoring the drinking water quality in the rural areas of the country. Almost all the districts do have WQ laboratory. Though WQ is generally tested during installation, follow up testing is not done on regular basis. The department in certain places is initiating community involvement for WQ testing including “Catchments Approach”.
• Ministry of Environment and Forests: Working through Central Pollution Control Board, the Ministry is involved in monitoring water quality of main rivers and big water bodies. Most of these water sources are being used for drinking water purposes. So CPCB itself or through State Pollution Control Boards is having a watch on raw water quality. Ministry of Health: So far the Ministry had been playing a limited role with regard to drinking water surveillance in some selected areas. But with the inclusion of drinking water under food category, MoH will be playing a significant role. Also Indian government enforced National water policy in 2002 and water pollution act( prevention and control) 1975 for maintaining water quantity and quality.

Conclusions

It takes the cooperation and the education of everyone to help clean up our biggest drinking water threats. The more environmentally friendly everyone becomes, the closer we get to finding cleaner drinking water and protecting our natural environment. Industrial and personal responsibility for our environment is the first and most significant step toward clean drinking water in the country in every community.

According to a 2007 World Health Organization report, 1. 1 billion people lack access to an improved drinking water supply, 88% of the 4 billion annual cases of diarrhea disease are attributed to unsafe water and inadequate sanitation and hygiene, and 1. million people die from diarrheal diseases each year. The WHO estimates that 94% of these diarrheal cases are preventable through modifications to the environment, including access to safe water. Simple techniques for treating water at home, such as chlorination, filters, and solar disinfection, and storing it in safe containers could save a huge number of lives each year. Reducing deaths from waterborne diseases is a major public health goal in developing countries.

Externalities recently became an important and popular term in the business world, especially with the risen of debates and arguments about the externalities’ costs and benefits, and the ethical issues related to it. Almost everybody deals with an externality everyday but without being aware of it (kaydee, 2008). The simple definition of says that Externality is the effect of an economic transaction that impacts somebody who was not involved in that transaction.

The more complicated definition sates that Externalities can be defined as the different types of effects that impact some parties (individual or entities) as a consequence of other parties’ activities. These effects occur without any choice of the affected party and without taking their interest into account by the affecting party (kaydee, 2008). When any economic trade occurs between two parties, they both benefit from the trade. Sometimes, a third party is being affected as well by this trade, the effect can be a negative effect or a positive one; and these effects are what we call externalities (Anon. nd). For example, if we take any business organization as one party and the customer is the other party, they both have the trade of the organization sells or provide goods or services, and the customer pays to obtain this good or service. However, the society as a whole could be considered as a third party, any external costs the society pays or any external benefits it gains from this trade (costs and benefits not included in the market price of the goods or services) are then considered to be an externality.

By breaking down this example, the business organization or the customer can be considered to be the affecting party, the society, the third party, is thus will be the affected party, the external costs and benefits are the externalities (Anon. , nd).

Types of Externalities

There are two types of externalities, the positive type and negative type. The external benefits are always considered to be positive externalities, these benefits affect the outsiders in a positive way, give some advantages and without any payment required.

The external costs are considered as negative externalities, these costs affect the outsider negatively, impact them in disadvantageous way, and the outsiders are forced pay these costs without any choice (Jonson, n. d. ). There are lots of examples to clarify each of the two types. The negative externality which is some analysts call it as external costs and some other call it as external diseconomies can be seen in the global warming which is considered to be number one negative externality; the change in the climate came as a result from the emissions of burning the oil, coal and gas.

The water pollution as a result of adding poisons to the water or the several contaminated chemicals which are dumped by industrial plants in lands or lakes participates in harming the people, plants and animals. The over fishing which comes as a consequence from the over harvesting of a fishing company harms other fishing companies harvesting in the same ocean. The company trucks using a road may create congestion or traffic jam which impacts negatively other road users.

In the animal production, the industrial farms which generate huge outputs of animal products generates a negative externalities in the form of increasing the antibiotic resistant bacteria, contamination of rivers and waters by the disposal of the animal waste. These farms as well result in another externality of the animal welfare reduction due to the close quarters where the animals are kept.

The problems which may be caused by the nuclear plants when storing the nuclear waste in impropriate way, and the radioactive waste which is generated thorough the energy production of the nuclear power plants may affect the current and new generations. The external cost of health decline which is a consequence of smoking, the external cost in the form of car accidents due the consumption of alcohol by drinkers which may lead to pedestrians killing or injure, are all considered as negative externality. All the previous negative externalities examples harm the environment and the inhabitants.

The environment, the people, plants and animals are the parties which are affected negatively without any choice from their side and without taking their interests into consideration by the externality generator (Shaprio, Khemani, 2003; Anon. , nd). There are many examples also to be mentioned to describe the positive externality. When someone buys a certain product, it would increase the product value to other people who already have this product, the increase of the value is considered to be an external benefit for these people, this type of positive externality sometimes called the network externality or the network effect.

When an invention is discovered or information is made more accessible, then other people will externally benefit from using this invention or the information. Education also gives a positive externality to the whole society, the more are the educated people in the society the more the whole society better off even people who are not educated as the rate of crime will decline which means more safety.

Another example of positive externalities is when a foreign company opens a new branch in another country, although the deal is between the foreign organization and the country, and although they both benefit financially from this deal, but as well people will benefit by having opportunities for jobs, salaries and kind of secure life, this extra benefit for the people is considered to be positive externality.

Also, when people buy a specific type of a commodity, the demand on these commodity increases, which as well increase the work chances for distributors, or when people buy a car model, then the demand for mechanics of this certain car model increases. Construction as well may give positive externality, when roads and bridges are built and opened; it may give a chance of opening new areas for housing and establishing business entities (Shaprio, Khemani, 2003; Anon. , nd; Anon. , 2007).

Externalities and the Ethical Theories

Generally, externalities are always a term which creates a situation of social injustice, its existence generates socially unbalanced outcomes, regarding the fact that a party may gain external benefits without paying any type of costs, or a party who may suffer from and forced to pay external costs without any choice (Anon. , nd). The question about ethics in all cases of the externalities moves around the universal ethics. The universal ethics are defined as a system of ethics that can apply to every human being. The externality then, with its both types, the positive one and the negative, may lead to a violation of the ethics.

If we analyze the negative externality example we mentioned of the radioactive pollution, as such an externality will contain external costs, people who will be affected by the negative outcomes, will consider the harm they will be exposed to as explicit costs which they did not put into account before. The harm could be in the shape of lung and body diseases, and the extra payment for medical checks and medicines. As the radioactive company serves the people by providing utilities, people will see the harm generated by the same company – the negative externality- as a reduction of the utility.

The negative externality here then raises an ethical problem as it is simply considered as a violation of ethics as harming others (Anon. , nd). Regarding the positive externalities, it again raises an ethical issue by violating the universal ethics as the positive externalities type is always connected to the term which is called “free riding”. To explain how positive externality violates the ethics, let us refer to our example of education, when the society as a whole and as a third party, benefits from the education process in the form of being an educated, productive and well being society.

Everyone then in the society will benefit, even people who were not educated will benefit without paying any cost. For such people, who will benefit from the educated, productive and well being society they are living in, it is considered external benefits as they did not pay for education, but on the contrary, they are free riding on the cost of others who had to go through and pay for the education process.

Another example is the society health care, when people go and obtain the vaccination, the society will be protected from the transmitted diseases by its vaccinated members, but the people who did not receive the vaccination will still be protected from the diseases and will benefit from the healthy and protected society, actually they are free riding on the costs of the other members of the society. The free riding problem- the positive externality- is considered to be against the ethics and raise an ethical issue of benefiting from the borne of others (Anon. , nd).

Also externalities raise an ethical issue due to the problem that the value or equivalent of any externality is difficult to be determined, most of the externalities are hidden, negative externalities are hidden by the traders, and positive externalities are hidden by the third parties benefit from it, which considered cheating, and breach the simple ethical rule “do not cheat” (kaydee, 2008). With the nowadays absence of ethics, the behavior changed negatively in a dramatic way, People do not think anymore about the externality which they going to create once any product they buy reach the expiry date.

Companies do not think about the consequences of their waste disposal of the manufacturing operations. Injustice is considered to be a violation of ethics, when a third party is negatively affected by a transaction which is out of his or her control, there is then a case of injustice. Similar, when someone is affected positively by a transaction which is out of his or her control and he or she does not pay for this benefit, again the injustice takes place (kaydee, 2008). Some analysts have different opinion; some will argue that there is no ethical issue about externalities, meaning that there is nothing to do with wrongdoing.

The supporters of this opinion say that most of the businesses are trying to achieve the purpose of their existence; they try to achieve their target whatever it is, making profit, providing goods and services, and keeping the employees employed. The conflict of interests between the businesses’ activities and the different parties around does not mean that businesses are doing anything wrong (MacDonald, 2007). Corporations actually should work under some certain core concepts which most of the time create kind of ethical dilemmas, these concepts are the business ethics rules which each business should respect and follow.

But it is clear that these concepts are not strictly followed by business leaders, most of corporations do not pay much attention to business ethics and lots of businesses do not pay attention to the ethical implications of the externalities and its damage of the environment. As it is said: In business, it’s easy to talk about ethics, but it’s damn hard to be ethical. If we look back in time, historically two important ethical philosophies were created, the Western Ethical Philosophy and the Eastern Ethical Philosophy.

Generally, philosophers came up with a number of ethical principles that control and guide business activities, these principles can be considered as ethical standards which always get codified into laws. One of the most important and well known ethical systems in the western ethical philosophies was the Hippocratic Oath, these principles was created by the Greek physician Hippocrates, and they are still used today, these principles in total generally direct people to the concept of “Do no harm. ” The eastern example is the karma which adopts the concept of cause and effect, what are the negative and positive results of any conduct.

This ethical system simply says that if you harm others, then the harm will eventually return to you; according to that, if the business creates good consequences then this good will return back to the business, and if the business does harm others, then the harm will also return and harm the business (Johannsen, n. d. ). So, both philosophies and some other philosophies not mentioned in this paper, raise the ethical issue of harming others, which is related to the externalities consequences, as one of the five core business concepts from the perspective of the harm and the negative effects that businesses generate.

Worth to mention that the five core business concepts from the view of causing harm are: Shareholder Wealth, Profit Maximization, Fiduciary Responsibility, Return on Investment (ROI), and Externalities (Johannsen, n. d. ). In any business, all the accounting figures including profits and costs are always shown on the financial statements, but in the case of the externalities (which some financial analysts call it financial liabilities) the financial statements do not show the external cost or the external benefits of the corporation.

Some will argue that this is considered to be a manipulation and a breach of ethics, and that the businesses should, clarify, confess, be responsible and pay for the externalities they cause. But some others will argue that the externalities are so hard to be described as a number or figure, and thus cannot be shown in the financial statement as liabilities, and so it can not be described as a manipulation or a breach of ethics. One of the important and well known ethical theories that may describe the externalities in a better way could be the utilitarian ethical theory.

The utilitarianism refers to the idea that the moral worth of any action, whatever this action is done by an individual or by an entity, the moral worth will be determined only by how the action’s consequences participates to the overall utility. Thus, the utilitarianism indicates a type of consequentialism, as the moral worth of the action then will be judged according to its results and its effects on people. The utility here is considered to be the overall pleasure and the absence of pain.

The utilitarian ethical theory describes the different types of actions, any action is considered to be an ethical action- in other words to be morally right – if its moral worth is positive, meaning, the action’s outcomes contribute in developing the overall utility or the overall happiness or pleasure among people. However the action will be considered as an unethical action- or morally wrong- if its moral worth is negative and its consequences are decreasing the overall utility of people and cause them suffering or pain (Anon. , nd).

If we put externalities in practice according to the utilitarian ethical theory, then both types of externalities, the positive and the negative, are to be considered as unethical actions. The negative externality affects the third parties by reducing their utility, in all our previous examples of negative externalities, environment and people end in suffering and pain. Talking about the positive externalities, they are as well considered unethical as the third parties are affected positively but without paying any cost for these benefits which in a way increase their utilities but on the account of others.

Although this ethical theory was successful for a period of time, it was faced with lots of criticism which came up later. One of the important criticisms was that the utilitarian ethical theory described the positive and negative externalities as symmetric in nature, and those externalities will lead to non optimal outcomes which call for the necessity of government intervention. Mr. Murray Rothbard wrote in his book, Man, Economy, and State, a good criticism of the utilitarianism approach of externalities. He stated that the positive and the negative externalities are not symmetric from the ethical perspective of property rights.

He says that the two externalities types are completely different in nature; he argued that the injustice in the case of the negative externalities is due to the failure of the authorities in protecting the property rights of every party involved. Opposite, in the case of the positive externalities, there is no violation of the property rights of the party who gives the external benefits but only when the authority tries to extend this benefits (Cleveland, 2002). Another ethical theory which can explain the externalities is the social responsibility theory.

The corporate social responsibility term- which is divided into four parts, the legal, the discretionary, the economic responsibility, and finally what we are interested in, the ethical responsibility- refers to the obligations of the business to work and conduct the operations in ways which achieve its own interests and the interests of all its stakeholders. Thus, the business is to be considered as a socially responsible if it pays attention and make sure that its activities do not harm or affect negatively its stakeholders (Sandy Millar, Christopher Theunissen, 2008, P69) (Anon. 2008). When we look at externalities from this theory’s point of view, especially the negative type of externalities, any business which causes harm to the environment, people and society in total, should not be then considered as socially responsible business. This business often works on achieving its own interests and purpose of existence (making profit and satisfying the shareholders), but it fails in keeping its social responsibilities and obligations towards the rest of the stakeholders and thus lead to externalities.

As mentioned, the most important interest and the main target for most corporations are to satisfy their shareholders needs, and that comes by making profit. This aim is the most argued that it is the reason for corporation to act unethically and not paying attention to the social responsibility and lead to unethical practices which cause the externalities. At the end the corporation is just a legal structure and its moral responsibilities comes from the moral responsibilities of the corporation’s shareholders, employees, and managers.

If the managers are being unethical conducting unethical activities, and if the shareholders are being unethical by approving and giving the green light to the managers to go ahead in such unethical practices, then it at the end reflects on the overall corporation of being ethical or unethical, of being socially responsible or not (Anon. , 2008). This leads to another approach, which is the general ethics theory. Ethics is what examines and judge the human behavior; regarding what is right and what is wrong, regarding what is just and what is unjust, and regarding what is fair and what is unfair.

To behave ethically is to behave in a manner which is right or moral. The behavior then is considered to be ethical if it is right and the vise versa. But what does determine if the behavior is right or wrong? What does determine if the behavior ethical or unethical? Generally, the society comes on the top of the list of what determines what is right or wrong, even if societies are sometimes different from one another in some of specific rules and determinations of the morally correct behavior, but at the end they all agree some general standards and principles which should be followed.

When combining the two theories together, the social responsibility and the general ethics, we find that externalities happen due to many reasons. There is no one agreed moral code, and people, including top executives, have weak sense of good moral especially that nowadays people are mostly far from religion and their morals come often from their experience.

This conflict of good behavior and gaining high profit is a good example, when choosing between being socially responsible or profit in the existence of weak sense of morals, the business represented in its official will chooses the profit. In multinational companies, externalities are more likely to happen as these companies operate in different countries; each has its own people and its own culture and moral codes which may conflict with each other.

Individuals in such companies, when working with different groups with different values and moral codes, tend easily to break their own values, ethics, and behavior which they believe to be the right way, in order to fit, adapt to and be accepted by their group instead of standing up against the wrong behavior, their own interest to be recognized do beat their social responsibility which they are obliged towards the society. Suggested solutions for externalities: There are some solutions which came up to deal with the issue of externalities.

Most of these solutions are faced by criticism due to various reasons. Social Conventions, Regulatory Limits, Mergers, and corrective taxes are considered to be the most important answers to deal with the externalities. The social conventions approach aims to deal with externalities through the social conventions and traditions. But it faced with a criticism that it forces people to take into account the externalities they cause, and that it may work with individuals but its effectiveness will not be useful with high cost externalities generated by multinational companies as instance.

Merger, another solution for externalities, gathers all the parties involved in the externality to merge, but again it failed to solve all situations, it could solve the negative externalities between some firms by merging them together, but in a situation like a polluter company and the people around this company who are affected negatively by the pollution, how can the company and the people merge together? (Gibson, 1996).

The regulatory limits approach is supposed to be the most common approach for dealing with externalities, simply it does not only suggest to impose regulatory limits for the externality amount generated by any party, but as well imposes a fine for any party generates externality which exceeds the regulatory limits. The corrective taxes approach aims to impose corrective taxes in order to push all parties to be socially responsible and limit the amount of externalities produced.

If we take pollution as an example, then corrective taxes will be imposed on each unit of pollution equal to the same amount of damage affected the society. The two approaches, which in a way close in concept to each other, aim to force the externalities generators- including businesses- to absorb the cost incurred by them. Still, both approaches are faced with problems which weaken them.

The regulatory limits approach has some difficulties especially when it comes to the determination and detection of the firms breaching the limits and by how much is the violation of the limits (Gibson, 1996). The corrective tax approach has lots of supporters who completely agree that externalities generators should pay the full cost for their faults, and by punishing some business, this will work as a red alert to the rest to pay more attention to business ethics and to behave in a better ethical and moral way.

But still the ideas is facing lots of criticism, the opponents claim that when implementing such a tax system, the first result will be the price increase as the businesses will try to keep their profit margin stable, especially after the increase of their costs due to paying the corrective tax, this will eventually lead to a decrease in demand and thus economical problems. Also, the opponents argue that in some externality cases, such as pollution, it is difficult to determine the polluter and the amount of harm was caused (same like the regulatory limits).

And even if the damage amount can be determined, it appears the biggest problem of externality which is the estimation of the externality effects. Positive or negative externality should be measured and translated into a value which will determine the corrective tax amount (Gibson, 1996). Some businesses, when faced with the problem of externality, and when they are accused by affecting negatively third parties, whatever it was environment, people or other businesses, they sometimes follow what is called the obstructive response, which indicates the lowest degree of social responsibility.

According to this type of response, accused businesses tend to deny all the responsibility, and argue that any evidence that they generated an externality is misleading; they also do their best to delay investigations and the conformation of externality evidences, they did not only breach the ethical rule of “do not harm” by they as well breach the rule of “do not cheat”. Conclusion and recommendations: Externality with its two types, the positive and the negative, happens all the time in our normal daily life; it has several effects on all parties involved.

Environmental harm is the most important and recognized consequence of the negative externality. Several ethical theories can be used to explain the ethical nature of externalities, the utilitarianism, the social responsibility, and the general ethics theories. Generally, externalities are considered to be a violation of ethics. Many reasons cause the externalities, but most importantly is the absence of ethics, and the good moral of people, which lead to absence of business ethics and morals as business at the end consists of groups of people.

There are businesses which pay attention to the social responsibility and the good moral, these businesses try to meet their obligations towards their business environment, sometimes through setting up special committees or professional experts in order to discuss and solve their ethical problems. But most businesses are clearly tend to ignore their social responsibility and act mostly in the way which serves their own interests and deny any claim or evidences about the externalities and harm they may cause to their business environment.

There are several possible approaches to deal with the problem of externalities, but each approach has its weaknesses. There is a strong support for persuading businesses to fully take the responsibility and pay for the externality’s cost incurred by them. The opponents of this opinion argue that this cannot be done as it is difficult to determine the amount of harm produced and as well difficult to translate it into a value. Some other opponents claim that businesses do offer to the society and the business environment more benefits than harm in the shape of better economy, employment, utilities and welfare.

Top executives and managers and generally business officials should work and ethically apply the core concepts in ways which prevent the externalities and the harm which could be generated by their decisions. They also have to solve the problem of interests’ conflict and act in a way that balance and achieve both interest as much as possible. Business officials have to establish moral principles to determine an organizational core value to control and guide the organization’s practices and to set a moral climate within the organization.

Any business that violates the ethics should then be suspended from continuing its operation for a period of time; at least till correction step is taken. People should return and relive the ethics and values, and they have to act and behave rationally. Governments must play stronger role to deal with the externality problem. Many approaches can be followed like a well define for property rights, Criminalization, Civil Tort law, and Government provision.

References

1. Anonymous. , nd. Definition of Externality. (Online). Available at: About. om: Economics. http://economics. about. com/cs/economicsglossary/g/externality. htm. (Accessed 20 July 2009)
2. Anonymous. , nd. Externality. (Online). Available at: Wikipedia, Answer. com. http://www. answers. com/topic/externality-1. (Accessed 22 July 2009)
3. Anonymous. , 2007. Externality. (Online). Available at: Guardian. co. uk. http://www. guardian. co. uk/business/2007/apr/11/businessglossary9. (Accessed 25 July 2009)
4. Anonymous. , nd. Utilitarianism. (Online). Available at: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en. wikipedia. rg/wiki/Utilitarianism. (Accessed 28 July 2009)
5. Anonymous. , 2008. Social Responsibility. (Online). Available at: OPPapers. http://www. oppapers. com/essays/Social-Responsibility/159386. (Accessed 1 august 2009)
6. Cleveland. , A. , 2002. The Failure of Utilitarian Ethics in Political Economy. (Online). Available at: The Independent Institute. http://www. independent. org/publications/article. asp? id=1602. (Accessed 28 July 2009)
7. Gibson. , H. , 1996. Externalities: Implications for allocative efficiency and suggested solutions. (Online). Available at: Hunterlink. http://www2. hunterlink. net. au/~ddhrg/econ/ext1. html. (Accessed 28 July 2009)
8. Johannsen. , M. , nd. Five Core Business Concepts Causing Ethical Problems for Organizations. (Online). Available at: A Glossary of Political Economy. http://www. legacee. com/Info/Mindset/BusinessEthics. html. (Accessed 27 July 2009)
9. Jonson. , P. , nd. Externality. (Online). Available at: A Glossary of Political Economy. http://www. auburn. edu/~johnspm/gloss/externality. (Accessed 20 July 2009)
10. Kay Dee. , 2008. The Ethics of Externalities. Online). Available at: Engineering Ethics Blog. http://engineeringethicsblog. blogspot. com/2008/11/ethics-of-externalities. html. (Accessed 20 July 2009)
11. MacDonald. , C. , 2007. Externalities and the Ethics of Small Matters. (Online). Available at: The Business Ethics Blog. http://www. businessethics. ca/blog/2007/03/samosa-ethics-externalities-and-ethics. html. (Accessed 20 July 2009)
12. Shapiro. , D & Khemani. , R. , 2003. Externality. (Online). Available at: Glossary of Statistical Term. http://stats. oecd. org/glossary/detail. asp? ID=3215.

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Acknowledgements

Our team would first of all like to thank Dr. Jankee for this opportunity of evaluating ourselves in a field completely new to us and to venture into the different aspects of our topic for a greater understanding. We would also like to thank Mr. Jayen Chellum ( Director Of ACIM ) for his unconditional support and interest into making us more aware of the threats to consumers in the Mauritian context and for showing us the path to take for the completion of this group assignment.

Last but not the least, we are utterly grateful to Mr. Kailash Trilochun ( Barrister ), for his effort into demonstrating to us the legal aspects and implications of our project.

Sources and References

Major Achievements of ACIM Stat Sheet  Consumer Law ( Key Facts ) Book

• http://www. geocities. com
• http://www. google. com
• http://www. wikipedia. org
• http://www. supremecourt. mu
• http://www. wiki. answers. com ? http://openlearn. open. ac. uk
• http://www. bized. co. uk ? ttp://tutor2u. net 3

CONSUMER LAW

The Emergence of Consumers in society In ancient times the countries of the world were governed by sole figures. Kings, emperors, sovereigns, rulers or whatever way they were entitled, bore the same similarity; that is all of them lead their respective countries as chiefs. The people had to abide by the laws and the word of those individual characters and possessed no tangible rights. They were therefore treated by rulers as pawns on a checker board.

The condition of the people and their absence of rights stayed constant with the advent of a new type of social structure, the communist society. As centuries went by, the people became more aware of democratic methods and much more knowledgeable of the equality of other human beings in terms of gender, ethnicity and so on. This caused a revolution on a global scale as the rights of each and every human being started to be acknowledged and respected. With the emergence of a series of codes of conduct, later labeled as “Laws”, people began to enjoy a more civilized lifestyle.

Trade became more commonplace and people relished the buying and selling of goods and services which ultimately resulted in the “buyers” of goods and services being tagged as “consumers”. The Consumer viewed in an economical scope A consumer, as defined by the doctrine, is an individual who enters into a transaction primarily for personal, family or household purchases. Yet in many routine cases a consumer is not necessarily a purchaser in the real sense of the term; a consumer could also be someone enjoying public and free facilities and yet demanding a top notch quality and the same standards as services or goods they pay for.

Relationship between the consumer and the demand and supply theory A consumer is therefore expected to be someone who is a rational decision maker and who seeks to maximize utility and thus buys in accordance to his needs and wants for a greater satisfaction rate. 4 It is an undeniable fact that the consumer represents the demand in an economy; Therefore the greater the number of consumers, the greater the demand for products thus implying that the increase or decrease of consumers can directly affect demand in a proportional way.

This situation clearly demonstrates that the viability of a certain market depends on the demand from those very consumers hereby entailing that not only does the consumer affect the demand but also has a great impact on the supply factor. In the instance of a shoe making factory, if the consumers, (here signifying demand), for the shoe industry fall in rate, then the supply for that particular good also suffers from this lack in demand rate.

In such a case, the consequent scenario would either be that the consumers increase demand at a certain point in time and the factory survives the test of time, or the consumers turn away from that particular good for a long period of time thus compelling the factory to shut down. As a result this example shows us the direct relationship between the demand and supply and the role of the consumer in determining the survival of a particular market.

Factors influencing demand However, we should consider the determining causes to fluctuating demand and the consequent supply before actually getting into the subject of what consumer law really is about. The particular factors influencing demand are as follows:

Fashion Avertising Age Quality Taste Income Size of the population Price of substitutes Price of complements These factors subsequently affect the judgment of the consumers and thus has a great impact on the supply and the market in general. What is Consumer Law? Consumer law is a particular fragment of law which is designed to protect consumers against abuse or any kind of unlawful transactions as well as providing them with the necessary legal means of obtaining reparations for damages caused by faulty products or inadequate services. However consumer law is a complex phenomenon, as it is never complete in itself and it is disseminated and scattered over various seemingly unrelated statues which do not ensure a comprehensive and enhanced protection of the consumer.

Why the need for Consumer Laws? The primary goal of such laws is to ensure that consumers have their rights clearly spelled out and that companies which sell goods or provide services can make out the demarcation line between lawful and unlawful activities involved in their businesses while dealing with consumers and thus happen to clearly get to know their responsibilities and what consumers expect of them in terms of quality and pricing.

It is therefore obvious that the consumer and the suppliers or service providers are interrelated and interdependent, that is the supply or service providers rely on the demand of the consumer as much as the consumers rely on the supply of excellence in terms of goods and services. Thus this inter-reliant relationship makes it indispensable for the judiciary body and the government to ensure that both contracting bodies are in an equitable position, where there is no exploitation of the most influential party over the weaker one and this is where the consumer law comes into play.

The main branches of law concerned with the protection of the end users and the abuse of and the compliance of these guidelines are firstly the Civil Law and the Criminal Law. Consumer Vulnerability The question of the rights of consumers is growing considerably important worldwide as days go by. Governments have implemented numerous laws to 6 assure that end users have the same rights as the manufacturers or service providers. Consumer Protection Law or Consumer Law is considered as an area of public law that regulates private law relationships between individual consumers and the businesses that sell goods and services.

Consumer protection encompasses a wide range of different yet linked topics such as

i) Product Liability which implies that manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers are liable for the damages or injuries their products cause in the eyes of the law. Privacy Rights pertaining to the rights of the consumer but more of a human rights issue about the right to privacy. For example, the right to keep a person’s religious practices on a private level. Unfair Business Practices such as fraud, misrepresentation and other consumer and business interactions.

ii)  Therefore these laws generally deal with the aspects of credit repair, product safety, service contracts, bill collector regulation, pricing, utility turnoffs, consolidation and personal loans that may lead to bankruptcy. All of these arguments actually pointing out the urgent and impending need for government legislation to advocate the basic rights of the consumer to have access to the best service or goods available without being victims of any kind of unlawful activities.

The Implications of Consumer Laws

Over the years, consumer laws have been growing in importance and have boosted in efficiency. These specific set of rules make it an obligation on businesses to respect the interest of consumers. In so doing, the consumer laws compel businesses to disclose detailed information about their products or services particularly in areas where the public, which in our case is referred to as consumer, is at risk, namely places where health, sanitary and hygiene issues are frequent. For instance fast food outlets and hospitals are the most common locations related to such aspects.

Thus it goes without saying that the protection of the consumer depends wholly and solely on their basic rights and the laws that regulate the parties involved, that is the goods or service provider and the end user. The Socio-economic evolution of Mauritius Putting aside the general aspects and characteristics of consumer laws abroad we reach a point where we do ask ourselves what exactly is the state of affairs regarding consumers and if the laws regarding their protection and fundamental rights in purchasing and enjoying quality service are being respected and complied with or not.

Nevertheless, it is of utmost importance to turn back a little in time to properly assess the current situation and to be able to make a comparative study of the situation in the past and the situation today. A brief history of Mauritius’ economy After Mauritius’ independence in 1968, the country was in a situation of utter distress. Huge balances of payment defeat, soaring unemployment, a surging population and massive levels of debt are some of the major predicaments the state had to confront.

Fortunately, with the help of the Professor Meade and quite a few political leaders of that time, the country somehow managed to withstand the harsh conditions and defy most of the apocalyptic predictions made about the survival of the country as an autonomous body. Mauritius adhered to the advice of Meade in its diversification process but used its own state creativity and capacity to deal with the pressing affairs of the country.

The Mauritian State invested a lot of its intellectual ad financial resources into hauling out the majority of its people from utmost poverty and sparked a revolution of aspirations nationwide. What made Mauritian success story include industrial policies based on an expert-led diversification strategy, dedicated and competent bureaucracy, the dearth of conflicting ideologies, a strong welfare state, human faced structural adjustment, successful demographic control, tapping of preferential 8 rrangements, economics of ethnicity and cultures and a “habit” for institutional engineering. Nevertheless it is an undeniable fact that with the beginning of this new technological, fast-tracked and globalization oriented era, new challenges are surfacing and along with them the uncertainties and queries regarding the shape and nature of democracy in the coming age. As such, in the Mauritian context, the consumer is protected under many legislative laws. Amongst other, the Consumer Protection Act 1998 and the Fair Trading Act 1988.

Below, here are some sections of the Consumer Protection Act of 1998 and the full version of the implemented Fair Trading Act 1988. Consumer Protection Act 1998 (some sections) 3. Maximum price

The Minister may, by regulations, fix the price of any goods specified in the First Schedule. A trader who sells or supplies any controlled goods at a price higher than that which has been fixed shall commit an offence.

Maximum mark-up

The Minister may, by regulations, determine the maximum markup of any goods specified in the Second Schedule.

A trader who sells or supplies any controlled goods at a price which includes a mark-up which exceeds the maximum mark-up shall commit an offence. Maximum recommended retail price (1) The Minister may establish a Code of Practice to provide for the method to be adopted for the determination of the maximum recommended retail price of goods other than controlled goods and, where he intends to do so, he shall give notice of the Code of Practice by its publication in the Gazette. 9 (2) 5. (2) Where a Code of Practice has been established under subsection (1), no trader shall act in breach of the Code of Practice.

A trader who sells or supplies any goods for which there is a maximum recommended retail price shall affix a label in a conspicuous place on a specimen on any such goods indicating the maximum recommended retail price. A trader who affixes, in relation to goods referred to in subsection (1), a maximum recommended retail price provided for in the Code of Practice shall commit an offence.

Illegal charging of VAT A trader who, whilst selling or supplying any goods —

• (a) charges VAT where VAT is not chargeable by him;
• (b) charges a higher rate or amount of VAT than is lawfully chargeable, shall commit an offence. Price label

Where VAT is chargeable by a trader in respect of any goods, the trader shall affix a label in a conspicuous place on a specimen of the goods indicating the total selling price of the goods inclusive of VAT.

Where VAT is not chargeable by a trader on any goods, the trader shall affix a label in a conspicuous place on a specimen of the goods indicating— the selling price; and  that the amount of VAT is NIL.

A trader who fails to comply with subsection  or  shall commit an offence.For the purposes of this section, the Minister may prescribe the form or colour of a label or any distinctive mark which such label shall bear.

Selling at a price higher than that displayed .No trader shall sell any goods at a price which is higher than the price shown on a label affixed pursuant to section . A person who fails to comply with subsection  shall commit an offence.

Misleading price indication

A trader who gives (by any means whatever) to any consumer an indication which is misleading as to the price at which any goods are sold or supplied shall commit an offence.

Fair Trading Act 1988

1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Fair Trading (Amendment) Act 1988.
2. Interpretation. In this Act“principal Act” means the Fair Trading Act.
3. Section 6 of the principal Act amended. Section 6 of the principal Act is amended by adding immediately after the word “competition” the words “or of promoting, establishing or observing any exclusive sales agreement or monopoly in connection with the production and supply of goods, branded or otherwise, or of services. “
4. Section 13 of the principal Act amended. Section 13 of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words not exceeding 10,000 rupees” and replacing them by the words not less than 10,000 rupees and not exceeding 50,000 rupees”.
5. Section 14 of the principal Act amended. Section 14 of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words and to imprisonment for a term “and replacing them by the words together with a term of imprisonment”. These pieces of legislative law are here to protect consumers against abuse.

Being a mixed law, some of the laws have been translated into English as in many issues it is the “Code Civil Mauricien” and the “Code de Commerce” which is mainly used. At international level, particularly in England, protection in criminal law falls into three main categories: Unsafe goods- Consumer Protection Act 1987 Part II and the General Product Safety Ragulations 1994 Trade Description Act 1968 Misleading price- Consumer Protection Act 1987 Part III Then again, the position of Mauritius concerning Consumer protection laws, ts practice and enforcement are contemptible and our small budding island lags behind in the specific field as compared to countries such as France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In this light, our current system lacks the administrative machinery for a strong consumer umbrella. Our fellow consumers are therefore not sufficiently sensitized about the existence and the recurrent themes of the consumer laws that shield them from eventual harm or abuse by traders, businesses and other groups which are usually better equipped and more resourceful than the general consummating public.

Consequently, the lack of knowledge about these laws creates a situation where the ignorant consumer has to face new sales techniques, ruthless publicity and marketing of a large variety of goods and services in the market, such that the latter is in no position to assess the defects and shortcomings that might be found therein. On the other hand, the suppliers are tempted to follow diverse unfair practices such as sub-standard quality, adulteration, incorrect quantity and excess pricing amongst others.

Breakthrough in the Consumer Protection Laws

It would however be unjust to belittle the work of our Legislature who has made several provisions in accordance with the consumer welfare state and the demand and supply for consumer goods and services, as a result of the expansion in technological and industrial fields. The Legislature enacted laws intended to protect the consumer against deceit, injury and exploitation, among which are:

1. The Civil Code
2. The Hire Purchase Act 1964
3. The Supplies Control Act 1972
4. The Fair Trading Act 1979
5. The Trade Marks Act
6. The Consumer Protection Act 1991
7. The Consumer Protection (Price and Supplies Control) Act 1998
8. The Food Act 1998 The Consumer Protection Act of 15 June 1991 seeks to extend the reach of protection to the consumer and eventually develop into the proper safety of the consumer.

Regrettably, its aims are less achievable as the application is limited to certain products only. (Refer to S3 (2)). Sect. : Consumer Protection Act The General Safety Requirements:

1. No person shall apply any goods which suffer from any fault with regard to any prescribed quality, quantity, potency, priority or standard or in the case of any machinery or motor vehicle, with regard to the quality, nature or manner of its performance”.
2. This section shall not apply to

• (a) growing crops or things comprised in land by virtue of being attached to it
• (b) water, food, animal feed or chemical fertilizer
• (c) aircraft 13
• (d) drugs or medicine
• (e) tobacco and
• (f) goods intended exclusively for export under the Export Processing Zone Certificate.

A more considerable addition to the existent consumer laws is found in section 5 of the Consumer Protection Act which endows the enforcement authority with a slightly additional power of control over the supply of goods which might not safe for use or consumption. This Act has mainly repeated fundamental provisions of other laws without concretely solving new practical problems, for example, in the revision of standards in contract. Moreover, consumer movement is more accessible to the elitist community and fails to mobilize the masses, who are the real victims of the system since they are confronted to financial constraint.

ACIM as an advocate of consumer rights Fortunately some particular consumer oriented private organisations have stepped forward for the rights of the end user but the most recognisable of these organisations is most probably “l’Association des Consommateurs de l’Ile Maurice” (ACIM), who has made a laudable effort into making the most regarding the protection of the consumer, the needs of the Mauritian consumer and has aroused a lot of questions about certain government practices which could prove to be prejudicial to the consumer.

Thus ACIM has not only created a means of assistance to the public in matters dealing with the abuse and violation of consumer protection laws but has also proved to be the acting watchdog in hindering practices (again referring to the unfair business practices), that are detrimental to the consummating community, be it governmental decisions or supply and service provider faults. Also, this particular association has over the years stressed on a number of disturbing facts and alarming situations about the Mauritian consumer laws and their adherence.

One such troubling and at the same time unfortunate fact is that the laws concerning the rights and the protection of the consumer are too decentralized, that is the local authorities that include municipal or district councils each have their own respective ways of interpreting the laws in their areas of jurisdiction. In so doing, the consumer laws are in a certain sense baffled by territory issues, despite the fact that Mauritius is seen as a considerably small island, making it not only difficult to understand exactly what laws are applied 14 n the interest of the consumer in different regions but also to deal with the various implications the laws hold in their relevant territories. Below are a few of the major achievements and projects of ACIM in the past years: 1. In 1992, ACIM in alliance with other NGO’s succeeded in holding the proposal for the construction of a nuclear power station by the Minister of Engery, on grounds that it would both be uneconomical and environmentally unsound. 2.

In 1990, ACIM won a major victory against the Central Electricity Board when this public enterprise was ordered by a Supreme Court judgment to reimburse 182,777 electricity consumers for the unlawful double billing of electricity charged for the month of June 1986. The total amount reimbursed was 38 Million Rupees, interest inclusive. 3. In 1989, the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) increased the license fee of consumers by 400%. ACIM launched a national protest and managed to make the government back for 26% of the consumers.

In addition, ACIM entered a court case to contest the constitutionality of a regulation that was made by government threatening to cut electricity supply if people refused to pay the totality of their TV license fee. Judgment was delivered in January 1992 by the Supreme Court. ACIM won the case. When looking at these particular cases, we finally get to understand a little more of just how complex the consumer laws and their applications in terms on consumer protection are. The right to Safe Environment

One noteworthy fact, that should presently be a major concern to the world in general and specially to our small island, in terms of its geographical situation, is the right of consumers to enjoy a safe environment. Is it a sad truth that the private organizations here in Mauritius have limited resources and are incapable of really drawing the government’s attention towards this phenomenon that is starting to affect not only us but the world as a whole. 15 The need for environmental conservation is seen as a necessary defense against deteriorating quality of life worldwide.

All consumers are victims of contaminated food and water supply, pesticide-ridden food, adulterated milk and choking exhaust fumes emitted from vehicles. According to a World Bank report, India is being pushed back due to its high environmental costs which implicates 24,500 Million Indian Rupees each year in terms of air and water pollution alone. Valuable resources and man-days are lost due to polluted environment and living conditions. Consumers need to understand that only a safe environment can ensure the fulfillment of their consumer rights.

Hopefully, “Consumers International”, a nodal agency of consumer organizations worldwide, has set up a number of guidelines for ensuring the consumers’ right to safe environment. A few of these major guidelines are;

1.  Promoting the use of products which are environmentally sustainable.
2. Encouraging recycling.
3. Requiring environmentally dangerous products to carry appropriate warnings and instructions for safe use and disposal
4. Promoting the use of non-toxic products by :

• a. Raising consumer awareness of alternatives to toxic products.
• b.Establishing procedures to ensure that products banned overseas do not enter national markets.
• c. Ensure that the social impacts of pollution are minimized.
• d. Promote ethical, socially and environmentally responsible practices by producers and suppliers of goods and services.

These measures therefore ensure that the consumer is not abused of in terms of environment and that the latter enjoys the fundamental right of the human being to have access to a sound environment. The right to Safety Consumer right to safety is as vast in its purview as the market reach itself.

It applies to all possible consumption patterns and to all goods and services. In the context of the new market economy and rapid technological advances affecting the market, the right to safety has become a pre-requisite quality in all products and services. For instance, some Indian products carry the ISI mark, which is a symbol of satisfactory quality of a particular product. The market has for a long time made consumers believe that by consuming packaged food or mineral 16 water, consumers can protect their health but this notion has been proved wrong time and again due to rampant food adulteration in market products.

Right to the food safety is an important consumer right since it directly affects the quality of life of the consumers. The end note All of these measures therefore converge in the same global direction of safeguarding the basic rights of the consumer; that is for the consumer to enjoy the best quality and standards in all aspects of their lives, but the real question we are inclined to ask ourselves is whether the consumer of today is even aware of the benefits the consumer laws bestow on them or do they simply take pleasure in hiding under the shields of a panoply of invisible laws?

The awareness of the existence of these laws is certainly of utmost importance; nevertheless the most vital interrogation in the communities worldwide should be about the survival of these laws and their enforcement over the test of time for the benefit of the consumer and consequently, the viability of all types of markets. 17

Introduction: Rapid urbanisation and industrial diversification has led to generation of considerable amount of municipal, plastic, hazardous and biomedical waste. Improper disposal of wastes often leads to spread of diseases and contamination of water bodies and soil. The impact of these wastes cannot be ignored and managing them has become a major problem. The objective and scope of this research project: In this project we have tried to gain an insight on the term waste management.

The objective of the project was to seek an overview of waste management in large cities especially in supermarkets and predominantly the waste disposal system of large fast food outlets in Bangalore. The scope was (due to time constraint) limited to two major food chains. We have as an initial investigation tried to bring out the very nature of major sources of waste in our cities, the present waste disposal system in Bangalore and measures to effectively dispose off the waste generated in supermarkets.

Municipal solid waste: On an average 40-50% of the total municipal waste is generated in the six municipal corporations of Karnataka and more than 70 percent of municipal waste is generated in the residential and market areas. The domestic waste generated by the households comprises mainly of organic, plastic and paper waste. Problems of municipal solid waste: The major problems of municipal solid waste are: •Collection and storage of waste. Mixing and segregation of waste. •Transportation of waste. •Indiscriminate burning of waste •Illegal disposal of waste. 1. Collection and storage of waste: waste collection and disposal lies at the core of municipal waste management. Waste management happens to be the major source of expenditure in municipal budgets. Failure to effectively manage waste generated in the cities leads to overflowing bins and foul odour in the city streets.

It also poses as a potential threat to the hygiene and health of the public. 2. Mixing and segregation of waste: with no clear instruction and procedures to the contrary the household waste generated are very heterogeneous in nature due to no or very limited segregation of waste during disposal process. It also is witnessed in industrial wastes. Where lack of government regulation leads to uncontrolled disposal without proper segregation. 3.

Transportation of waste: the rapid expansion of cities coupled with high population growth rates and limited control on procedures to dispose municipal wastes resulted in mismatch on guidelines and actual waste transport. The transporters of municipal wastes are normally private contractors who with the aim of profit maximisation tend to dispose waste in the nearest vacant plots just on the outskirts of the city. Though dumping zones have been identified around the city yet the transporters often resort to dumping on plots near main roads leading to the city. 4.

Indiscriminate burning of wastes: often as discussed above the transporters do not dump the wastes on designated land fills earmarked by municiapal bodies but on the roads leading to the cities or vacant plots on the outskirts of the city they also resort to burning of wastes to reduce the heap for future dumping. As the waste dumped are unsorted and contain many hazardous substances eg plastics bottles and polythene bags. The gas generated are toxic in nature and a common sight are the rag pickers who roam around such dump sites to collect materials of some worth.

They are effected by the smoke and the gas generated. 5. Illegal disposal of waste: in absence of strict guidelines and enforcement of proper disposal of wastes in major cities in India the transporters mainly the private contractors resort to dumping of wastes in vacant plots instead of disposing them to proper dumping sites. This results over a period of time a major ecological threat. E. g a recent study found that in Bangalore around 600 Tons of municipal wastes are illegally dumped on vacant plots on daily basis.

Course Work Aims: The aim of my course work is to investigate if three shopping centres in the west midlands can be placed into shopping hierarchies.

Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that

* Merry hill will have a bigger sphere of influence than Kidderminster and Dudley

* Merry hill will have a better environment than Kidderminster and Dudley

* Merry hill will have more comparison shops than Kidderminster and Dudley

Justification of hypothesis: I predict that the settlements will fit in the following hierarchy.

First Prediction: People will travel farther – I predict that Merry Hill will be at the top of the hierarchy because it is more accessible (roads, bus routes, railway links and motorway), it contains better facilities (shops, restaurants, car parks), it will also have high order goods. As Merry Hill contains all of the following, it will be at the top of the hierarchy.

I predict that Dudley will be at the bottom of the hierarchy because it is less accessible than Merry Hill and Kidderminster, it has low quality facilities compared to Merry Hill and Kidderminster and it mainly supplies low order goods.

To prove this I will collect car registrations and shopper surveys.

Second prediction: Environment Quality – I predict that Merry Hill will have the highest quality of environment because it is undercover, there is no litter and it has good air conditioning, weather doesn’t affect the shoppers, there are lots of bins, greenery all around the car park, CCTV, guards and cleaners o clean up the area so everything is very hygienic.

I predict that the environment with the lowest environmental quality will be Dudley because there isn’t any cover as it is outdoors, litter everywhere, no air conditioning, and no bins, not a lot of greenery, no CCTV and no guards.

To prove this I will carry out an environmental survey.

Third Prediction: Tourists and Comparison Shops – I predict that Merry Hill will have the most tourists and comparison shops because the large number of shops means that there will be a wider range of shops to compare and also as most shops sell high order goods, they are well known and this will help attract tourists.

I predict that Dudley will have few comparison and convenience stores because it’s a small shopping centre, which means that there will be fewer shops meaning you will have less shops to compare.

To prove this I will carry out a shop survey, listing all the shops each settlement consists of.

Geographical Information:

Shopping habits have changed due to the new technology and, the higher prices of products having been introduced, meaning more and more people are likely to compare prices in different shops before buying anything, whereas before all prices were rather similar. More shops have also been introduced, which has also caused shopping habits to change.

In the future shopping hierarchies may have totally changed. There is a possibility that the smaller shopping centres may slowly start to increase moving higher in the hierarchy. Also larger shopping centres may slowly deteriorate especially as there are so many shops all around that are closing down.

The advantages of out of town shopping centres are:

* Firstly, the shopping centres have a lot of comparison shops, so shoppers can buy the cheapest product.

* As there are more shops in one area shoppers have a larger variety of products to choose from, so there are bound to be a larger number of comparison shops.

* Another advantage of having an out of town shopping centre is that people are likely to go there and it increases tourism.

The disadvantages of out of town shopping centre:

* Firstly out of town shopping centres increase traffic jams as there is an increasing of traffic

* Out of town shopping centres increase the level of noise pollution on the road

* Next out of town shopping centres allow more congestion on the road

* Lastly, out of town shopping centres increase pollution on a whole and also contribute majorly to global warming

Methods of data collection:

Data was collected over a period of two days. On the first day, we visited Kidderminster (Old and New). On the second day we visited Merry Hill and Dudley. We worked in a group of three or more because then we would be able to get other people’s opinions and so we can collect data faster, before time runs out.

Primary Data:

We recorded 50 car registrations for each area to work out how far people had travelled to come to these shopping centres. This data was collected in order to work out where the cars had been registered to give us some idea as to the sphere of influence of each settlement. At each location we completed 5 environmental surveys to access the quality of the environment. This was done by scoring the environment on a number of indi9cators on a sliding scale from (o-5), with 0 being poor and 5 being excellent.

The surveys were taken at roughly equal spacing in each settlement and marked clearly on the map. The scores were our own personal feeling of the environment and may have been skewed by bad weather conditions and time of day i.e. rush hour. We listed all of the shops recording if they were comparison or convenience shops. We collected this data because it gave us an idea of whether the shops were mainly sold high or low order goods and it helped show us the sphere of influence of the location.

Secondary Data:

To support my primary data I collected background information for each settlement from the internet, I looked at bus routes for each settlement which would show the accessibility of the areas, I looked at maps of each area o show the size of each area and I collected data on the history of each settlement.