Pollution Presentation: A 12-Slide PPT on Pollution with Sourced Facts for India and the World

Disclosure: NOXI publishes this guide. The outline, facts, chart tables and script below work in PowerPoint, Google Slides or on chart paper, and none of them needs NOXI.

Most pollution decks online are old uploads with no date on a single number. This page gives the outline and the numbers together: every figure comes from its publisher (WHO, the Central Pollution Control Board, the Press Information Bureau, the UN, UNEP and FAO), opened on 12 November 2026, and is written as "figure, source, year" so you can copy it onto a slide.

The twelve slides at a glance, with the minutes each gets in a 10-minute talk. The shorter and longer versions are in versions by class.

Key numbers

Six figures for your numbers slide, each from its publisher, opened on 12 November 2026. Print the year next to the number: these are the latest years each source gives, not this year's values.

Which pollution presentation fits you: six quick routes

• If you are in class 5 to 8 → use the 8-slide version: one idea per slide, pictures from near school, and one sourced number.
• If you are in class 9 to 12 → use the 12-slide outline in PowerPoint or Google Slides, with the AQI table and one chart from a government table.
• If you are in college or studying environmental science → use the 15-slide version: add India's 2009 standards against WHO's 2021 guidelines, NCAP's progress figures and a slide on what the data cannot tell you.
• If you have only one type to present (for example "air pollution ppt" or "water pollution ppt") → take that sub-outline from the types of pollution section; each one stands alone in five or six slides.
• If you are speaking at an assembly or a competition → use the 5-minute script and show only slides 1, 3, 5, 6, 10 and 12, so the room listens to you rather than reads.
• If you want the slides written and designed for you → use NOXI's Presentation format: one request gives a 16:9 deck that keeps a source on each fact it looks up and draws the chart from your table.

PPT on pollution: the 12-slide outline, slide by slide

Each slide has three parts: what goes on the slide, what you say out loud, and the source line to print at the bottom. Keep the slide to the words in "On the slide" and say the rest.

Slide 1. The air we breathe, the water we drink

On the slide: the title "Pollution: what it is, what it does, what we can do", your name, class, the date, and a photo of your own city's sky or river.

Say: today's AQI for your city, read from CPCB's portal that morning, and what the room will know by the end.

Source line: "AQI: CPCB, read on [date]", from the portal linked on CPCB's National Air Quality Index page [5].

Slide 2. What pollution is

On the slide: three boxes. Pollutant: the harmful thing (dust, gas, sewage, plastic, noise, light). Source: where it comes from (vehicles, factories, homes, farms, waste). Natural or human-made: dust storms and volcanoes against traffic and burning waste.

Say: nature makes some pollution; what has changed is how much people add, and how fast.

Slide 3. Six types at a glance

On the slide: six cards, one line each. Air: gases and fine particles. Water: sewage and factory waste in rivers and groundwater. Soil: chemicals and waste in the ground that grows our food. Noise: sound above safe limits. Plastic: waste that does not break down. Light: artificial light that hides the night sky.

Say: the six overlap: burning plastic makes air pollution.

Slide 4. Air pollution: sources and scale

On the slide: five source icons (transport, industry, power generation, household fuels, waste burning) and two numbers: 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide from outdoor air pollution in 2019, and 99% of people living where WHO guideline levels were not met in 2019.

Say: WHO says 89% of those deaths were in low- and middle-income countries [1]. Indoors, around 2.1 billion people cook on open fires or inefficient stoves, and household air pollution caused about 2.9 million deaths a year in 2021 [2].

Source line: "WHO, Ambient (outdoor) air quality and health, 24 October 2024; Household air pollution and health, 16 December 2025".

Slide 5. Reading India's AQI

On the slide: a colour bar with the six categories and their ranges: Good 0 to 50, Satisfactory 51 to 100, Moderately polluted 101 to 200, Poor 201 to 300, Very poor 301 to 400, Severe 401 to 500. Under it, the eight pollutants: PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, NH3 and lead (Pb).

Say: CPCB calculates a sub-index for each pollutant, and "the worst sub-index determines the overall AQI" [5], so a dusty day shows even when the gases are low.

Source line: "CPCB, About National Air Quality Index".

Slide 6. The chart: PM10 in six metros

On the slide: a grouped bar chart, two bars per city (2017-18 and 2023-24), with a dashed line at 60 µg/m³, the national annual limit for PM10. The numbers are in the chart table below.

Say: all six metros were lower in 2023-24 than in 2017-18, and Mumbai and Kolkata fell by more than a third. But all six were still above the limit of 60, and Delhi was at 208. Across the National Clean Air Programme, 95 of 131 cities improved their annual PM10 and 18 met the national standard in 2023-24 [8].

Source line: "PM10 annual averages: Ministry of Environment table released by PIB, 28 November 2024; limit: CPCB NAAQS 2009".

Slide 7. Water pollution: the Yamuna in Delhi

On the slide: a map of the Yamuna through Delhi with the June 2025 BOD at four points: Palla 5 mg/L, Nizamuddin 40, Okhla Barrage downstream 30, Asgarpur 44, against a criterion of below 3 mg/L.

Say: BOD measures how much oxygen bacteria use to break down waste; the higher it is, the dirtier the water. The government told the Lok Sabha that Delhi makes about 3,596 million litres of sewage a day, and about 641 million litres "remains untreated" [11]. Worldwide, at least 1.7 billion people used a faeces-contaminated drinking source in 2022 [10].

Source line: "Yamuna data: Ministry of Jal Shakti, PIB, 31 July 2025; WHO drinking-water fact sheet, 13 September 2023".

Slide 8. Soil and plastic pollution

On the slide: left, soil: the sources FAO and UNEP name, from industry and mining to waste and unsustainable farming [16]. Right, plastic: "400 million tonnes a year, half used once" and items banned in India from 1 July 2022, such as straws, cutlery, plates, cups, earbuds with plastic sticks and thermocol decoration [13] [15].

Say: carry bags thinner than 120 microns have been banned since 31 December 2022 [14]. Ask who saw a banned item this week.

Source line: "FAO and UNEP, 4 June 2021; UN News, 4 June 2025; PIB, 13 August 2021 and 28 June 2022".

Slide 9. Noise and light pollution

On the slide: a four-row table of India's noise limits in dB(A): industrial 75 by day and 70 at night, commercial 65 and 55, residential 55 and 45, silence zone 50 and 40 [17] [18]. Beside it, a night photo of a city sky with one line: more than 80% of the world lives under light-polluted skies [19].

Say: under the Noise Rules, 2000, loudspeakers may not be used from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. outside closed premises, and at least 100 metres around hospitals, schools and courts may be declared a silence zone [17]. The 2016 night-sky atlas also found the Milky Way hidden from more than one-third of humanity [19].

Source line: "Noise Rules 2000, CPCB; Falchi and others, Science Advances, 2016".

Slide 10. Health effects

On the slide: a simple donut of the deaths WHO links to outdoor air pollution in 2019: heart disease and stroke 68%, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 14%, acute lower respiratory infections 14%, lung cancer 4% [1]. For water, one line: contaminated drinking water causes an estimated 505,000 diarrhoeal deaths a year [10].

Say: these are population figures, not a diagnosis for anyone in the room; health worries belong with a doctor.

Source line: "WHO fact sheets, 2024 and 2023".

Slide 11. What India is doing

On the slide: a timeline of five dated steps.

1. 2000: Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules notified on 14 February 2000 [17].
2. 2009: National Ambient Air Quality Standards for 12 pollutants notified on 18 November 2009 [7].
3. 2014: Namami Gange approved in June 2014 as a flagship programme with an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore to clean the Ganga [12].
4. 2019: National Clean Air Programme launched; it now covers 131 cities, and the target was revised to a PM10 cut of up to 40%, or meeting the national standard, by 2025-26 [8].
5. 2022: identified single-use plastic items banned from 1 July 2022 [15].

Slide 12. What we can do, and our sources

On the slide: ten actions in two columns (see what students can do) and a sources strip: WHO, CPCB, PIB, Ministry of Jal Shakti, NMCG, UN, FAO and UNEP.

Say: end with one action for this week and one question: "Which of these will you try first?"

Pollution facts for your slides, with source and year

The outline's facts in one table, each read on the publisher's page on 12 November 2026. "Year" is the year the figure describes.

Found a different figure elsewhere? Check its year and publisher before you swap it in.

Types of pollution PPT: six sub-outlines

One type to present? Take its sub-outline: each stands alone in four to six slides.

Air pollution PPT: 6 slides with India's AQI

1. Title and today's AQI for your city, read from CPCB that morning [5].
2. What is in the air: the eight AQI pollutants; PM2.5 and PM10 are particles smaller than 2.5 and 10 micrometres.
3. Sources: transport, industry, power generation, household fuels and waste [1].
4. India's AQI scale with its six categories (the table below) [5].
5. The chart: PM10 in six metros, 2017-18 against 2023-24 [9].
6. Action: CPCB's advice: PUC checks, engines off at red lights, and public transport, walking or carpools on very poor days [6].

Ranges as printed in CPCB's "About National Air Quality Index" document [5]. CPCB gives a worked example: a PM2.5 level of 60 µg/m³ gives a sub-index of 100, the top of Satisfactory.

Water pollution PPT: 5 slides with a Ganga and Yamuna case study

1. Sources: sewage from homes, factory waste water, farm run-off with fertiliser, and solid waste in drains.
2. How we measure it: BOD, dissolved oxygen (DO) and faecal coliform, with the primary water quality criteria the government prints beside its readings: DO above 5 mg/L, BOD below 3 mg/L, faecal coliform below 2,500 per 100 ml [11].
3. Case study, the Yamuna in Delhi: the June 2025 readings in the chart section; at Palla, where the river enters Delhi, DO was 9.2 mg/L, while at the three points downstream it was below the detection limit [11].
4. What is being done: Namami Gange, approved in June 2014 [12]; under it, nine projects in Delhi for 1,268 million litres a day of sewage treatment, all completed, at Rs 1,951 crore [11].
5. World view and action: 1.7 billion people drink from a faeces-contaminated source [10]; at home, do not pour oil, paint or medicines down the drain.

Soil pollution PPT: 5 slides

1. What soil pollution is: chemicals or waste in the ground at levels that harm plants, animals or people.
2. Sources named by FAO and UNEP: industrial and mining activities, poorly managed urban and industrial waste, fossil fuel extraction and processing, unsustainable farming and transport [16].
3. Farm chemicals: pesticide use rose about 75% between 2000 and 2017, and about 109 million tonnes of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser were used worldwide in 2018 [16].
4. Waste: the world produces about 2 billion tonnes of waste a year, expected to reach 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050 [16].
5. Action: composting, separating waste at home, and returning batteries and e-waste to collection points.

Noise pollution PPT: 5 slides

1. What noise pollution is: unwanted sound loud or long enough to harm health or rest.
2. Sources named in India's rules: industry, construction, generator sets, loudspeakers and public address systems, music systems and vehicle horns [17].
3. The limits: the four-zone table of day and night limits in dB(A) from the Noise Rules, 2000 [18].
4. Silence zones and night hours: at least 100 metres around hospitals, schools and courts; no loudspeakers from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. outside closed premises [17].
5. Action: no horn near a school, speakers kept low after 10 p.m., and the right to complain: a person may complain if noise exceeds the standard by 10 dB(A) or more [17].

Plastic pollution PPT: 5 slides

1. The scale: 400 million tonnes of plastic a year, half designed to be used once [13].
2. Where it goes: 19 to 23 million tonnes of plastic waste leak into water ecosystems every year,, and only 10 per cent of plastic is recycled, by UN News [13].
3. India's rules: the items banned from 1 July 2022 and the 120-micron rule for carry bags from 31 December 2022 [14] [15].
4. Action: never burn plastic; carry a cloth bag and a bottle, and run a one-week plastic audit of the canteen.

Light pollution PPT: 4 slides

1. What light pollution is: artificial light at night that brightens the sky or shines where it is not needed.
2. The scale: more than 80% of the world and more than 99% of people in the US and Europe live under light-polluted skies [19].
3. What we lose: the Milky Way is hidden from more than one-third of humanity [19].
4. Action: lights that point down, warm bulbs outdoors, and lights off in empty rooms.

The chart slide: two sourced tables you can draw

One honest chart does more than five decorative ones. Both tables are copied from government pages, so your chart carries a real source. Our guide on how to present data in a presentation covers choosing the chart type.

Air: PM10 in six metros, 2017-18 and 2023-24

Annual averages and percentage changes from the table of 130 cities annexed to a Ministry of Environment reply, released by PIB on 28 November 2024 [9]. The national annual limit for PM10 is 60 µg/m³ [7]. This table shows 97 of 130 cities lower in 2023-24; PIB's September 2024 note gives 95 of 131 [8], so quote one source's count. Draw a grouped bar chart with a dashed line at 60.

Water: the Yamuna through Delhi, June 2025

June 2025 readings under the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme, as given by the Ministry of Jal Shakti in a Lok Sabha reply released by PIB on 31 July 2025 [11]. Draw BOD as four bars against a line at 3.

For college: India's standards against WHO's guidelines

India's values for industrial, residential, rural and other areas from the CPCB notification of 18 November 2009 [7]; WHO's 2021 values as listed by the UK Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, which notes that WHO's 24-hour levels are a 99th percentile, allowing 3 to 4 days above them a year [4]. A standard is a legal limit set by a country; a WHO guideline is a health-based level, so a fair slide says both, not "India fails WHO".

Pollution PPT for students: versions for class 5 to 8, class 9 to 12 and college

Same topic, three depths: younger classes are marked on clarity, older ones on evidence.

PPT on pollution for class 5 to 8: 8 slides in 4 minutes

1. Title: "Let's keep our air, water and land clean", with a drawing or photo from your area.
2. What is pollution? One sentence and three pictures: smoke, a dirty drain, litter.
3. Air: where smoke comes from (vehicles, factories, burning waste) and how the AQI colours work, Good is green and Severe is dark red [5].
4. Water: what goes down drains ends up in rivers; one picture of a clean and a dirty river.
5. Land and plastic: plastic does not rot; the plastic straw and spoon are banned in India since 2022 [15].
6. Noise: horns and loudspeakers; the area around schools and hospitals can be declared a silence zone [17].
7. One big number: "99% of people in the world breathe air that is not as clean as WHO recommends (2019)" [1].
8. Our promise: three things our class will do, such as a cloth bag, switching off lights and fans, and no bursting of loud crackers.

PPT on pollution for class 9 to 12: the 12 slides

Use the 12-slide outline as it is. For class 9 and 10, keep slide 9 to noise only and add light pollution as one line. For class 11 and 12, add the standards table to slide 11 and explain why India's limit and WHO's guideline differ.

Pollution presentation for college: 15 slides in 15 minutes

1. Title, research question and scope (for example "Is urban air in India improving?").
2. Definitions: pollutant, standard, guideline, AQI.
3. Global burden: the WHO outdoor and household figures with their years [1] [2].
4. Sources of air pollution and why they differ by city and season.
5. India's AQI method: sub-indices and the worst sub-index rule [5].
6. Standards against guidelines: the table above [4] [7].
7. NCAP: 131 cities, the revised target for 2025-26, and progress to 2023-24 [8].
8. Chart: PM10 in six metros [9].
9. Water: the Yamuna readings and Delhi's sewage gap [11].
10. Plastic: global production and India's ban [13] [15].
11. Soil and chemicals: the FAO and UNEP figures [16].
12. Noise and light: the 2000 rules and the 2016 night-sky atlas [17] [19].
13. Health: WHO's disease shares, written as population information [1].
14. Limits of the data: annual averages hide bad days, and years differ between sources.
15. Conclusions, three recommendations, and full references.

For more college topics in environmental engineering, our list of seminar topics by branch has civil and environmental angles with primary sources to start from.

Pollution presentation script for a 5 or 10 minute talk

About five minutes with the 12 slides; for ten, add each slide's "Say" points. Replace the words in brackets.

1. Slide 1: "Good morning. This morning the air quality index in [city] was [number], which CPCB calls [category]. In the next five minutes I want to show you what that number means and what we can do about it."
2. Slide 2: "Pollution is anything we add to air, water or land that harms living things. Most of what worries us comes from people."
3. Slide 3: "There are six types: air, water, soil, noise, plastic and light. When we burn plastic, it becomes air pollution."
4. Slide 4: "The World Health Organization says outdoor air pollution caused 4.2 million early deaths worldwide in 2019, and that 99 percent of people lived where the air did not meet its guidelines."
5. Slide 5: "In India we read air quality on a scale of 0 to 500 in six colours. The index looks at eight pollutants, and the worst one decides the number."
6. Slide 6: "Here is the good news and the hard news. Between 2017-18 and 2023-24, PM10 particle levels fell in all six big metros. Mumbai fell by 42 percent. But all six are still above the national limit of 60."
7. Slide 7: "Rivers tell the same story. Where the Yamuna enters Delhi, its BOD in June 2025 was 5. Further downstream, at Asgarpur, it was 44. The water quality criterion is below 3."
8. Slide 8: "The world makes 400 million tonnes of plastic a year, and half of it is used only once. Since July 2022, India has banned items like plastic straws, cutlery and earbuds with plastic sticks."
9. Slide 9: "Noise has legal limits too: 55 decibels by day in a residential area, 50 in a silence zone around a school. And more than 80 percent of the world now lives under light-polluted skies."
10. Slide 10: "WHO links most air pollution deaths to heart disease and stroke, as numbers for whole countries."
11. Slide 11: "India has rules: air standards since 2009, a clean air programme since 2019 that now covers 131 cities, a plastic ban since 2022."
12. Slide 12: "But rules need us. My class will [one action]. Which one will you try first? Thank you. All my sources are on this slide."

Pollution presentation topics: 8 angles by audience

Too broad for your slot? Narrow it. More ideas are in our presentation topics for school students.

Presentation on environment: linking pollution to climate change

A "presentation on environment" usually covers pollution, climate change and nature together. Three slides connect pollution to climate:

1. Same sources: burning fuels in vehicles, power plants and homes releases both the particles that dirty the air and the gases that warm the planet.
2. Same solutions: WHO's climate fact sheet says cutting greenhouse gas emissions through better transport, food and energy choices can bring large health gains, "particularly through reduced air pollution" [20].
3. The human cost: WHO expects climate change to cause about 250,000 additional deaths a year between 2030 and 2050, from undernutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress alone [20].

For dates to hang an environment talk on, the UN marks World Environment Day on 5 June, with Azerbaijan hosting in 2026 [21], and India marks Swachh Vayu Diwas on 7 September, the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies [8].

What students can do: ten actions for the last slide

The first three come from CPCB's advice to the public [6]; the rest are common habits that cut waste, smoke and noise.

1. Ask the adults who drive you to keep the vehicle serviced and its PUC certificate current [6].
2. Switch off the engine at red lights, and do not leave it idling outside school [6].
3. On very poor or severe AQI days, walk, cycle, carpool or take public transport where you can [6].
4. Carry a cloth bag and a refillable bottle; say no to straws and plastic cutlery.
5. Separate wet and dry waste at home and in class, and never burn leaves or plastic.
6. Keep oil, paint and medicines out of drains and toilets.
7. Switch off lights, fans and screens in empty rooms; use lights that point down outdoors.
8. Do not use the horn near schools and hospitals, and keep music and speakers low, above all after 10 p.m.
9. Plant and care for one tree or plant in the school compound.
10. Check your city's AQI each morning and tell your class what its category means.

How to make a presentation on pollution look clear

• One idea per slide, with a title that states the finding ("Every metro improved, all six are still above the limit"), not just the topic.
• A year on every number and a small source line under every data slide; the full list goes on the last slide.
• One chart, drawn from a table: bars to compare cities, a line for change over years, a reference line for the limit.
• Your own photos where you can, and AQI colours used only for AQI, so green always means good.
• No scare images of real people: show the sky, the river, the traffic.

To submit a PDF, export it from your slide app after the last edit. For citing on slides in more detail, see our guide to presentations with research and citations.

What to check before you present

This page gives a structure and dated facts; your teacher, syllabus and today's data decide the rest.

Three ready requests to paste into NOXI

To get the deck written and designed instead of building it slide by slide, paste one of these into NOXI and change the words in brackets.

Make it in NOXI: a class 9 pollution deck in one request

NOXI (noxi.ai) is an AI maker for presentations and documents: you describe what you need in one request, and it builds a designed deck or document in one of 14 formats; the free plan covers five documents a month, downloads carry no watermark, and files export to PowerPoint, Word and PDF.

A school deck is the Presentation format, 16:9 by default; every change after a document is made is free, and no credit card is needed to start. All formats are in the NOXI 2.0 launch article.

To compare AI slide tools first, our ranking of AI PPT makers in India scores ten on printed rules. Related school decks: social media presentation and time management presentation.

Frequently asked questions

What should a ppt on pollution include?

A good ppt on pollution covers what pollution is, its six types (air, water, soil, noise, plastic and light), the sources of each, India's AQI, one chart from a sourced table, health effects as population information, what India is doing, and what students can do. Print the source and year under every number, and end with a sources slide.

How many slides should a pollution presentation have?

Twelve slides suit a 10-minute pollution presentation for class 9 to 12. Class 5 to 8 can use 8 slides in about four minutes, and a 15-minute college talk can use 15 slides with a standards table and a slide on the limits of the data. Fewer, clearer slides are easier to follow than many crowded ones.

How do I start a presentation on pollution?

Start with your own city. Read the day's Air Quality Index from CPCB's portal and say it aloud with its category, for example "this morning our AQI was 210, which CPCB calls Poor". Then promise the room what they will know by the end. A local, dated number gets attention faster than a world statistic.

What do the AQI categories mean in India?

CPCB's National Air Quality Index has six categories: Good (0 to 50), Satisfactory (51 to 100), Moderately polluted (101 to 200), Poor (201 to 300), Very poor (301 to 400) and Severe (401 to 500). It covers eight pollutants, including PM2.5, PM10, NO2 and ozone, and the worst pollutant's sub-index sets the overall AQI.

What are the latest air pollution facts for a school presentation?

WHO's fact sheet of 24 October 2024 says outdoor air pollution caused 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide in 2019, and 99% of people lived where WHO guideline levels were not met that year. WHO also estimates household air pollution caused 2.9 million deaths a year in 2021. Always print the year beside each figure.

Is India's air quality improving?

In many cities, yes, but most remain above the limit. PIB reported in September 2024 that 95 of 131 cities in the National Clean Air Programme had lower annual PM10 in 2023-24 than in 2017-18, and 18 met the national standard of 60 µg/m³. Delhi's PM10 fell from 241 to 208 over that period.

What is the difference between India's air standard and the WHO guideline?

India's National Ambient Air Quality Standards, notified in 2009, set an annual PM2.5 limit of 40 µg/m³. WHO's 2021 guideline is 5 µg/m³. A national standard is a legal limit set by a government; a WHO guideline is a level based on health evidence. A fair slide shows both and explains the difference.

Where can I find pollution data for my own city in India?

For air, CPCB's National Air Quality Index page links the live all-India AQI portal and its daily AQI bulletins. For rivers, look at your State Pollution Control Board's site and at government replies in Parliament released by PIB, which often include monitoring tables. Note the date and time of every reading you use.

How should I cite sources on pollution slides?

Put a short source line under each number or chart, such as "WHO, Ambient air quality and health, 24 October 2024", and list the full sources on the last slide with the date you read them. Name the publisher, not the search engine, and keep the year the figure describes next to the number.

Can NOXI make a ppt on pollution with sources?

Yes. In NOXI's Presentation format, one request such as "12 slides on air and water pollution in India for class 9, with sources" gives a designed deck; NOXI searches the live web, keeps each fact's source in the deck and draws charts from your table. It exports to PowerPoint or PDF without a watermark.

Sources & methodology

Every figure, standard, date and quoted line comes from its publisher, opened on 12 November 2026, signed out. Where a page gives a figure for an earlier year, we print that year. The outlines, scripts, topic list, action list and timings are editorial. Three items we did not print: a UNEP plastic projection for 2060 whose page did not open for us; a PM10 progress figure for 2024-25 that we found only in news reports of a parliamentary answer; and the official name and status of a pollution awareness day in December, for which we found no government page.

• [1] Outdoor air pollution caused an estimated 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide in 2019; 99% of the world's population lived where WHO guideline levels were not met in 2019; 89% of the premature deaths were in low- and middle-income countries; causes of death 2019: ischaemic heart disease and stroke 68%, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 14%, acute lower respiratory infections 14%, lung cancers 4%; key sources named: industry, energy and household fuel use, transport, power generation, municipal and agricultural waste; fact sheet dated 24 October 2024 · WHO, Ambient (outdoor) air quality and health, checked 12 November 2026.
• [2] Around 2.1 billion people cook using open fires or inefficient stoves; household air pollution caused an estimated 2.9 million deaths a year in 2021, including over 309,000 deaths of children under 5; fact sheet dated 16 December 2025 · WHO, Household air pollution and health, checked 12 November 2026.
• [3] New WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines; "almost 80% of deaths related to PM2.5 could be avoided in the world" if current levels were reduced to the updated guideline; 22 September 2021 · WHO news release, checked 12 November 2026.
• [4] WHO 2021 air quality guideline levels: PM2.5 annual 5 and 24-hour 15 µg/m³; PM10 annual 15 and 24-hour 45; NO2 annual 10 and 24-hour 25; 24-hour values are the 99th percentile (3 to 4 exceedance days a year); published 27 July 2022 · UK Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, statement on the WHO guidelines, checked 12 November 2026.
• [5] Six AQI categories (Good, Satisfactory, Moderately polluted, Poor, Very poor, Severe) with ranges and breakpoints for eight pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, NH3, Pb); "the worst sub-index determines the overall AQI"; PM2.5 sub-index 100 at 60 µg/m³; section updated 14 August 2026 · Central Pollution Control Board, National Air Quality Index and its "About NAQI" document, checked 12 November 2026.
• [6] Public guidance: maintain vehicles (PUC checks, air filter, tyre pressure), follow lane discipline and speed limits, avoid idling and turn off engines at red signals; during very poor or severe AQI minimise travel, use public transport, bikes, walking or carpools · CPCB, "Broad guidelines for Public", linked from the National Air Quality Index page, checked 12 November 2026.
• [7] National Ambient Air Quality Standards notified 18 November 2009 for 12 pollutants; industrial, residential, rural and other areas: PM2.5 annual 40 and 24-hour 60 µg/m³; PM10 annual 60 and 24-hour 100; NO2 annual 40 and 24-hour 80 · CPCB, Air Quality Standards (notification in the Gazette of India), checked 12 November 2026.
• [8] NCAP unveiled in 2019 for 131 cities in 24 states; initial target of 20 to 30% PM10 reduction by 2024-25 over 2017-18, revised to up to 40% or meeting the national standard (60 µg/m³) by 2025-26; 95 of 131 cities improved annual PM10 in FY 2023-24 over FY 2017-18; 18 cities met NAAQS for PM10 in FY 2023-24; Swachh Vayu Diwas on 7 September, the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies; 24 September 2024 · PIB Research Unit, "Swachh Vayu Diwas: India's Commitment to Clean Air", checked 12 November 2026.
• [9] Annexure I: PM10 concentrations of 130 cities in FY 2023-24 with respect to FY 2017-18 (annual averages): Delhi 241 and 208 (14%), Mumbai 161 and 94 (42%), Kolkata 147 and 94 (36%), Hyderabad 110 and 81 (26%), Bangalore 92 and 70 (24%), Chennai 66 and 63 (5%); document dated 28 November 2024 · Press Information Bureau, PM10 table for 130 NCAP cities, checked 12 November 2026.
• [10] In 2022, 73% of the global population used safely managed drinking water; 2.2 billion lacked it; at least 1.7 billion people used a drinking water source contaminated with faeces; contaminated drinking water is estimated to cause 505,000 diarrhoeal deaths each year; fact sheet dated 13 September 2023 · WHO, Drinking-water, checked 12 November 2026.
• [11] Yamuna water quality in Delhi in 2025 under the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (June: Palla BOD 5, DO 9.2, faecal coliform 2,100; Nizamuddin BOD 40; Okhla Barrage downstream BOD 30; Asgarpur BOD 44; DO 0.3 below detection limit at the three downstream points); criteria DO above 5 mg/L, BOD below 3 mg/L, faecal coliform below 2,500 MPN/100 ml; Delhi sewage generation 3,596 MLD, 37 STPs with 3,474 MLD capacity, about 641 MLD untreated; nine Namami Gange projects in Delhi, 1,268 MLD, Rs 1,951.03 crore, all completed; Lok Sabha reply, 31 July 2025 · PIB, Ministry of Jal Shakti, "Progress in cleaning of Yamuna river", checked 12 November 2026.
• [12] Namami Gange Programme approved as a flagship programme by the Union Government in June 2014 with a budget outlay of Rs 20,000 crore, for abatement of pollution and conservation and rejuvenation of the Ganga · National Mission for Clean Ganga, Namami Gange Programme, checked 12 November 2026.
• [13] 400 million tonnes of plastic produced worldwide every year; half designed to be used only once; only 10 per cent recycled; between 19 and 23 million tonnes of plastic waste leak into aquatic ecosystems annually; 4 June 2025 · UN News, "World Environment Day: UN sounds alarm on plastic pollution crisis", checked 12 November 2026.
• [14] Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021: identified single-use plastic items prohibited from 1 July 2022; carry bags from 50 to 75 microns from 30 September 2021 and to 120 microns from 31 December 2022; 13 August 2021 · PIB, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, checked 12 November 2026.
• [15] Ban from 1 July 2022 on ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene (thermocol) for decoration, plastic plates, cups, glasses, cutlery, straws, trays, wrapping films around sweet boxes, invitation cards and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners under 100 micron, and stirrers; 28 June 2022 · PIB, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, checked 12 November 2026.
• [16] Main sources of soil pollution: industrial and mining activities, poorly managed urban and industrial waste, fossil fuel extraction and processing, unsustainable agricultural practices and transport; pesticide use up about 75% between 2000 and 2017; about 109 million tonnes of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser used in 2018; about 2 billion tonnes of waste a year, 3.4 billion expected by 2050; 4 June 2021 · FAO, "Worsening soil pollution threatens future food production and ecosystems: FAO-UNEP", checked 12 November 2026.
• [17] Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, S.O. 123(E), 14 February 2000: sources named (industrial activity, construction, generator sets, loudspeakers, public address systems, music systems, vehicular horns); silence zone of not less than 100 metres around hospitals, educational institutions and courts; no loudspeaker or public address system between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. except in closed premises; complaint where noise exceeds the standard by 10 dB(A) or more · CPCB, Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, checked 12 November 2026.
• [18] Schedule of ambient noise standards in dB(A) Leq: industrial 75 day and 70 night, commercial 65 and 55, residential 55 and 45, silence zone 50 and 40; day 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. · Wildlife Institute of India (Ministry of Environment), text of the Noise Rules, 2000, checked 12 November 2026.
• [19] "More than 80% of the world and more than 99% of the U.S. and European populations live under light-polluted skies"; the Milky Way is hidden from more than one-third of humanity; Falchi F. and others, "The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness", Science Advances 2(6), 10 June 2016 · PubMed Central, checked 12 November 2026.
• [20] Reducing emissions through better transport, food and energy choices can bring large health gains, "particularly through reduced air pollution"; climate change expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths a year between 2030 and 2050; fact sheet dated 12 October 2023 · WHO, Climate change and health, checked 12 November 2026.
• [21] World Environment Day on 5 June, held annually since 1973, hosted by Azerbaijan in 2026; more than 400 million tons of plastic produced every year · United Nations, World Environment Day, checked 12 November 2026.