Discuss the steps to be taken to minimise environmental degradation by industry?

Following are the steps that can be taken to minimise environmental degradation by industries:

1. Minimising use of water for processing by reusing and recycling it in two or more successive stages.
2. Harvesting of rain water to meet water requirements.
3. Treating hot water and effluents before releasing them in rivers and ponds. Treatment of industrial effluents can be done in three phases:
   1. Primary treatment by mechanical means. This involves screening, grinding, flocculation and sedimentation.
   2. Secondary treatment by biological process.
   3. Tertiary treatment by biological, chemical and physical processes. This involves recycling of waste water.
4. Legal regulation of overdrawing of ground water.
5. Use of smoke stacks, electrostatic precipitators, fabric filters, scrubbers and inertial separators can minimise air pollution.
6. Use of silencers in machines and other noise absorbing equipments.
7. Use of oil or gas instead of coal in factories to reduce smoke.