Abstract            Volume:4  Issue-8  Year-2016         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

The present study focuses on the externalities of sewage pollution in Madurai district. In Madurai, Sewage treatment plants (STP) are located at Avaniyapuram and Sakkimangalam with a capacity of 125 MLD (Main layers depth) and 45.50 MLD respectively. The wastewater generation from Madurai City Corporation was 162.80 MLD in 2014 and this created various externalities in the district. The results showed the externalities of  sewage pollution which included  decline in cropped area, decline in crop income, increased fallow lands , increased years of fallow , yield decline in affected farms, reduction in land value, worsening water quality, increased incidence of health disorders, increased intensity of skin and lung diseases, increased severity of common diseases, increased averting expenditure for human health amelioration , milk decline, cattle diseases and increased defensive or averting expenditure for animal health amelioration, increased land selling and migration of family members. All these externalities increased with increase in pollution intensity. Solution to the sewage pollution problem should consider the intensity of these externalities and appropriate strategies like proper functioning of Sewage Treatment Plants with recycling should be attempted.

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