Synopsis As industrialization increased so did the size of 'industrial areas' everywhere. It became more and more common to find clusters of industries situated in 'industrial pockets' across towns and cities. This type of clustering was dictated by factors such as better availability of electricity, land, water, roads and other infrastructural facilities. But industrial complexes did not grow in isolation. With them grew India's population and the consequent pressure on land. Housing colonies, villages, or slums came up everywhere in large numbers. Even in locations where the industries were earlier functioning several kilometers away from sizable human habitation, thickly populated neighbourhoods came up all around the industries. This pattern of development has brought in its wake problems of great complexity. Regulatory agencies such as pollution control boards have the mandate to monitor the pollutant emissions of individual industries. There are emission standards set by competent agencies which give each of the industries appropriate emissions guidelines. But what happens if 10 industries are simultaneously releasing large quantities of pollutants? In other words when a number of industries are functioning in close proximity the total impact of the industries may be harmful to the environment even if the emissions of all the individual industries are within acceptable limits. This situation has generated the need for what we can broadly term 'regional EIAs' (regional environmental impact assessments), and 'sustainability studies'. Such studies aim at a) assessing the 'total' impact of industries on the environment of any region and b) determining the 'sustainability' of the region; in other words finding out how much industrial activity the region can sustain without irreversibly harming the environment. But regional EIA is a relatively new concept. Whereas elaborate guidelines are available for conducting EIA of individual industries, such cut-and-dried guidelines or methodologies are not available for regional EIA and sustainability studies. This book describes a model study for assessing combined environment impacts of an industrial complex on its surroundings