Despite widespread efforts to protect the environment, many areas around the world continue to be significantly impacted by pollution. One photographer who asked to be identified under a pseudonym for risk of losing access to the region has worked to document the consequences of man-made pollution in one area of India where a previously idyllic landscape has been transformed by plastic waste and trash.</br></br>Here, parts of the Chunnambar River hint at what the Bay of Bengal coastline looked like before human exploitation put stress on the coastal ecosystems in Pondicherry, India.

A young woman runs in her settlement completely surrounded by petro-chemical plants in an industrial district in the north of Chennai, India. The photographer could smell strong chemical fumes in the neighborhood, and residents would attest to getting headaches and vomiting due to the fumes.

Black smoke from a petro-chemical plant wafts through residential neighborhoods on the far bank of the Buckingham Canal, built by the British in the 19th century, in Tamil Nadu, India. On the left is a portion of one of the wetlands in Chennai that are being encroached upon by development.

A drainage canal is clogged with organic and plastic trash, in Pondicherry, India. If the drainage canal completely clogs the channel, all trash will end up in the sea, as Pondicherry is a coastal city.

An offshore oil installation is pictured behind the fishermen as they return to Reddiyar Pettai with their fish catch, in Tamil Nadu, India. Heavy industry and fishing grounds are never far apart in this part of the Bay of Bengal coast.

Fish are laid out by non-commercial fishermen to dry, north of Pondicherry, India. According to the photographer, "fish hauls, however, have decreased due to over-fishing. Conservation India conducted a study in 2010, 85 percent of all non-commercial fishermen surveyed had experienced declines in fish catch. Meanwhile, most trawler fishermen admitted to not obeying laws which prevent them from fishing within 3 nautical miles off shore putting them in direct competition with these fishermen."

After the 2004 tsunami hit Pondicherry, a sea wall was built to protect the town from strong Bay of Bengal tides and cyclones, but in the process prevented the sands natural seasonal movement. The beach that was once here has completely eroded away.

Hundreds of used drug capsules cover the sea wall where residents lay out fish to dry, in Pondicherry, India.

The Nagarjuna oil refinery rises in a rural landscape on the banks of the Gadilam River, in Tamil Nadu, India. India is a densely populated country with over 1 billion people and industry is never far from residential and agricultural land. This particular refinery was hit hard by a cyclone in 2011, but the government says it will support any project to increase the country's capacity to produce fuel.

Seepage from a garbage dump in the industrial north of Chennai, India, finds its way into a storm drain that flows into the Buckingham Canal and ultimately into the Bay of Bengal where fishermen work.

A puddle of raw sewage and trash accumulates on the beach where fishermen process their catch, in Tamil Nadu, India.

A young girl bathes at a hand-pump well while her mother washes dishes and pots nearby, in Chennai, India. The waste water washes directly into the Cooum River, never entering Chennai's sewage treatment system. According to India's Down to Earth environmental publication, although some of Chennai's sewage is treated, there are 400-700 storm drains that dump untreated sewage into waterways that empty into the Bay of Bengal.