AIR QUALITY INDEX

INTRODUCTION:
Air is the basic need of living beings to survive on this planet. Pure air is the mixture of
various gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide and small amount of other
gases in a fixed proportion. If the composition of air alters by any means; it is known as air
pollution, which can lead to effects on human health, environment, and other living
organism. According to THE AIR [PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION] ACT,1981,
“air pollution is the presence of any solid, liquid, gaseous substance in such concentration
as may be lead to injurious to human beings or other living creatures.”
Air pollution has become major problem faced by many countries such as China, India, USA,
Pakistan etc. countries are developing many strategies against air pollution to make air
quality fresh for living beings as air quality is degrading day by day. India is also among
those countries facing the problem of air pollution at larger extent. It is also developing
many strategies and program and also imposing harder policies to control over air pollution
but it is not sufficient in large countries like India.
CAUSES OF AIR POLLUTION:
Air pollution is caused by many factors such as:
1)NATURAL SOURCES: These sources of air pollution include volcanic activity, dust, sea salt,
forest fires, lightening, soil outgassing etc.
2)ANTHROGENIC SOURCES: These sources of air pollution include stationary point sources
(e.g. emission from industries), (e.g. vehicular emission, marine vessels, airplanes etc),
waste disposal landfills, open burning etc.
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS: Countries are developing many programs and policies to
control over air pollution and India is among them. It is also making very harsh decision
undertaking major policies which are responsible for control over it so far. Few programs
and policies are as follows:
1)Central government has launched National Clean Air Program (NCAP) scheme as a long
term, time bound, national level strategy to tackle air pollution problem across country in a
comprehensive manner with targets to achieve20% to 30% reduction in PM 10 and PM2.5
concentrations by 2024 keeping 2017 as base year for comparison of concentration.102 cities are identified
as based on ambient air quality data for the period of 2011-2015. The city action plans have been approved
for all 102 non- attainment cities for implementation on ground.
2)The Central government has notified a COMPREHENSIVE ACTION PLAN(CAP) in 2018 identifying
timelines and implementing agencies for actions identified for prevention, control and mitigation of air
pollution in DELHI AND NCR.
3) Graded Response Action Plan(GRAP)was notified on January 12, 2017, for prevention, control and
abatement of air pollution in Delhi and NCR. It identifies graded measures and implementing agencies for
response to four AQI categories, namely, moderate to poor, Very poor, severe and severe or emergency.
Several steps has been also taken to create awareness amongst the general population.
These are as follows:
.) SAMEER app has been launched where in air quality information is available to public along with
provisions for registering complaints against air polluting activities.
.) Twitter and Facebook have been created for access to air quality related information and to provide a
platform for lodging complaints by general population.
.) Crowd sourcing of innovative ideas/suggestions/proposals from public is done through CPCB website to
strengthen efforts for improving air quality in Delhi NCR.
.) The initiatives taken by the government for the abatement and control of air pollution in Delhi and NCR
since 2016 have bore good results. As per continuous ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS)
data, the number “good”, “satisfactory”, and ‘moderate’, days has progressively increased to 159 in 2018,
as compared to 152 in 2017 and 106 in 2016.
There is overall improvement in air quality of Delhi in 2019
successively since 2016 provided by ministry of state, ministry of environment, Forest and Climate Change,
Shri Babul Supriyo.
NATIONAL AIR QUALITY MONITORING PROGRAMME (NAMP):
Considering the serious impacts caused by air pollutants , their effective
management becomes inevitable. Therefore, to monitor and control of various air
pollutants, Central Pollution Control board (CPCB) has been provided various powers
and functions under AIR(Prevention and Control Pollution)act 1981. Subsequent to
this CPCB had launched nationwide program viz National Ambient Air Quality
Monitoring Program (NAAQM) IN 1984, which has been renamed as National Air
Quality Monitoring Program(NAMP).The number of operating monitoring stations
under NAMP has increased steadily to 614 by 2016 covering 254 cities across the
nation. Under this programme there are 10 monitoring stations function in Delhi.

Source apportionment study:

To improve the air quality management system, there is also need of knowing the
particular source of pollution and its quantitative contribution to ambient air quality.
This can be done through the source apportionment study. It is based on tracking
down the sources through receptor modelling and it helps in identifying the sources
and extent of their contribution.

Air Pollution in Delhi

Delhi with an area 1483km2 is geographically located in North India .Delhi is
administered by central and state government. As of 2011, Delhi inhabitates
approximately 16.3 million people; thus becoming the second most populous city in
India. Delhi has third largest urban area in the world. However due to rapid
development, Delhi is also facing serious problems in terms of air pollution. To tackle
 this situation, Delhi has made many steps to reduce the level of air pollution since
last 10 years. However, more concerted effort are still required to over this situation.

Air quality monitoring in Delhi:

Air quality monitoring in Delhi is carried out through number of air quality
monitoring stations situated across the territory. The monitoring is undertaken by
various organisation viz; Central Pollution Control Board(CPCB),Delhi Pollution
Control Committee(DPCC) and system of Air Quality and Weather forecasting and
Research(SAFAR) OF Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology(IITM), Pune. As per the
NAMP of CPCB, manual air pollution monitoring is carried out in Sarojini Nagar,
Chandni Chowk, Mayapuri industrial area, Pritampura, Shahdra , Shahzada bagh,
Nizamuddin, Janakpuri, Siri Fort as the traffic intersection station across Delhi. Apart
from the manual air monitoring stations, continuous air quality monitoring(CAAQM)
stations of CPCB are also located at 11 locations. DPCC has air quality monitoring
stations at 6 locations. In addition/ to CPCB and DPCC, there are 8 monitoring
stations of SAFAR at various locations in Delhi to monitor the ambient air quality on
real time basis. The data obtained from these stations are also used for the
determination of air quality index.

AIR Quality trends in Delhi:

Air quality for three major pollutants(so2,NO2,PM) is determined to understand
the trend of pollution in Delhi during recent years. On the basis of annual
average concentration of pollutants, air quality trend has been seen for the
years 2009- 2015 along with the comparison with existing national ambient air
quality standards (NAAQS), 2009. The concentrations of SO2 is within the
standard limits. However, as far as NO2 is concerned, continuous rise in
concentration was observed in past 7 years. Moreover, the problem of
particular matter(PM10) is more critical. Since 2009, approximately 258-335%
rise has been observed in PM10 concentration compared to the standards.
Although the concentration has been slightly lowered down since 2011, but it is
still far above the safe limits.

Air quality index (AQI) in Delhi:

Air Quality Index(AQI) is the tool to monitor air quality in
major urban cities across the country on a real – time
basis and to enhance public awareness. The AQI
developed is based on human exposure and health effects
and may not be strictly applicable to ecologically sensitive
areas. Various pollutants which are considered for AQI
determination are PM10, PM25,NO2,O3,SO 2,NH3. The data
obtained from the online air quality monitoring stations is
the most suitable for AQI determination as information on
AQI can be generated in real time.
AQI Associated health impacts
Good (0 – 50) Minimal impact
Satisfactory (51 – 100) Minor breathing discomfort to sensitive people
Moderately polluted Breathing discomfort to people with lungs, asthma, and heart diseases
(101 – 200)
Poor (201 – 300) Breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure
Very poor (301 – 400) Respiratory illness on prolonged exposure
Severe (401 – 500) Affects healthy people, and seriously impacts those with existing
diseases

Tlkop

As per AQI bulletin

As per the AQI bulletin (January 2016)PM2.5 is the prominent pollutant in Delhi and
neighbouring areas which continuously exceeds the standards. In the month of May-
October, the AQI shows that air quality is moderately polluted. However, after October, the
situation becomes worse. The average AQI in the month of January was recorded as very
poor to severe. There are number of sources responsible for the particulate matter such as
transport, road dust, gaseous combustion etc.
 Air quality assessment in Delhi:
For the ease of understanding the pollution level, air quality can be categorized into four
band categories on the basis of exceedance factor(EF)viz the ratio of annual mean
concentration of a pollutant and its respective standards. Accordingly, air pollution can be
categorized into 4 types as:
1) Critical pollution : EF>=1.5;
2) High pollution : 1.0<= EF<1.5
3) Moderate pollution : 0.5<EF<1.0:
4) Low pollution : EF< 0.5
Based on the following data we can say that immediate attention is needed against the air
pollution in Delhi.

Conclusion:
Based on the above observation , it can be seen that Air pollution in Delhi is very high
according to a study, vehicular pollution alone contribute 72% of the total air pollution in
Delhi. Study also says that not only vehicular pollution but domestic pollution industrial
emission, road dust, and garbage burning also have a large number of share in Delhi’s
pollution load.
Tremendous growth in industrial sector is also another important factor in Air
pollution. In many of industries , installed pollution control devices are found in idle
conditions which lead to the emission of pollutants directly into the atmosphere without
any filtration. Further construction of short chimneys also restrict the air pollution.
Traffic congestion on the roads is, although is underestimated , is another very important
factor as far as air pollution is concerned. To reduce the pollution at traffic intersection
points, time clocks have been installed alt most of the points in the city. But it has been
observed that hardly any vehicle owner switches off during that period. Thus fuel is
continuously burned at a fixed place which further adds up in the atmospheric pollution
load.
Apart from these reasons, local climatic and seasonal factors also affect the air quality
of Delhi. Being a land locked city, it is unable to dilute its emission using the moderating
effects of sea. At its west there is thar desert and while in north there is hills and
mountains. At its south there are central hot plains. Thus, Delhi is located in subtropical belt
with extremely scorching summers, moderate rainfalls, and chilling winters.
During winters as it is dominated by cold, dry air, and ground based inversion with low wind
conditions, which are responsible for increasing concentration of pollutants. Dense smog
fog is also witnessed during winters in Delhi.

Measures adopted to control air pollution Delhi:

1) Odd even scheme
2) Directions by court
3) Stringent provisions for ash content in coal for thermal power plants.
4) Fuel quality standards are introduced.
5) Pollution under control(PUC) certificate with 3 months validity is introduced.
6) Route diversion for inter- state buses.
7) Time clock installations at red lights.
8) Metro rail transit system for rapid mass transport is introduced.
9) Catalytic converter in passenger cars were introduced.
(10) Restriction imposed in operation of goods vehicles during day time.