City grapples with toxic air
Levels of airborne pollution in several areas are much higher than permissible limit
LUCKNOW: Toxic air continues to trouble Lucknowites, particularly those living or regularly moving through Indira Nagar and Charbagh, says the ambient air quality report released by CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research on Sunday.
Against the standard permissible limit of 60 microgrammes per cubic metre of air prescribed by national ambient air quality standard, Indira Nagar recorded the average value of 97.7 during the post monsoon air quality survey conducted by IITR while Charbagh recorded 127.6. If the World Health Organisation’s standards are to be considered, the permissible limit is just 25.
PM2.5 refers to atmospheric particulate matter which has a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres that is about 3% the diameter of a human hair. “Such particles can enter the human body with breath and settle to cause damage to vital organs,” said Prof AA Mahdi, vice chancellor of Era University and an expert in lead poisoning.
This is the situation when the sale of new vehicles has recorded a fall of 3% . In 2015-16, the rise in number of new vehicles was 9% . This year it has been 6%. Presently, there are 19,78,345 registered vehicles in Lucknow.
This study was carried out during September-October, 2017 (Diwali period not considered) to investigate the status of air quality by monitoring and assessment of some selected air pollutants, namely respirable particulate matter (RSPM or PM10), Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and noise level at nine locations.
“Air pollution can lead to several direct problems such as respiratory disorders and indirectly it can cause cardiovascular diseases and can increase trigger rate for asthma and skin and eye allergies ,” said Prof Rajiv Garg, senior faculty, department of pulmonary diseases, at the KGMU.
The sources of air pollutants in urban areas include tail pipe emission from vehicles, industrial operation, burning of solid waste, urban kitchen waste and re-suspension of soil . Due to change of technologies as well as fuel consumption patterns, the composition ratio of each pollutant is also changing over time. Vehicular traffic was the main source of particulate air pollution in Lucknow city, said the report.
“There is an urgent need to look in to the issue of pollution as more and more people are coming from other cities and Lucknow is expanding gradually. Presently Lucknow is 310 sq kms,” said Dr Sandeep Kapoor, director, Healthcity hospital.
RESPIRABLE SUSPENDED PARTICULATE MATTER
In residential areas, (Aliganj, Vikas Nagar, Indira Nagar and
Gomti Nagar), the 24-hours average concentration of PM10 was in the range of 169.3 to 212.3 microgrammes per cubic metre of air with an average of 192. In commercial areas (Charbagh, Alambagh, Aminabad and Chowk), the average concentration of PM10 was in the range of 187.6 to 211.4 microgrammes per cubic metre of air with an average of 199.6 respectively.
In industrial area (Amausi), the average concentration of PM10 was 203.1.
Maximum 24 hours mean concentration of PM10 was observed in Indira Nagar (212.3 microgrammes per cubic metre of air) in residential area and Charbagh (211.4) in commercial area. Overall, at all the locations, mean values of PM10 were above the prescribed National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) of 100 for industrial, residential, rural and other areas.
In all the locations in residential areas, higher values were found as compared to the previous year, except Indira Nagar. Among the commercial areas, PM10 values were also found to be higher than the previous year except Chowk and an industrial area , which showed lower value over the last year.
SULPHUR DIOXIDE (SO2)
In residential areas (Aliganj, Vikas Nagar, Indira Nagar and Gomti Nagar), the mean levels of SO2 were in the range of 12.8 to 14.6 with an average of 13.0. In commercial areas (Charbagh, Alambagh, Aminabad and Chowk), the average concentrations of SO2 were in the range of 11.5 to 18.6 with an average of 14.2. In industrial area (Amausi) the average concentration of SO2 was 14.7. All the values of SO2 were well below the prescribed NAAQS of 80 for all the locations.
NITROGEN DIOXIDES (NO2)
In residential areas (Aliganj, Vikas Nagar, Indira Nagar and Gomti Nagar) the 24-hour average concentration of NO2 was found in the range of 38.2 to 58.9 with an average of 46.7. In commercial areas (Charbagh, Alambagh, Aminabad and Chowk) the average concentration of NO2 was found in the range of 40.9 to 71.1 with an average of 56.6. In industrial areas (Amausi) the average concentration was 41.3.
All the values of NO2 were within the prescribed NAAQS of 80 for all the monitoring locations except one commercial location (Charbagh).