Delhi’s fight against air pollution to get ‘smarter’
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government will start in six-seven months its first source apportionment project and real-time monitoring of pollution, tools which will be employed to make better strategies to curb air pollution in Delhi.
Source apportionment is the practice of deriving information about pollution sources and the amount they contribute to ambient air pollution levels.
The new model was finalised after a meeting on Tuesday between Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and a team of scientists from Iit-kanpur, Iitdelhi and The Energy Resources Institute (TERI). The scientists made a presentation before the chief minister and said that the new system will not just provide data on the concentration of PM 2.5 (ultrafine particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 micrometres) in the air, but will also give information on the constituents of these fine particles, a first for the national capital.
In a statement issued on
Wednesday, the Delhi government said, “Source apportionment project in Delhi, along with setting up of an advanced monitoring system of real-time pollution sources will help in monitoring sources and allow Delhi government to take immediate action against these sources.”
According to a Swiss based group, IQ Airvisual, Delhi was listed as the world’s most polluted capital city for the second straight year in 2019. The study measured the concentration of hazardous PM2.5, particles can be carried deep into the lungs, causing cancer and cardiac problems.
Explaining the new model, scientists involved with the project said the collection and assessment of data will be done at two levels -- through a ‘super site’ and through ‘mobile air labs’. Advanced air quality monitoring equipment will be set up at the ‘super site’ in different locations where hourly data will be recorded.
Scientists said these sites will not only provide data on levels of PM 2.5 but also give details of the composition of ultrafine particles, using which the exact source of pollution can be traced.
“These ‘super sites’ will help authorities act immediately against the sources. Apart from short-term action, the recordings will facilitate long-term analysis, helping agencies draw up policies. For instance, the agencies will know which pollution sources are consistently contributing to the pollution levels in an area and action can be taken to tackle it permanently,” said Mukesh Sharma, professor (department of civil engineering), Iit-kanpur, who led the team of scientists during the meeting with Kejriwal.
“Daily variations can depend on temporary things like construction activities or high traffic movement but if it is persistently contributing to the poor air quality in an area then solutions need to be drawn,” Sharma added.
Currently, Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s (DPCC) air quality monitoring stations provide hourly average data on PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) last year started real-time monitoring at 13 pollution hot spots.
At a more micro level, the scientists are also developing ‘mobile air labs’, which will move around the city and record bad air levels and sources.
Sumit Sharma, director, earth science and climate change division, TERI, who is also involved with the project, said models will also be used to record details of pollution sources and develop strategies to control it.
“The Delhi government told us very clearly that they have source apportionment studies available with them, but those studies are static studies giving details for a particular period of time. They (government) wanted daily and hourly data of emissions and which sources are contributing to these levels, using which effective strategies can be made to control it,” Sharma said.
A senior DPCC official said they gave some recommendations to the team of scientists to tailor-make the technology for Delhi. “We will improve the system but we are sure that this technology will help us monitor pollution sources more effectively,” the official said.
NEW DELHI: A 22-year-old woman was crushed to death by a truck after she fell off a scooter in east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar area on Thursday, police said. The deceased, Swati, is a resident of Rajbir Colony in Kondli area, they said.
The police said that she was returning home from G B Pant
Hospital, where her father had died on Thursday morning.
During enquiry, it emerged that the woman, who was travelling with her neighbour, fell off the scooter which hit a speed breaker on Ghazipur nala road near Chilla village, and died after a truck came from behind and ran over her, an officer said.