New monitoring stations to provide the big picture of pollution in Delhi

Every time we talk about air quality in the city, the perennially polluted Anand Vihar or the air monitoring stations at RK Puram and Punjabi Bagh pop up. But what about all the other neighbourhoods in the city and the air quality there? Are these few spots giving us the true picture of pollution of the Capital?

Soon there will be 20 more. And one of them might be near your home or workplace.

Hindustan Times has the final list of these new air quality monitoring stations being set up by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and they are expected to be in place before Diwali this year.

Air pollution data in the capital is currently taken from 28 monitoring stations — six run by the DPCC, eight by the Met department and the rest by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

These new 20 air monitoring stations, which will give real time data of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), Sulphur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Ozone, Ammonia, Benzene and weather parameters, will take the number of stations to 48.

“They are being installed in different areas — residential, industrial, hospitals, schools, colleges and stadiums — in order to give a true representative character of air pollution,” a Delhi government official said.

The new stations, setting up of which has been tendered to an Australian company, will be at IIT Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Dhyanchand Stadium, Shooting Range in Asola, Football Federation in Dwarka, IGNOU in Maidan Garhi, Saket, Mundka metro yard, Ambedkar Bhawan in Rohini, Okhla Industrial Estate, PUSA Institutional Area, Delhi Cantonment General Hospital, ITI Narela, Chhatrasal Stadium, Sonia Vihar Water Treatment Plant, Mother Dairy Plant in Patparganj, Maharishi Valmiki Infectious Disease Hospital in Kingsway Camp, DAV College in Sriniwaspuri, Satyawati College in GT Karnal Road, Bramprakash Ayurvedic Hospital in Najafgarh, and Maharshi Valmiki Hospital, Pooth Khurd.

“As per international guidelines, the correct way to know one index for a city air quality is to consider different micro-environments… For a typical metro city, commercial; urban complex; sub-urban; residential; industrial; road side; traffic junction are the micro-environments which should be covered in the monitoring network,” a World Meteorological Organisation report says, regarding the need for different types of areas while monitoring pollution.

The real time pollution figures from these stations will be available on the DPCC website. The Central Pollution Control Board will take this data and calculate the overall air quality index (AQI) of all these locations, which will then be displayed on it’s website.

“The work has already started. Advanced software is being used so that statistical support can be provided within minutes. All the stations will start functioning by October,” the Delhi government official said.

A fixed-automatic station where air pollutants like Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), PM2.5 and PM10 are being monitored regularly, costs ₹1.2 crore with 10% yearly operation and maintenance cost, a CPCB official said.

The other NCR states, too, are not far behind and are in the process of adding monitoring spots. In a meeting called by Environment Pollution Control and Prevention Authority (EPCA) in January, it was stated that Haryana will get 34 stations, Uttar Pradesh 16, while Rajasthan is eyeing 11 monitoring spots by Diwali 2017.

AIR POLLUTION DATA IN THE CAPITAL IS CURRENTLY TAKEN FROM 28 MONITORING STATIONS — SIX RUN BY THE DPCC, EIGHT BY THE MET DEPARTMENT AND THE REST BY THE CENTRAL POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD (CPCB).