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Urban Lab

Summer of 2022 saw increased ozone levels in India: CSE analysis

The summer of 2022 - one of the hottest in history - has witnessed widespread excessive ozone levels, making the air of Delhi-NCR more toxic, while other metros are not far behind, said a latest analysis released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Friday. Among the six big metros, Mumbai is second, followed by Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru - with the last two having longer durations of exceedance despite lower frequency compared to the other metros, as per the latest air quality analysis by CSE released in the run up to the World Environment Day on June 5. Geographical spread of ground-level ozone pollution in Delhi-NCR during March-April was highest in past four years. Ground-level ozone usually exceeds the safety standard on all days of summer in some location in Delhi-NCR every year. "But this year, the spatial spread (number of stations exceeding the standard across the city) has been much higher. On an average, 16 stations have exceeded the standard daily this March and April, which is 33 per cent increase from previous year March and April. During 2020, when lockdowns had reduced the precursor gases needed for formation of ground-level ozone, the number was down to 10 stations daily," the CSE analysis showed. There have been only six days this year so far that have registered no exceedance among any air quality monitoring stations of Delhi-NCR. There were 15 days of no exceedance last year during the same period (Jan-May). Similarly, 2020 and 2019 had 24 days each of no exceedance respectively. Foggy and cold conditions of January conventionally inhibit formation of ground-level ozone but ozone was found to be exceeding at multiple stations on 28 days this January. "It is up from 11 days and 19 days recorded in January of 2020 and 2021 respectively. Even, the months of monsoon records exceedance in some locations," it said. After Delhi-NCR that recorded ozone exceedance on almost all days of this summer, Mumbai with 75 days of exceedance was the second most impacted metro. Kolkata-Howrah and Hyderabad registered 43 days of exceedance each. Even though the number of exceedance days in Kolkata-Howrah has been lower than that of Mumbai, its citywide concentration is 30 per cent higher than in Mumbai for this summer season. The denser network of monitoring stations in Mumbai is able to catch instances of ozone exceedance better. Greater Mumbai has 26 monitoring stations while Greater Kolkata has only 10 stations. "Despite the warning signs, the problem of the toxic threat of ground-level ozone has not attracted adequate policy or public attention for mitigation and prevention," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE. To drive home the point about the danger posed by it to human health, the CSE analysis mentioned the 2020 'State of Global Air' report that stated that age-standardised rates of death attributable to ozone is among the highest in India. The criterion says it may exceed the limits on two per cent of the days in a year, but not on two consecutive days of monitoring. In other words, there should not be more than eight days in a year when the ozone standard is breached, and none of those allowed exceedances can be on two consecutive days. "The standard practice of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to average out the data of all stations in the city to determine daily AQI does not work for ground-level ozone as it is a short-lived and hyper-localised pollutant. A citywide average concentration level over an extended time frame does not indicate the severity of the problem and health implication from local build up and exposure for people living in hotspots," says Avikal Somvanshi, senior programme manager, urban lab, CSE. Ground-level ozone has become a year-long problem: Even though the ozone exceedance is seen to worsen during summer months, it remains a year-long problem as at least few locations continue to record exceedance throughout the year. This analysis tracks exceedances at each station in a city. Breach of the standard by even one station in the city is considered exceedance by the city. Days with multiple stations exceeding the standard indicates the severity of the spatial spread and number of people exposed. Given that the data is capped at 200 microgram per cubic metre by the CPCB, it is not possible to determine how high the concentration really goes. It was noted that the ozone data available on CPCB portal never exceeds 200 micrograms per cubic metre, while data for the corresponding time on Delhi Pollution Control Committee may show higher levels. Therefore, due to this capping of data it is not possible to understand the nature of peaking in the city. "This needs to be addressed as there are two sets of standards for ozone - eight-hourly standard of 100 Ig/m3 and one-hourly standard of 180 Ig/m3. Capping can make assessment of one-hourly standard challenging. This study has assessed trends only based on the eight-hourly standard," the CSE said. Ozone mitigation demands stringent control of gases from all combustion sources including vehicles, industry, power plants and open burning in the entire region. It is therefore necessary that while designing mitigation of particulate matter the key focus of action strategy today, is also calibrated for reduction of ozone precursor gases.

Urban Lab

Early Heatwaves in the summer made ozone pollution worse in Delhi: experts

The early heatwaves in the summer season have caused widespread ozone exceedance and made air pollution in Delhi worse, found a study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). It was one of the hottest summers in known history. The analysis used data from 58 official stations. Exceedances at each station were tracked. Breach of standard recorded in even one station is considered to be an exceedance in the city. Days with multiple stations exceeding the standard indicate the severity of the spatial spread and the number of people exposed. Dr K S Shooting Range in south Delhi is the most chronically affected area. Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, RK Puram and Nehru Nagar followed close behind. Greater Noida is the major hotspt outside Delhi. Faridabad had the least instances of ground-level ozone exceedances in the region. Ground-level ozone does not have a direct source but is produced by complex, cyclilc interactions between NOx and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are emitted from vehicles, power plants, factories and other combustion sources in the presence of sunlight. People with respiratory conditions, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are at risk when excess ozone is present as it can damage and inflame airways. It also makes the lungs of children and elders susceptible to infection. The spatila spread of ground-level ozone started in March due to the early onslaught of heatwaves. April recorded the worst of it. The build-up of ground-level ozone can happen anytime during the year but it is usually in small pockets. Hot and sunny weather facilitates a wider spatial spread. May is usually the most vulnerable time but this year, the frequency and spread of ozone exceedance started early. The report said the Ground-level ozone usually exceeds the safety standard on all days of summer at some locations in Delhi-NCR every year. But the number of stations exceeding the standard across the city has been much higher this year. The gound-level ozone concentration exceeded the standard at this location for 85 days this March-May. 16 stations exceeded the standard daily in March and April 2022. This is a 33% increase from March and April 2021. The year before, the lockdowns had reduced the precusor gases needed for the formation of gound-level ozone. Hence, the number was down to 10 stations daily.

Urban Lab

Unprecedented ozone levels have made Delhi air more toxic

Context An analysis by Centre for Science and Environment found that unprecedented level of ozone pollution has marked summer 2022 in Delhi and several other Indian metropolitan cities. About What is Ozone? Ozone is a colorless gas made up of three oxygen atoms. Ozone is not emitted directly into the air but is formed through chemical reactions between natural and man-made emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of sunlight. These gaseous compounds mix like a thin soup in the ambient, or outdoor, air, and when they interact with sunlight, ozone is formed. Ozone can be split into two major types: Stratospheric Ozone:Stratospheric ozone or the "ozone layer" forms high in the atmosphere, 6-30 miles above the earth's surface, when intense sunlight causes oxygen molecules (O2) to break up and re-form as ozone molecules (O3). These ozone molecules form the ozone layer and are commonly referred to as "good ozone." At concentrations as high as 12,000 ppb (the EPA considers anything over 70 ppb to be unhealthy for human health and welfare) this ozone protects and shields people, trees, crops, property, and microorganisms from the harmful effects of the sun's ultraviolet light. Ground-Level Ozone:Tropospheric, or ground-level ozone, is created by chemical reactions between: oxides of nitrogen (NOx) volatile organic compounds (VOC) Ground-level ozone forms just above the earth’s surface (up to about 2 miles above ground) and impacts human, animal, and plant respiration. It usually increases when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources chemically react in the presence of sunlight, impacting human health. Why ‘Ground-level ozone’ is ‘bad ozone’? Although ground-level ozone is less concentrated than stratospheric ozone, its impacts on human health and welfare make ground-level ozone "bad ozone." Ground-level ozone is an irritantand can negatively affect human health and welfare. Weather plays a substantial role in formation of ground level ozone. Ground-level ozone concentrations typically are highest on warm/hot days with low humidity when wind is light or stagnant. Highlights from the analysis: Heatwaves advanced the geographical spread of ground-level ozone Geographical spread of ground-level ozone pollution in Delhi-NCR during March-April highest in past four years New Delhi and south Delhi neighbourhoods are worst affected by ground-level ozone pollution East and central Delhi are facing worsening trend Ground-level ozone hotspots are located in the areas with low levels of NO2 and PM2.5 Hourly ozone peak levels are up by 23 per cent compared to lockdown times Night-time ground-level ozone continues to persist Ground-level ozone has become a year-long problem During the summer of 2022 all key pollutants have increased in Delhi-NCR About Centre for Science and Environment (CSE): Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a non-governmental, independent policy research institution based in Delhi, which was started in 1980. For more than three decades, CSE has helped shape policies and build public awareness to bring change in areas of pollution mitigation and public health security, low-carbon development, natural resource management and livelihood security to make growth sustainable and inclusive. CSE researches into, lobbies for and communicates the urgency of development that is both sustainable and equitable.

Urban Lab

Toxic Ozone Spreading Alarmingly In Delhi-NCR This Summer, Says Study

The summer of 2022 -- one of the hottest in history -- has witnessed widespread ozone exceedance, making the air of Delhi-NCR more toxic, says a latest analysis released here today by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). While higher number of hot days usually record ozone levels exceeding the standards, this summer the spread of stations is much wider across the landscape. Among the six big metros, Mumbai is second in order followed by Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru – the last two have longer durations of exceedance despite lower frequency compared to the other metros. This has emerged from the latest air quality analysis by CSE, released as a run-up to the World Environment Day. This is part of the air quality tracker initiative of the Urban Lab at CSE. “Even before we could control the problem of particulate pollution, the toxic threat of ground-level ozone is catching up with us. Despite the warning signs, this problem has not attracted adequate policy or public attention for mitigation and prevention. Inadequate monitoring, limited data and inappropriate methods of trend analysis have weakened the understanding of this growing toxic risk,” says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director-research and advocacy, CSE. “If not addressed early, it can blow up as a serious health crisis in the coming years,” she adds. Health evidence is also growing stronger. The 2020 State of Global Air report states that age-standardised rates of death attributable to ozone is among the highest in India. The seasonal eight-hour daily maximum concentrations have recorded one of the highest increases in India between 2010 and 2017 – about 17 per cent. This requires deeper understanding of what is going on in different cities and regions to inform mitigation. Due to the very toxic nature of ground-level ozone, the national ambient air quality standard for ozone has been set for only short-term exposures (one-hour and eight-hour averages), and compliance is measured by the number of days that exceed the standards. Compliance requires that the standards are met for 98 per cent of the time of the year. It may exceed the limits on two per cent of the days in a year, but not on two consecutive days of monitoring. In other words, there should not be more than eight days in a year when the ozone standard is breeched, and none of those allowed exceedances can be on two consecutive days. “Global experience shows that there is usually a trade-off. As particulate pollution is reduced, the problem of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and ozone increases. Globally, regulators are tightening the regulatory benchmark for ozone to address the toxic threat which, given its complex chemistry, is difficult to address. India should avoid falling into this trap,” says Vivek Chattopadhayay, principal programme manager, clean air programme, CSE. “The standard practice of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to average out the data of all stations in the city to determine daily AQI does not work for ground-level ozone as it is a short-lived and hyper-localised pollutant. A citywide average concentration level over an extended time frame does not indicate the severity of the problem and health implication from local build up and exposure for people living in hotspots,” says Avikal Somvanshi, senior programme manager, urban lab, CSE. Why does ozone need special attention? The complex chemistry of ozone makes it a difficult pollutant to track and mitigate. Ground-level ambient ozone is not directly emitted from any source. It is produced from complex interactions between NOx and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are emitted from vehicles, power plants, factories, and other combustion sources. These undergo cyclic reactions in the presence of sunlight to generate ground-level ozone. VOCs can also be emitted from natural sources, such as plants. Ozone not only builds up in cities but also drifts long distances to form a regional pollutant that makes both local and regional action necessary. This highly reactive gas has serious health consequences. Those with respiratory conditions, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and particularly children with premature lungs and older adults are at serious risk. This can inflame and damage airways, make lungs susceptible to infection, aggravate asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis and increase the frequency of asthma attacks leading to increased hospitalisation. During the summer of 2022 all key pollutants have increased in Delhi-NCR: It is not just ground-level ozone pollution that has increased this summer compared to previous summers, significant increase has been noted in PM2.5 and NO2 as well. Compared to summer of 2020, NO2 is up by 61 per cent and PM2.5 by 76 per cent. In Delhi-NCR, the data has been captured from 58 official stations under the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) spread across Delhi-NCR. Delhi (40), Gurugram (4), Faridabad (4), Noida (4), Ghaziabad (4), and Greater Noida (2) have multiple stations and are covered in the study. Delhi-NCR: Key highlights of the analysis Heatwaves advanced the geographical spread of ground-level ozone: This year due to early onslaught of heatwaves the spatial spread of ground-level ozone started in March itself with April being the worst so far. The dangerous build-up of ground-level ozone can happen anytime during the year, but it is usually in small pockets. For it to have wider spatial spread hot and sunny weather conditions are needed which are generally present in summer, especially during May. But this year the frequency and spread of ozone exceedance started early -- in the month of March. Geographical spread of ground-level ozone pollution in Delhi-NCR during March-April highest in past four years: Ground-level ozone usually exceeds the safety standard on all days of summer in some location in Delhi-NCR every year. But this year the spatial spread (number of stations exceeding the standard across the city) has been much higher this year. On an average 16 stations have exceeded the standard daily this March and April, which is 33 per cent increase from previous year March and April. During 2020 when lockdowns had reduced the precursor gases needed for formation of ground-level ozone, the number was down to 10 stations daily. Even though, the spatial spread of ground-level ozone has significantly increased this summer, its duration has reduced slightly. This summer, daily on an average the rolling eight-hour average stayed above standard for 4.4 hours, which is marginally down from 4.6 hours observed last year and five hours recorded during 2020 summer. Longer duration during 2020 summer was due to pandemic lockdowns which reduced evening traffic therefore lesser NO2 in the evening air which is critical for breaking down of ground-level ozone after sunset New Delhi and south Delhi neighborhoods are worst affected by ground-level ozone pollution: Dr K S Shooting Range in south Delhi is the most chronically affected in Delhi-NCR. It has exceeded the standard in this location for 85 days this March-May. It is followed by JLN Stadium, RK Puram and Nehru Nagar in New Delhi as the worst polluted. Greater Noida is the major hotspot outside Delhi. Faridabad has least instances of ground-level ozone exceedances in the region.. East and central Delhi are facing worsening trend: Patparganj in East Delhi registered highest increase in number of days exceeding the standard compared to the average of last three years. It registered a dramatic jump of 68 additional days with exceedance. It was followed by Noida’s Sector 116 and Mandir Marg, next to the President’s Estate. Siri Fort and Bawana in Delhi registered the most reduction in fequency of exceedances compared to average of previous three years. Their exceedances were down by over 40 days this year. Gurugram Sector 51, Dwarka Sector 8, and Najafgarh were other locations with the maximum improvenment. Ground-level ozone hotspots are located in the areas with low levels of NO2 and PM2.5: The spatial distribution of ground-level ozone is inverse to NO2 and PM2.5. Nehru Nagar and JLN Stadium in New Delhi are exceptions to this phenomena as both stations report high NO2 as well as ground-level ozone. Likewise, industrial areas of Mundaka and Burari Crossing report concurrent high PM2.5 and ground-level ozone. This bears out the fact that while ozone is created in polluted areas with nitrogen oxide being the catalyst, it also gets mopped up in high NO2 areas as it further reacts. But the ozone that escapes to cleaner areas with less NO2 builds up faster as it cannot react further with NO2 adequately to dissipate. During the summer of 2022 all key pollutants have increased in Delhi-NCR: It is not just ground-level ozone pollution that has increased this summer compared to previous summers, significant increase has been noted in PM2.5 and NO2 as well. Compared to summer of 2020, NO2 is up by 61 per cent and PM2.5 by 76 per cent. Ozone peril in other five big metropolitan cities After Delhi-NCR that recorded ozone exceedance on almost all days of this summer, Mumbai with 75 days of exceedance was the second most impacted metro. Kolkata-Howrah and Hyderabad registered 43 days of exceedance each. Even though the number of exceedance days in Kolkata-Howrah has been lower than that of Mumbai, its citywide concentration is 30 per cent higher than in Mumbai for this summer season. The denser network of monitoring stations in Mumbai is able to catch instances of ozone exceedance better. Greater Mumbai has 26 monitoring stations while Greater Kolkata has only 10 stations. It must also be noted that apart from Delhi all the other metros in western, southern and eastern regions have reported higher instances of ozone exceedance in winter than summer. These regions also have warmer winters. In most of these cities ozone is recording exceedance round the year. It has been noted that Chennai and Bengaluru have longer durations of exceedance despite lower frequency compared to other metros.

Urban Lab

Toxic Ozone Spreading Alarmingly In Delhi-NCR This Summer, Says Study

Urban Lab

Deadly Heatwave Also Resulting In Ozone Exceedance And It's Making Delhi's Air Toxic

Parts of central and northwestern India are still in the grip of a heat wave as the summer of 2022 continues to break records. On Friday, a heat wave saw the mercury breaching the 45-degree Celsius mark in parts of New Delhi. The Met Office issued a yellow alert, warning of a heat wave at isolated places in the capital on Saturday. Early heat wave is causing ozone exceedance The continuing heat wave is more bad news for the people of Delhi. According to a new study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) the heat waves are also resulted in widespread ozone exceedance, making the air of Delhi-NCR more toxic. The think tank's assessment is based on the publicly available granular real time data (15-minute averages) from the Central Pollution Control Board of India's(CPCB) official online portal Central Control Room for Air Quality Management. An ozone exceedance day occurs when the daily maximum 8-hour average is 71 parts per billion (ppb) or higher. In Delhi-National Capital Region(NCR), the researchers captured data from 58 official stations. What the data said The analysis tracked exceedances at each station. Breach of the standard by even one station is considered exceedance by the city. Days with multiple stations exceeding the standard indicates the severity of the spatial spread and number of people exposed. This year, due to the early onslaught of heatwaves, the spatial spread of ground-level ozone started in March itself with April being the worst so far, the think tank said.

Urban Lab

Ground-level Ozone Pollution in Delhi-NCR in March-April Highest in 4 Years: CSE

The summer of 2022 — one of the hottest in history — has witnessed widespread ozone exceedance, making the air of Delhi-NCR more toxic, according to an analysis conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The green think tank’s assessment is based on the publicly available granular real time data (15-minute averages) from the CPCB’s official online portal Central Control Room for Air Quality Management. In Delhi-NCR, the researchers captured data from 58 official stations. The analysis tracked exceedances at each station. Breach of the standard by even one station is considered exceedance by the city. Days with multiple stations exceeding the standard indicates the severity of the spatial spread and number of people exposed. This year, due to the early onslaught of heatwaves, the spatial spread of ground-level ozone started in March itself with April being the worst so far, the green thinktank said. The dangerous build-up of ground-level ozone can happen anytime during the year, but it is usually in small pockets. For it to have wider spatial spread, hot and sunny weather conditions are needed which are generally present in summer, especially during May. But this year, the frequency and spread of ozone exceedance started early — in the month of March. Ground-level ozone usually exceeds the safety standard on all days of summer at some locations in Delhi-NCR every year. But the spatial spread (number of stations exceeding the standard across the city) has been much higher this year. On an average, 16 stations have exceeded the standard daily this March and April, which is 33 per cent increase from March and April 2021. During 2020, when lockdowns had reduced the precursor gases needed for formation of ground-level ozone, the number was down to 10 stations daily, the report said. Dr K S Shooting Range in south Delhi is the most chronically affected in Delhi-NCR. The ground-level ozone concentration exceeded the standard at this location for 85 days this March-May. JLN Stadium, RK Puram and Nehru Nagar followed close behind. Greater Noida is the major hotspot outside Delhi. Faridabad has least instances of ground-level ozone exceedances in the region, it said. Patparganj in East Delhi registered the highest increase in the number of days exceeding the standard as compared to the average of the last three years. It registered a dramatic jump of 68 additional days with exceedance. It was followed by Noida’s Sector 116 and Mandir Marg, next to the President’s Estate. Siri Fort and Bawana in Delhi registered the most reduction in the frequency of exceedances compared to average of previous three years. Their exceedances were down by over 40 days this year. Gurugram Sector 51, Dwarka Sector 8, and Najafgarh were other locations with the maximum improvement. After Delhi-NCR that recorded ozone exceedance on almost all days of this summer, Mumbai with 75 days of exceedance was the second-most impacted metro. Kolkata-Howrah and Hyderabad registered 43 days of exceedance each. Even though the number of exceedance days in Kolkata-Howrah has been lower than that of Mumbai, its citywide concentration is 30 per cent higher than in Mumbai for this summer season. The CSE said the complex chemistry of ozone makes it a difficult pollutant to track and mitigate. Ground-level ambient ozone is not directly emitted from any source. It is produced from complex interactions between NOx and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are emitted from vehicles, power plants, factories, and other combustion sources. These undergo cyclic reactions in the presence of sunlight to generate ground-level ozone. VOCs can also be emitted from natural sources, such as plants. This highly reactive gas has serious health consequences. Those with respiratory conditions, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and particularly children with premature lungs and older adults are at serious risk. This can inflame and damage airways, make lungs susceptible to infection, aggravate asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis and increase the frequency of asthma attacks leading to increased hospitalisation.

Urban Lab

Toxic ozone is spreading in an unprecedented manner this summer, says CSE’s new analysis

The summer of 2022 — one of the hottest in history — has witnessed widespread ozone exceedance, making the air of Delhi-NCR more toxic, says a latest analysis released here today by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). While higher number of hot days usually record ozone levels exceeding the standards, this summer the spread of stations is much wider across the landscape. Among the six big metros, Mumbai is second in order followed by Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru – the last two have longer durations of exceedance despite lower frequency compared to the other metros. This has emerged from the latest air quality analysis by CSE, released as a run-up to the World Environment Day. This is part of the air quality tracker initiative of the Urban Lab at CSE. “Even before we could control the problem of particulate pollution, the toxic threat of ground-level ozone is catching up with us. Despite the warning signs, this problem has not attracted adequate policy or public attention for mitigation and prevention. Inadequate monitoring, limited data and inappropriate methods of trend analysis have weakened the understanding of this growing toxic risk,” says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director-research and advocacy, CSE. “If not addressed early, it can blow up as a serious health crisis in the coming years,” she adds. Health evidence is also growing stronger. The 2020 State of Global Air report states that age-standardised rates of death attributable to ozone is among the highest in India. The seasonal eight-hour daily maximum concentrations have recorded one of the highest increases in India between 2010 and 2017 – about 17 per cent. This requires deeper understanding of what is going on in different cities and regions to inform mitigation. Due to the very toxic nature of ground-level ozone, the national ambient air quality standard for ozone has been set for only short-term exposures (one-hour and eight-hour averages), and compliance is measured by the number of days that exceed the standards. Compliance requires that the standards are met for 98 per cent of the time of the year. It may exceed the limits on two per cent of the days in a year, but not on two consecutive days of monitoring. In other words, there should not be more than eight days in a year when the ozone standard is breeched, and none of those allowed exceedances can be on two consecutive days. “Global experience shows that there is usually a trade-off. As particulate pollution is reduced, the problem of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and ozone increases. Globally, regulators are tightening the regulatory benchmark for ozone to address the toxic threat which, given its complex chemistry, is difficult to address. India should avoid falling into this trap,” says Vivek Chattopadhayay, principal programme manager, clean air programme, CSE. “The standard practice of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to average out the data of all stations in the city to determine daily AQI does not work for ground-level ozone as it is a short-lived and hyper-localised pollutant. A citywide average concentration level over an extended time frame does not indicate the severity of the problem and health implication from local build up and exposure for people living in hotspots,” says Avikal Somvanshi, senior programme manager, urban lab, CSE. Why does ozone need special attention? Thecomplex chemistry of ozone makes it a difficult pollutant to track and mitigate. Ground-level ambient ozone is not directly emitted from any source. It is produced from complex interactions between NOx and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are emitted from vehicles, power plants, factories, and other combustion sources. These undergo cyclic reactions in the presence of sunlight to generate ground-level ozone. VOCs can also be emitted from natural sources, such as plants. Ozone not only builds up in cities but also drifts long distances to form a regional pollutant that makes both local and regional action necessary. This highly reactive gas has serious health consequences. Those with respiratory conditions, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and particularly children with premature lungs and older adults are at serious risk. This can inflame and damage airways, make lungs susceptible to infection, aggravate asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis and increase the frequency of asthma attacks leading to increased hospitalisation. The investigation This assessment has traced trends during summer (March-May) between 2019 to 2022 May (up to May 30). The analysis is based on publicly available granular real time data (15-minute averages) from the CPCB’s official online portal Central Control Room for Air Quality Management. In Delhi-NCR, the data has been captured from 58 official stations under the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) spread across Delhi-NCR. Delhi (40), Gurugram (4), Faridabad (4), Noida (4), Ghaziabad (4), and Greater Noida (2) have multiple stations and are covered in the study. Given the volatile and highly localised nature of ozone pollution build-up and its variability across space, and consistent with the global good practice, this analysis has considered station level trends in terms of number of days exceeding the eight-hour standard over time. As ozone formation depends on complex atmospheric chemistry and on photochemical reaction its level varies across time and space horizon. Meteorological parameters such as sunny and warm weather, stagnant wind patterns etc have bearing on its formation. This analysis tracks exceedances at each station in a city. Breach of the standard by even one station in the city is considered exceedance by the city. Days with multiple stations exceeding the standard indicates the severity of the spatial spread and number of people exposed. Given that the data is capped at 200 microgramme per cubic metre (µg/m3) by the CPCB, it is not possible to determine how high the concentration really goes. This has considered global good practice and taken on board the USEPA approach of computing eight-hour averages for a day and then checking for the maximum value among them to capture the daily ozone pollution level. USEPA assesses city-wide or regional AQI based on highest value recorded among all city stations. Thus, trends have been calculated in terms of number of days when the daily level has exceeded the 8-hr standard (referred as exceedance days hereafter). A simple city-wide spatial averaging has not been considered for the trend analysis though it has been assessed. While analysing the data, it has also been noted that the ozone data available on CPCB portal never exceeds 200 μg/m3, while data for the corresponding time on Delhi Pollution Control Committee may show higher levels. Therefore, due to this capping of data it is not possible to understand the nature of peaking in the city. This needs to be addressed as there are two sets of standards for ozone – eight-hourly standard of 100 μg/m3 and one-hourly standard of 180 μg/m3. Capping can make assessment of one-hourly standard challenging. This study has assessed trends only based on the eight-hourly standard. Delhi-NCR: Key highlights of the analysis Heatwaves advanced the geographical spread of ground-level ozone: This year due to early onslaught of heatwaves the spatial spread of ground-level ozone started in March itself with April being the worst so far.The dangerous build-up of ground-level ozone can happen anytime during the year, but it is usually in small pockets. For it to have wider spatial spread hot and sunny weather conditions are needed which are generally present in summer, especially during May. But this year the frequency and spread of ozone exceedance started early — in the month of March. Geographical spread of ground-level ozone pollution in Delhi-NCR during March-April highest in past four years: Ground-level ozone usually exceeds the safety standard on all days of summer in some location in Delhi-NCR every year. But this year the spatial spread (number of stations exceeding the standard across the city) has been much higher this year. On an average 16 stations have exceeded the standard daily this March and April, which is 33 per cent increase from previous year March and April. During 2020 when lockdowns had reduced the precursor gases needed for formation of ground-level ozone, the number was down to 10 stations daily. Even though, the spatial spread of ground-level ozone has significantly increased this summer, its duration has reduced slightly. This summer, daily on an average the rolling eight-hour average stayed above standard for 4.4 hours, which is marginally down from 4.6 hours observed last year and five hours recorded during 2020 summer. Longer duration during 2020 summer was due to pandemic lockdowns which reduced evening traffic therefore lesser NO2 in the evening air which is critical for breaking down of ground-level ozone after sunset. New Delhi and south Delhi neighborhoods are worst affected by ground-level ozone pollution: Dr K S Shooting Range in south Delhi is the most chronically affected in Delhi-NCR. It has exceeded the standard in this location for 85 days this March-May. It is followed by JLN Stadium, RK Puram and Nehru Nagar in New Delhi as the worst polluted. Greater Noida is the major hotspot outside Delhi. Faridabad has least instances of ground-level ozone exceedances in the region.. East and central Delhi are facing worsening trend: Patparganj in East Delhi registered highest increase in number of days exceeding the standard compared to the average of last three years. It registered a dramatic jump of 68 additional days with exceedance. It was followed by Noida’s Sector 116 and Mandir Marg, next to the President’s Estate. Siri Fort and Bawana in Delhi registered the most reduction in fequency of exceedances compared to average of previous three years. Their exceedances were down by over 40 days this year. Gurugram Sector 51, Dwarka Sector 8, and Najafgarh were other locations with the maximum improvenment. Ground-level ozone hotspots are located in the areas with low levels of NO2 and PM2.5: The spatial distribution of ground-level ozone is inverse to NO2 and PM2.5. Nehru Nagar and JLN Stadium in New Delhi are exceptions to this phenomena as both stations report high NO2 as well as ground-level ozone. Likewise, industrial areas of Mundaka and Burari Crossing report concurrent high PM2.5 and ground-level ozone. This bears out the fact that while ozone is created in polluted areas with nitrogen oxide being the catalyst, it also gets mopped up in high NO2 areas as it further reacts. But the ozone that escapes to cleaner areas with less NO2 builds up faster as it cannot react further with NO2 adequately to dissipate. Hourly ozone peak levels are up by 23 per cent compared to lockdown times: Compared to summer of 2020 ground-level ozone is not lingering in the air post sunset but the hourly peak this year is on an average 23 per cent. The re-emergence of morning and evening rush-hour traffic is helping in neutralising ground-level ozone at sunrise and sunset as increased NO2 levels cannibalise it. But presence of higher concentration of NO2 is leading to higher ozone concentration during the afternoon. The eight-hour average at Knowledge Park III in Greater Noida and Nehru Nagar in Delhi recorded close to 190 µg/m3. Night-time ground-level ozone continues to persist: Ground-level ozone should ideally become negligible in the night air, but Delhi-NCR has been witnessing a rare phenomenon where ozone levels remain elevated hours after sunset. This was found to be very wide-spread during the lockdowns of 2020 summers and it continues to linger this summer as well. This May night-time ozone was noted on 28 days with seven stations (on an average) reporting it. Night-time ozone has been considered when hourly concentration has exceeded the level 100 µg/m3 between 10 PM and 2 AM at any station. Night-time ozone is mostly found in industrial areas which generally do not report high day-time ozone. Mundka in Delhi, Loni and Vasundhara in Ghaziabad and Knowledge Park III in Greater Noida have reported most instances of night-time ozone. Ground-level ozone has become a year-long problem: Even though the ozone exceedance is seen to worsen during summer months, it remains a year-long problem as at least few locations continue to record exceedance throughout the year. There have been only six days this year so far that have registered no exceedance among any air quality monitoring stations of Delhi-NCR. There were 15 days of no exceedance last year during the same period (Jan-May). Similarly, 2020 and 2019 had 24 days and 24 days of no exceedance respectively. Foggy and cold conditions of January conventionally inhibit formation of ground-level ozone but ozone was found to be exceeding at multiple stations on 28 days this January. It is up from 11 days and 19 days recorded in January of 2020 and 2021 respectively. Even the months of monsoon records exceedance in some locations. During the summer of 2022 all key pollutants have increased in Delhi-NCR: It is not just ground-level ozone pollution that has increased this summer compared to previous summers, significant increase has been noted in PM2.5 and NO2 as well. Compared to summer of 2020, NO2 is up by 61 per cent and PM2.5 by 76 per cent. Ozone peril in other five big metropolitan cities After Delhi-NCR that recorded ozone exceedance on almost all days of this summer, Mumbai with 75 days of exceedance was the second most impacted metro. Kolkata-Howrah and Hyderabad registered 43 days of exceedance each. Even though the number of exceedance days in Kolkata-Howrah has been lower than that of Mumbai, its citywide concentration is 30 per cent higher than in Mumbai for this summer season. The denser network of monitoring stations in Mumbai is able to catch instances of ozone exceedance better. Greater Mumbai has 26 monitoring stations while Greater Kolkata has only 10 stations. It must also be noted that apart from Delhi all the other metros in western, southern and eastern regions have reported higher instances of ozone exceedance in winter than summer. These regions also have warmer winters. In most of these cities ozone is recording exceedance round the year. It has been noted that Chennai and Bengaluru have longer durations of exceedance despite lower frequency compared to other metros. Act now Ozone mitigation demands stringent control of gases from all combustion sources including vehicles, industry, power plants and open burning in the entire region. It is therefore necessary that while designing mitigation of particulate matter the key focus of action strategy today, is also calibrated for reduction of ozone precursor gases. Immediately, refine the action strategy for combined control of particulate pollution, ozone and its precursor gases like NOx to maximise the co-benefits of the action plan. At the national level, the National Clean Air Programme needs to propose specific measures to control ozone precursor gases including NOx, volatile organic compound, carbon monoxide etc that are emitted largely from vehicles and industry. Simultaneously develop a robust public information and dissemination system to alert public about ozone exceedance wherever ozone build-up is happening for exposure management. (Report sent by Pratyusha Mukherjee)

Urban Lab

World Environment Day: विश्व पर्यावरण दिवस पर जानिए दिल्ली में प्रदूषण का हाल, हवा में बढ़ती ओजोन गैस ने दे दी नई टेंशन – world environment day 2022 today, know the condition of pollution in delhi, rising ozone gas in the air

साल 2022 में गर्मी के मौसम में भी दिल्ली की हवा साफ देखने को नहीं मिली। दिल्ली का प्रदूषण स्तर पीएम 2.5 पर ही बना रहा। गर्मी ज्यादा होने की वजह से जमीनी स्तर पर ओजोन गैस की मात्रा में बढ़ोतरी दर्ज की गई है। जिसकी वजह से दिल्ली एनसीआर की हवा ज्यादा जहरीली हो गई है। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवॉयरनमेंट (सीएसई) की तरफ से जारी रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, दिल्ली-एनसीआर के बाद मुंबई दूसरी सबसे अधिक प्रभावित मेट्रो सिटी है। सीएसई की कार्यकारी निदेशक अनुमिता रॉय चौधरी का कहना है कि ओजोन गैस बढ़ने की वजह से गर्मी के मौसम में भी दिल्ली की हवा जहरीली रही। ऐसा नहीं है कि प्रदूषण को कम करने के लिए कोई कदम नहीं उठाया जा रहा है। दिल्ली के औद्योगिक क्षेत्र में कोयले के इस्तेमाल पर पूरी तरह से रोक लगा दी गई है, लेकिन यह समझना जरूरी है कि ओजोन गैस बढ़ने की वजह से दिल्ली के अंदर प्रदूषण का स्तर और ज्यादा बढ़ेगा। पहले की तुलना में जागरुकता बढ़ी पहले की तुलना में जागरुकता बढ़ी है, लोग इस विषय पर खुलकर बात कर रहे हैं। जरूरी है कि दिल्ली में जल्द से जल्द पब्लिक ट्रांसपोर्ट की संख्या में इजाफा किया जाए। लोगों को पब्लिक ट्रांसपोर्ट इस्तेमाल करने के लिए जागरूक किया जाए। बढ़े स्तर पर इलेक्ट्रिक गाड़ियों को बढ़ावा दिया जाए। ताकि ओजोन गैस को बढ़ने से रोका जा सके। अगर जल्द से जल्द कोई सख्त कदम नहीं उठाया गया, तो आने वाले समय में गंभीर स्वास्थ्य संकट का भी सामना करना पड़ सकता है। साथ ही गैस के स्तर को बढ़ने से रोकने के बहु-रणनीति तैयार की जाए। क्या है ग्राउंड ओजोन गैस, बढ़ रहा है क्यों ओजोन ऑक्सिजन के तीन परमाणुओं से बनी गैस है। यह पृथ्वी के ऊपरी स्तर, वायुमंडल और जमीनी स्तर पर होती है। वायुमंडल की ओजोन अच्छी होती है क्योंकि यह सूर्य की हानिकारक पराबैंगनी किरणों से बचाती है। जिसे हम स्ट्रेटोस्फेरिक ओजोन के नाम से भी जानते हैं। जबकि जमीनी स्तर की ओजोन खराब होती है। इसकी वजह से विभिन्न तरह की स्वास्थ्य से जुड़ी बीमारियां होने का डर रहता है। यह सबसे ज्यादा प्रभावित बुजुर्गों और बच्चों को करती है। इससे रेस्पिरेट्री सिस्टम से संबंधित बीमारियां होने का डर बना रहता है। साथ ही अस्थमा से पीड़ित मरीजों पर सबसे ज्यादा प्रभाव डालती है। कार, बिजली संयंत्र, औद्योगिक बॉयलरों, रिफाइनरियां, रासायनिक स्त्रोत सूर्य के प्रकाश के प्रभाव में आने की वजह से ओजोन प्रदूषण उत्पन्न होता है। इसके बढ़ने का कारण लैंडफिल साइट्स में लगती आग, बढ़ती व्हीकल संख्या और पब्लिक टांसपोर्ट की कमी हैं। क्या कहती है रिपोर्ट 2022 के मार्च-अप्रैल के दौरान दिल्ली-एनसीआर में जमीनी स्तर में ओजोन प्रदूषण का भौगोलिक प्रसार पिछले चार वर्षों से सबसे अधिक देखने को मिला। बताया गया है कि इस बार लगभग 16 स्टेशनों ने दैनिक मानक को पार किया है, जो पिछले वर्ष मार्च और अप्रैल की तुलना में 33 फीसदी अधिक है। वर्ष 2020 में लॉकडाउन की वजह से ओजोन स्टेशनों की संख्या में कमी दर्ज की गई थी। लॉकडाउन की वजह से यातायात कम कर दिया गया था। इसकी वजह से एनओ 2 की मात्रा कम हो गई थी और सूर्यास्त के बाद जमीनी स्तर पर ओजोन टूटने लगा। रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, नई दिल्ली और दक्षिणी दिल्ली के साथ की जमीनी स्तर पर ओजोन गैस का सबसे ज्यादा प्रभाव देखने को मिला। दक्षिणी दिल्ली में डॉ कर्णी सिंह शूटिंग रेंज सबसे अधिक प्रभावित है। इसके बाद जेएलएन स्टेडियम, आरके पुरम, नेहरू नगर और नई दिल्ली में सबसे ज्यादा प्रदूषित हैं। दिल्ली के बाहर ग्रेटर नोएडा प्रमुख हॉटस्पॉट है। थोड़े से बदलाव से प्रदूषण से बचा सकते है दिल्ली को अपनी लाइफस्टाइल में थोड़ा बदलाव लाकर दिल्ली निवासी खुद को प्रदूषण से बचा सकते हैं। जैसे कि थोड़ी दूर जाने के लिए व्हीकल का इस्तेमाल ना करें। पैदल या साइकल से जाएं। ऑफिस और अन्य जगह जाने के लिए पब्लिक ट्रांसपोर्ट का इस्तेमाल करें। वेस्ट सेग्रीगेशन पर ध्यान दिया जाए। लैंडफिल साइट के कूड़े का इस्तेमाल सड़क बनाने में किया जाए, जिससे धीरे-धीरे लैंडफिल साइट की ऊंचाई कम होती जाएगी।

Urban Lab

World Environment Day: विश्व पर्यावरण दिवस पर जानिए दिल्ली में प्रदूषण का हाल, हवा में बढ़ती ओजोन गैस ने दे दी नई टेंशन

Down To Earth

Two-thirds of Delhi’s land is degrading, finds study

NEW DELHI: The “State of India’s Environment 2022”, a report released by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Thursday, stated that nearly 62% of land in Delhi was under degradation. Almost 30% of India’s geographical area is under degradation.The report said degradation meant decline in productivity of land in terms of biodiversity and economy triggered by various factors, including climate and human-induced factors. Rajit Sengupta, assistant editor, Down to Earth, and one of the authors of the report, said land degradation denoted deterioration or loss of soil productivity for the present and future. “In India, agricultural land (46%) and forests (22%) are the two most common kinds of land getting degraded. It affects us all and leads to food insecurity through lower yields and climate change as degraded land releases soil carbon and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere,” he added. Delhi (25%) is among 14 states that have seen over 10% rise in the share of degraded land between 2003-05 and 2018-19. Among the states that have seen the most degradation, five are in the Northeast. Land in Mizoram (188%), Punjab (80%), Arunachal Pradesh (47%), Assam (46%), Tripura (37%) and Nagaland (29%) degraded the most between 2003-05 and 2018-19. Over 3 million hectares of additional land degraded in India during the same period. Of the 15 sustainable development goals (SDGs), Delhi remains off-track in six — zero hunger, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, climate action, responsible consumption and production and peace, justice and strong institutions. “Delhi’s performance has deteriorated on 13 indicators spread across eight SDGs. These include dropout rate at secondary education level, crimes against women, sex ratio and share of industries complying with waste water treatment norms. The capital has set up nine working groups and a steering committee for review and monitoring of SDGs,” the report stated. The e-publication is brought out every year in June by CSE and Down To Earth magazine to mark World Environment Day on June 5. The other key aspect highlighted in the report was pollution levels continuing to remain high in Delhi. The average annual and 24-hour limit of PM10 levels was found at 243 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3). However, the target of India is to bring down PM10 levels to 80 µg/m3. In Delhi, only around 80% of municipal solid waste was treated. Only 50% of wards were using waste segregation techniques.

Down To Earth

India’s performance on climate action slipped in 2019-20, says CSE report

The report also highlighted declines in other environmental parameters. For instance, it said that at least 74% of river monitoring stations in India have high levels of heavy toxic metals. India has slipped on climate action, the State of Environment report released by the Centre for Science and Environment said on Thursday in its State of Environment report. Captured in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13, the country has slipped between 2019 and 2020 because the performance of 28 states/UTs remains poor, it added. The parameters covered under climate action include: Lives lost due to extreme weather events (per 100 million population); disaster preparedness score as per Disaster Resilience Index; share of renewable in total energy mix (including allocated shares); and life years lost due to disability caused by air pollution (per 100,000 population). The scores on these parameters are falling in India, CSE highlighted. India managed to meet its target of biomass energy of 10GW, CSE added. But the overall target of achieving 175 GW of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022 remains unmet, it said. On Thursday, during an interview, union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said India has managed to achieve 150 GW renewable energy capacity. “Data is about measurement and the better we measure, the better we will get at management -- this is what we know and this is why we put together this dataset each year. It helps us make sense of the changes we see in our world; it helps us understand what needs to be done” said Sunita Narain, director general, CSE in a statement while releasing the report. With eight years left to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, India’s preparedness remains far from satisfactory. India has identified 295 primary indicators, but it is monitoring only 115 of these. In essence, the country is not even monitoring progress on 61% of its indicators. For instance, there are 26 indicators identified under SDG 8, which deals with sustained and inclusive economic growth and productive employment. India monitors just nine of them,” the report said. The report also highlighted declines in other environmental parameters. For instance, it said that at least 74% of river monitoring stations in India have high levels of heavy toxic metals. And more than a third of India’s coastline, which is spread across 6,907 km, recorded erosion between 1990 and 2018 due to sea level rise and anthropogenic activities, it added Climate change is causing more internal displacements than conflicts , and India is the fourth worst hit behind China, Philippines, and Bangladesh, the report said.

Director General Office

Stockholm syndrome

The 50th anniversary celebration of the Stockholm conference should be about our common future, not the divisions of the past The Stockholm conference on the human environment marked the initiation of global consciousness on sustainability. It brought the world together to discuss the big issues of growth and environmental management. This was the time when Rachel Carson, through her seminal book Silent Spring, had told the story of poisoning of nature. It was also the time when the industrialised West was battling against pollution and toxification. Our colleague Anil Agarwal, who was at the conference in 1972, often recalled how Stockholm's lakes were so contaminated with chemicals that you could develop a film negative in the water. This conference was about the fallout of industrialisation and how to cope and mitigate its harmful impacts. As we head towards its 50th anniversary, now would be time to recall the words of India's former prime minister, Indira Gandhi, who was the only head of government — other than that of the host country Sweden — to attend and speak at the meeting. At the plenary session, Gandhi said the industrialised world, which had gained from the riches and labour of colonisation, must not preach to the rest that there were follies in the way they were growing. "We do not wish to impoverish the environment any further and yet we cannot for a moment forget the grim poverty of large numbers of people." She went on to argue that poverty was the greatest polluter. This statement of Indira Gandhi became legendary, but was also widely misunderstood as saying that the poor world needed more development, not less, which would mean more pollution than was essential. The fact is that at no time did the former prime minister argue that. She said that her "deep interest in this only Earth was not for itself, but as a fit home for man". The human species is also imperilled, she said: In poverty he is threatened by malnutrition and disease, in weakness by war and in richness by the pollution brought about by his own prosperity. Prophetic and profound words that the world ignored. By 1992, when the world reconvened in the Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro, there were new challenges at hand. Now, global environmental challenges were on the world's mind — the rich world had seen the emergence of a hole in the ozone layer caused by chemicals it had consumed in its air-conditioning and other systems. This problem of the ozone hole had also brought the realisation that no country could fix the problem alone. This was different from the issue of pesticide poisoning that had been highlighted by Carson. In this case, the hole was in the atmosphere and the release of chlorofluorocarbons by any country would jeopardise the interest of all. It was also the time when climate change — an issue that haunts us today — had begun to be understood. Again, it needed global cooperation to combat these emissions that were essential for economic growth as the world knew it then and now. But instead of bringing the world together, the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development sent the rich and the poor blocs of the world into their corners again — the rich preaching the need for sustainability (that was a new word at this meeting) and the poor demanding their need for development. The fact is — and I was at Rio to witness the shenanigans — that the developing world, including India, was very much willing to be partners in this fight against environmental degradation. But it needed the world to recognise the need for equity — not just intergenerational but intra-generational equity. In the case of climate change, it was about how the already-rich world would drastically cut its greenhouse gas emissions to provide space for the still developing world to grow without polluting. But this was not the deal. Developing countries at Rio argued that they wanted to make sure that they could grow without polluting, bend the curve, but that this would require transfer of money and technology. The situation was the same when it came to biodiversity or forest conservation. It was about finding ways in which poor communities, on whose lands these riches were found, would be benefitted from conservation. That did not happen. Instead, we have spent the last three decades engaged in skirmishes to defeat the very idea of global cooperation between the rich and the poor based on rule-based systems. This is why we are in the mess of today, with unabated species extinction and a rapidly changing climate. This is why, when the world meets in Stockholm of 2022 it must not repeat the mistakes of the past five decades. It must remember the words of India's former prime minister and take it to be the agenda of the future. Stockholm+50 has to be about our common future — not about the divisions of the past. DTE The writer is the Director-General of CSE and editor of DownToEarth. Views expressed are personal

Down To Earth

62% Delhi land degrading: Report

The report, released ahead of the World Environment Day on Sunday, also finds the Capital is currently off-track on six out of the 15 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the United Nations for 2030. Nearly 62% of Delhi’s total land is under degradation,giving it the dubious distinction of being the third in the country -- after Jharkhand (68.77%) and Rajasthan (62.06%) -- with areas seeing a decline in productivity of land in terms of both biodiversity and agricultural cultivability, according to a newly released ‘State of India’s Environment 2022: In Figures’ report released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Thursday. he report, released ahead of the World Environment Day on Sunday, also finds the Capital is currently off-track on six out of the 15 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the United Nations for 2030. It further said that the Capital continues to record alarmingly high pollution levels, with the annual PM10 level (particulate matter below 10 micrometres size) reported at 243 micrograms per metre cube (µg/m3), which is nearly four times the national annual standard of 60µg/m3, placing Delhi behind only Ghaziabad (245µg/m3) and Dhanbad (264µg/m3). The report notes that there has been a 25% increase in degraded land in Delhi between 2003 and 2019, it says, adding that this is a result of erosion, waterlogging, mass movement of people or long-term loss of natural vegetation. A cause of concern While Delhi government spokesperons did not respond to requests seeking a comment, officials have earlier said that the government has been actively looking to increase the city’s green cover, which has risen to 23.06% of the total geographical area as per the latest India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021. It was 21.88% of of the total geographical area in 2019 and 20.6% in 2017. This year, the Delhi government has set a target of planting 3.5 million saplings, a large chunk of which are expected to be shrubs. Kiran Pandey, programme director at the Environment Resources Unit of CSE, said the assessment shows that for Delhi, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, a large chunk of the land is facing degradation, meaning the overall quality of land is going down or worsening over time. “This will affect agricultural productivity, forest resources, the biodiversity across the city and in turn the livelihoods dependent on it. This is also important because agricultural lands account for around 46% of India’s degraded land and forests 22%,” she said. To achieve its SDGs for the year 2030, the Capital has currently set up nine working groups and a steering committee too, but the CSE’s report shows that Delhi’s performance has deteriorated on 13 indicators spread across eight SDGs in 2019. These include dropout rate at secondary education, crimes against women, sex ratio, and share of industries complying with waste water treatment norms, among others. The report says climate crisis has also been evident so far this year, with India recording its hottest March and an early onslaught of heatwave days. The country has reported 28 heatwave days so far between March 11 and May 18 so far – the highest over the last decade -- with Delhi-NCR alone recording 20 heatwave days during this period. Delhi fares well on use of clean fuel for cooking, with nearly 95% of households employing clean, and operating at around 87% of its full sewage treatment plant (STP) capacity. In terms of waste management, Delhi was found to be treating 80.75% of its municipal solid waste (MSW), with the rest going untreated. It however, fared particularly poorly on the segregation of waste, with only 20.07% of households making this a practice. The latest plastic waste data also shows Delhi generated 230,525 tonnes of plastic waste in the year 2019-20, though only 29,968 tonne was recycled. Around 46,105 tonnes out of this was burnt and the rest left untreated.

Down To Earth

Weather Survey News: 2022 रहा देश का दूसरा सबसे बड़ा हीटवेव वर्ष, एक रिपोर्ट में आया सामने, जानें अन्य डिटेल

इस साल मार्च जहां 122 सालों का सबसे गर्म माह रहा वहीं देश ने 11 मार्च से 18 मई के बीच 280 दिन हीटवेव झेली। यह पिछले 10 वर्षों में सर्वाधिक है। 2012 में देश के अनुभव से 2022 का यह आंकड़ा लगभग दोगुना है। इसी तरह 2021 में चरम मौसम की घटनाओं से महाराष्ट्र, ओडिशा और मध्य प्रदेश में सबसे अधिक मौतें हुईं। सबसे अधिक संख्या में जिले मध्य प्रदेश, महाराष्ट्र और उत्तर प्रदेश में प्रभावित हुए। गत वर्ष चरम मौसमी घटनाओं के कारण मध्य प्रदेश में 191, ओडिशा में 223 और महाराष्ट्र में 350 लोगों की जान चली गई। इसी तरह मध्य प्रदेश के 40, उत्तर प्रदेश और महाराष्ट्र के 30-30 जिलों में इन घटनाओं का खासा प्रभाव देखा गया। 2021 अभी तक दर्ज किए गए सात सबसे गर्म वर्षों में से एक था। जलवायु परिवर्तन आपदाओं का सामना करने में चीन, फिलीपींस और बांग्लादेश के बाद भारत चौथा सबसे ज्यादा प्रभावित देश है। यह जानकारी सामने आई है सेंटर फार साइंस एंड एन्वायरमेंट (सीएसई) की स्टेट आफ एन्वायरमेंट रिपोर्ट 2022 इन फिगर्स रिपोर्ट से। विश्व पर्यावरण दिवस (पांच जून) के संदर्भ में बृहस्पतिववार को यह रिपोर्ट सीएसई की महानिदेशक सुनीता नारायण ने वर्चुअली जारी की। इस रिपोर्ट में विभिन्न क्षेत्रों की स्थिति आंकड़ों की दृष्टि से बयां की गई है। रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि 2012-13 और 2018-19 के बीच भारत में खेती की लागत में लगभग 35 प्रतिशत की वृद्धि हुई जबकि एक कृषि परिवार में खेती से होने वाली आय का हिस्सा 2012 में 48 प्रतिशत से कम होकर 2018-19 में -13 से 37 प्रतिशत रह गया है। वहीं देश में 50 प्रतिशत कृषि परिवार कर्ज के बोझ तले दबे हैं। औसतन हर घर पर 74,000 रुपये से अधिक का कर्ज है और देश में प्रतिदिन लगभग 29 किसान और खेतिहर मजदूर आत्महत्या करते हैं। रिपोर्ट बताती है कि 2019-20 में भारत ने 35 लाख टन प्लास्टिक कचरा उत्पन्न किया। इसमें से केवल 12 प्रतिशत का ही पुनर्चक्रण किया गया था और 20 प्रतिशत जला दिया गया था। शेष 68 प्रतिशत का कोई हिसाब नहीं है, जिसका अर्थ है कि यह जमीन और पानी या डंपसाइट में है। 2019-20 और 2020-21 के बीच खतरनाक अपशिष्ट उत्पादन में 5 प्रतिशत की वृद्धि हुई, जबकि 2018-19 एवं 2019-20 के बीच हमारे ई-कचरे के उत्पादन में 32 प्रतिशत की वृद्धि दर्ज की गई। रिपोर्ट बताती है कि विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन के मानकों को पूरा करने के लिए वायु प्रदूषण को कम करने से वैश्विक जीवन प्रत्याशा में 2.2 वर्ष जुड़ जाएंगे। रिपोर्ट में पाया गया है कि भारत में जीवन प्रत्याशा 5.9 वर्ष बढ़ जाएगी यदि देश डब्ल्यूएचओ के पीएम 2.5 के स्तर को पूरा करता है। रिपोर्ट में यह भी बताया गया है कि भोजन और खाद्य प्रणालियों पर 1.7 मिलियन से अधिक भारतीय अस्वास्थ्यकर आहार के कारण होने वाली बीमारियों के कारण मर जाते हैं। एक भारतीय के आहार में औसतन फल, सब्जियां, फलियां, मेवा और साबुत अनाज की कमी होती है। सुनीता नारायण, (महानिदेशक, सीएसई) का कहना है कि यह रिपोर्ट पर्यावरण से जुड़े हर क्षेत्र में भारत की स्थिति बयां करती है। वह भी उन्हीं आंकड़ों की जुबानी जो सरकारी विभागों ने स्वयं से साझा किए हैं। वास्तविक स्थिति हमारे सामने आएगी, तभी हम उस क्षेत्र में सुधार के लिए कदम उठा पाएंगे।

Director General Office

आधे घंटे का रास्ता 45 मिनट में होता है पूरा, दिल्ली की सड़कों पर क्यों आम है जाम?

नीदरलैंड्स की कंपनी TomTom के मुताबिक, सबसे ज्यादा ट्रैफिक कंजेशन में दिल्ली दुनिया का 11वां शहर है. यहां ट्रैफिक कंजेशन लेवल 48% है, यानी आधे घंटे का सफर पूरा होने में 48% समय ज्यादा लगता है. राजधानी दिल्ली में सोमवार को अचानक मौसम बदला तो तेज आंधी और बारिश ने जगह-जगह पेड़ और बिजली के खंभे उखाड़ दिए. इस बदले मौसम ने दिल्लीवालों की रोज की ट्रैफिक जाम की मुश्किलों को मुसीबत में बदल दिया. महेश कुमार ऑटो चलाते हैं. उन्हें हाईकोर्ट से जय सिंह मार्ग तक पहुंचने में डेढ़ घंटे लग गए. महेश कुमार जैसे लोग हजारों की संख्या में थे जो जगह-जगह जाम में फंसे रहे. बारिश के मौसम में ट्रैफिक जाम आम है, लेकिन दिल्ली वालों के लिए ये महज समस्या नहीं बल्कि मुसीबत है और कुछ हद तक जानलेवा मुसीबत भी. वजह है राजधानी में सड़कों की तुलना में बेतहाशा बढ़ती वाहनों की संख्या. पहले जानिए देश में कितने लोगों के पास है वाहन पर्यावरण पर लिखने वालीं सुनीता नारायण अपनी किताब 'कॉन्फ्लिक्ट ऑफ इंट्रेस्ट' में दिल्ली के बारे में दिलचस्प आंकड़ा देती हैं. वो बताती हैं कि दिल्ली के 21% क्षेत्रफल पर पहले ही सड़क बन चुकी है. इसके साथ ही वो ये भी बताती हैं कि दिल्ली के कुल रोड ट्रैफिक के सिर्फ 15% लोग कार से सफर करते हैं, लेकिन कुल रोड स्पेस का 90% क्षेत्रफल पर इन कारों का कब्जा है.  इसका नतीजा ये होता है कि बस, मोटर साइकल, रिक्शा, साइकल और पैदल चलने वालों के लिए सड़क पर बेहद कम जगह बचती है. इसके लिए साल दर साल सड़कें और हाईवे लेन बनती जा रहीं हैं, लेकिन कारों की संख्या इनसे काफी तेजी से बढ़ रही है. लिहाजा ट्रैफिक समस्या कम होने की बजाय बढ़ती जा रही है. दिल्ली सरकार के 2021-22 के आर्थिक सर्वे के मुताबिक, राजधानी की सड़कों पर 2019-20 तक 1.18 करोड़ से ज्यादा गाड़ियां थीं. ये संख्या 2018-19 की तुलना में साढ़े 4 फीसदी ज्यादा है. 2018-19 तक दिल्ली की सड़कों पर 1.13 करोड़ गाड़ियां थीं.  राजधानी दिल्ली हर एक हजार लोगों पर भी गाड़ियों की संख्या तेजी से बढ़ रही है. दिल्ली में 2016-17 में हर एक हजार आबादी पर 556 गाड़ियां थीं. 2019-20 में ये आंकड़ा बढ़कर 643 गाड़ियों का हो गया. यानी चार साल में ही एक हजार आबादी पर 87 गाड़ियां बढ़ गईं नेशनल फैमिली हेल्थ सर्वे-5 (NFHS-5) के आंकड़े बताते हैं कि देश के 7.5% परिवारों के पास अपनी कार है. 2018 में ये आंकड़ा 6% का था. ऐसे ही 49.7% परिवारों के पास दोपहिया वाहन हैं. 2018 में ये 37.7% था. वहीं 50.4% परिवारों के पास साइकिल है, जबकि 2018 में ये आंकड़ा 52.1% का था. ये आंकड़े बताते हैं कि सड़क पर कार और बाइक वालों की संख्या बढ़ रही है, जबकि साइकल वालों की संख्या घट रही है.