• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Why smog overstays its welcome in Delhi-NCR

NEW DELHI: A recent analysis by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found that the smog episodes of November synchronise across the northern region, but they linger on for a longer period only in Delhi, other NCR areas and Uttar Pradesh during the rest of winter. “Early winter smog synchronises across the northern region but lasts longer in Delhi-NCR,” the study states, adding that atmospheric changes during winter, which include inversion, calm conditions, change in wind direction and seasonal drop in ambient temperature across north India, entrap pollution. “This is further tripped into ‘severe’ category by smoke from farm fires and Diwali firecrackers.” Although, the study points out, air quality improves from “severe” to “poor” and “moderate” categories in Punjab and north Haryana after the stubble fire season, it remains “very poor” in NCR and UP till February. “Rajasthan cities also show impact of smoke, but to a lesser degree with relatively less polluted air during the rest of winter.” The analysis reveals most smaller towns have considerably lower annual average PM2.5 levels but report levels comparable to or worse than Delhi during the usual smog episodes in November. For instance, the annual average level of Delhi is 97ug/m3 and that of Agra 20% lower at 78ug/m3. But during early winter this year, the weekly average PM2.5 level in Agra was 282ug/m3 and exceeded by 5% that of Delhi’s 270. “This analysis has put a spotlight on the cities of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and NCR to understand the synchronised pattern of pollution during winter... This shows even smaller cities with lower annual average levels record pollution levels that are as bad or even worse than Delhi. This demands action at scale and speed across all key sectors of pollution in the larger region,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy at CSE. While the entire north India is vulnerable to the pollution build-up, the overall annual average of NCR is among the highest in the region. This year, Ghaziabad has been the most polluted city in the region with the average as high as 110ug/m3 till November 30. Moradabad is the most polluted city outside NCR with the PM2.5 level at 96ug/m3. NCR cities also saw a two-fold rise in nitrogen dioxide. The long-term trend shows that average fire radiative power — the rate of emitted radiative energy by fire — in Punjab has been increasing since 2017 and this season’s average is the highest since monitoring started in 2012. “This, coupled with overall increase in fire count in Punjab, may have also contributed to the increased severity of smog this year,” states the study.

• Sustainable Mobility

Diesel blow: Experts laud Delhi's green move, users fume

NEW DELHI: Welcoming the decisions to deregister diesel vehicles older than 10 years with an NOC and completely scrapping those older than 15 years, experts have said removing older vehicles from the city roads will reduce the toxic exposure. Experts, however, also asserted that while the decision would help the national capital breathe a little better, the government must also provide lucrative scrapping options to the owners, who, though saw it coming, still had a fairly short window as the new year was less than three weeks away. Road transport in Delhi accounts for the biggest contributor to the local particulate pollutants. According to the data available from the transport department, at least 2,64,721 registered diesel vehicles are over 10 years older. “This is a good step to control toxic emissions from older vehicles. There had always been special concern for diesel emissions as they are extremely toxic. Replacing the older vehicles with the new one that comply with much cleaner BS-VI-standard fuel can reduce toxic emissions and toxic exposure considerably,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director of Centre for Science and Environment. In an order issued this week, the transport department stated that all diesel vehicles older than 10 years would be deregistered with an NOC so that they could register elsewhere, while those older than 15 years won’t even receive an NOC. The order came in compliance with a 2016 order by National Green Tribunal. Asserting that while at this point it will be difficult to quantify the reduction in toxic exposure, Roy Chawdhury pointed out one BS-VI diesel car emitted 10 times less particulate matters compared with a BS-III diesel car. “According to WHO, diesel emissions are class-I carcinogen and is in the same category as that of tobacco smoking for its strong link with lung cancer. Older diesel vehicles were designed to emit several times more particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons,” she added. According to Sewa Ram, professor at School of Planning, while the decision would come hard on a number of people, it was “needed”. “It is a very important decision that has removed all the ambiguity as vehicles with BS-II-compliant engines had been running on city roads. There is always an argument from the people that they keep their older vehicles well maintained and fit, but it is to understand that even a vehicle registered in 2010 emits much more than that running on BS-VI-compliant engines, because the technology has changed a lot,” said Ram. He, however, pushed for rewarding scrapping policies. “This order will create issues as telling people that their vehicles will be deregistered from the new year is a very short time. Also 10 years are not that long time either. The government has to be rewarding and bring very good scrapping policy that would help people switch to new vehicles,” Ram added. The owners of the affected vehicles, however, came stronger on the decision. “The government has given us a very short notice. Telling us in the middle of December that our vehicle will be deregistered over the next 15 days is cruel,” said Kartik Kumar, a resident of Mayur Vihar. Another resident said the government must deregister vehicles failing the emission tests. “We keep our car well maintained and it’s an expensive affair. Where will we go to register this car? By this logic, I am allowed to run my car in Noida or Ghaziabad, but not in Delhi. How much difference would it make?” wondered R S Pandey, a resident of Dwarka. “We understand that there is a pollution situation in Delhi, but this is a very short window. The government must phase out vehicles not meeting the emission standards first before seeing the date of registration. Extension should be given to the vehicles that are fit,” said Jalaj Awasthi, another Dwarka resident.

• Down To Earth

Webinar on human behavior and environmental sustainability kicks off on Friday

With a wish to learn from multi-disciplines, to refine/redefine existing perspectives, and/or to reflect collectively, for what small difference everyone around can make to create a sustainable society, a WEBINAR on Human Behavior and Environmental Sustainability is planned for, during December 17 – 18, 2021, with the support from Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Government of India. The webinar is to be inaugurated by Padma Shri Subash Palekar (Father of Subash Palekar Natural farming) and Dr. D Brindha (Webinar Chairperson & the Principal, PSG College of Arts & Science). Professor Glenn Albrecht (University of Sydney), Swami Swaroopananda (Global Head – Chinmaya Mission), Professor Charles Vlek (University of Groningen, Netherlands), Mr. Richard Louv (Chairman Emeritus – Children & Nature Network), Lex Amore (Biomimicry Institute, USA), Professor Tal Ben Shahar (Harvard University), UNESCO (Section of Education for Sustainable Development), Dr. Suresh Kalagnanam (Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan, Canada), Professor Sanjoy Mukerjee (IIM Shillong), Dr. Robin Mazumder, Environmental Neuroscientist (University of Waterloo), Stephanie Seferian (Creator & Host, Sustainable Minimalists), Clifford W. Cobb (Editor- American Journal of Economics and Sociology), had send their note/video for the webinar. Since we are trying to look at sustainability from a trans-disciplinary lens (Applied Social Sciences, Life Sciences, Humanities), we would have speakers from United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) India & Kenya, Ministry of Environment, Forest, & Climate Change, Government of India, Asian Development Bank, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Trichy, IIT Jodhpur, BITS Pilani, Centre for Science and Environment, Bamboo Society of India, Institute of Psychiatry (Kolkata), Tamil Nadu Water Investment Company Limited (TWIC), ISEC Bengaluru, SHARAN Auroville, Nature Connections. Dr. J Venkata Pirabu (Director, Planning & Monitoring – TamilNadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore) will deliver the valedictory address. The following are some of the sub-themes identified for the webinar: Eco-Psychology, Ecological Intelligence, Affective ecology / Eco-anxiety / Ecological grief, Solastalgia, Environmental Sustainability & Human Values, Eco-therapy / Forest therapy / Nature- based therapy, Genuine Progress Indicator, Transpersonal Ecology / Eco-spirituality / Deep Ecology, Biomimicry, Environmental Economics, Nature Connectedness / Nature Deficit Disorder, Anthropocentrism and Environmental crisis, Green Auditing, Green Consumerism, Green National Accounting system, Social Return on Investment, Food Sovereignty / Locavorism, Pigovian Taxes, Carbon market, Energy Labels, Green Bond / Climate Bond / Green Investing, Eco-minimalism, Sustainable Village / Sustainable Habitat Dr. KP Naachimuthu Webinar Convener Assistant Professor Department of Psychology (Aided) PSG College of Arts & Science Coimbatore – 641014, TamilNadu

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Polluted Cities : जगातील सर्वाधिक 10 प्रदूषित शहरांमध्ये भारतातील 9 शहरांचा समावेश

वाढती लोखसंख्या आणि वाढत्या हवा प्रदुषणामुळे भारताला 1,600 ते 4 हजार हवा गुणवत्ता मॉनिटर्सची (हवा गुणवत्ता निरीक्षण केंद्र) गरज आहे. परंतु, भारतात या मॉनिटर्सची संख्या फक्त 804 एवढीच आहे. मुंबई : वाढत्या प्रदूषणाची समस्या (Polluted Cities) सध्या संपूर्ण जगाला भेडसावत आहे. भारतातही दिल्ली, मुंबईसारख्या मोठ्या शहरांमध्ये प्रदूषणाचे प्रमाण आधिक आहे. वाढती लोखसंख्या आणि वाढत्या हवा प्रदुषणामुळे भारताला 1,600 ते 4 हजार हवा गुणवत्ता मॉनिटर्सची (हवा गुणवत्ता निरीक्षण केंद्र) गरज आहे. परंतु, 16 सप्टेंबरपर्यंत भारतात या मॉनिटर्सची संख्या फक्त 804 एवढीच आहे. त्यातील जास्त मॉनिटर्स हे शहरी भागात आहेत. जगातील सर्वाधिक 10 प्रदूषित शहरांपैकी भारतामध्ये 9 शहरे आहेत. परंतु 2010 ते 2016 या कालावधीत दोनशे मॅटर (PM) 2.5 मॉनिटरिंग साइट कार्यरत आहेत. भारताची हवेच्या गुणवत्ता मॉनिटरची संख्या दहा लाख लोकांमध्ये सुमारे 0.14 मॉनिटर्स आहेत. 2019 च्या संशोधनानुसार चीन (1.2), युनायटेड स्टेट्स ऑफ अमेरिका (3.4), जपान (0.5) आणि ब्राझीलमध्ये (1.8) आहेत. सल्फर डायऑक्साइड (SO2), नायट्रस डायऑक्साइड (NO2), श्वसन करण्यायोग्य PM 10, सूक्ष्म कण किंवा PM 2.5, शिसे, कार्बनडायआॅक्साईड (CO) आणि अमोनिया यासह प्रदूष करणाऱ्या घटकांची भारताकडे अचूक माहिती नाही. जागतिक आरोग्य संघटनेच्या म्हणण्यानुसार, या घटकांच्या जास्तवेळ संपर्कामुळे हृदय व रक्तवाहिन्यासंबंधी, श्वसनाचे आजार तसेच फुफ्फुसाच्या कर्करोगांसारख्या आजारांचा धोका निर्माण होतो. सध्याचे हवेच्या गुणवत्तेचे मॉनिटर्स शहरी भागात असल्याने, जैव पदार्थ, इंधन लाकूड आणि कीटकनाशकांच्या फवारणीमुळे ग्रामीण भागातील वायू प्रदूषण किती प्रमाणात आहे याचे आरोग्य आणि पर्यावरण अधिकारी मूल्यांकन करू शकत नाहीत. वेळेनुसार हवेच्या गुणवत्तेचे निरीक्षण आवश्यक आहे हवेतील SO2, NO2, PM 10, PM 2.5, शिसे, कार्बनडाय आॅक्साईड आणि अमोनिया या प्रदूषण करणाऱ्या घटकांचे निरीक्षण करून आजूबाजूच्या हवेच्या गुणवत्तेचे परीक्षण केले जाते. सध्या, देशाच्या स्वच्छ हवा कार्यक्रमाअंतर्गत 2024 पर्यंत 132 शहरांमध्ये 20 टक्के ते 30 टक्के हवा प्रदूषण कमी करण्याचे तात्पुरते लक्ष्य ठेवण्यात आले आहे. हवेचे प्रदूषण कमी करण्यासाठी प्रथम सर्वाधिक प्रदूषित शहरांवर भर दिला जात आहे. परंतु मॉनिटर्सची संख्या आणि नियमांच्या अभावी ग्रामीण आणि निमशहरी भागांचे पूर्ण निरीक्षण केले जात नाही. भारतात हवेच्या गुणवत्तेचे पारंपारिकपणे मॅन्युअल रीडिंग वापरून परीक्षण केले जाते. आजूबाजूच्या हवेच्या गुणवत्तेचे परीक्षण करण्यासाठी 804 मॉनिटरिंग स्टेशनचा डेटा वापरला जात आहे. केंद्रीय प्रदूषण नियंत्रण मंडळ (CPCB) 2020 च्या सेंटर फॉर सायन्स अँड एन्व्हायर्नमेंट (CSE) च्या अहवालानुसार, हवेच्या गुणवत्तेच्या मानकांचे पालन करण्यासाठी केवळ मॅन्युअल मॉनिटर्सचा डेटा वापरण्याची प्रथा सुरू ठेवण्यात आली आहे. वेळेनुसार हवेची गुणवत्ता सांगणारे 261 मॉनिटर्स आहेत. याचा डेटा सेंट्रल डेटाबेसवर अपडेट केला जातो. हा तांत्रिकदृष्ट्या राष्ट्रीय हवा गुणवत्ता मॉनिटरिंग कार्यक्रमाचा (NAMP) भाग आहे. परंतु CPCB ने दोन मॉनिटरिंग तंत्रांमध्ये समतोलता नसल्यामुळे त्याचा डेटा स्वतंत्रपणे संग्रहित केला जातो आणि त्यावर उपाय शोधला जातो. प्रदूषण करणाऱ्या घटकांचे निरीक्षण 24 तासाच (वायू प्रदूषकांसाठी चार-तास नमुने आणि कणांसाठी आठ-तास नमुने) केले जाते. आ 24 तासांमध्ये आठवड्यातील फक्त दोन वेळेचा समावेश आहे. हे मॉनिटर्स सतत प्रदूषण मोजत असतात. सेंटर फॉर सायन्स अँड एन्व्हायर्नमेंट (CSE) च्या कार्यकारी संचालक अनुमिता रॉयचौधरी याबाबत बोलताना सांगतात, "आमच्या 2020 च्या अहवालातील आकडे अद्ययावत करणे आवश्यक आहे. परंतु, कोणत्याही परिस्थितीत, शहरी लोकसंख्येचे कव्हरेज अपुरे आहे आणि ग्रामीण लोकसंख्या आज पूर्णपणे निरीक्षणाच्या कक्षेबाहेर आहे," मॅन्युअल मॉनिटरिंग प्रोटोकॉलसाठी वर्षातील 104 दिवसांचे रीडिंग आवश्यक आहे. परंतु काही स्टेशनवर हा डेटा फक्त 50 ते 75 दिवसांसाठीच रेकॉर्ड केला गेला आहे, असे आम्हाला आढळून आले आहे." इंडियन इन्स्टिट्यूट ऑफ टेक्नॉलॉजी कानपूर येथील स्थापत्य अभियांत्रिकी विभागाचे प्रमुख आणि NCAP सुकाणू समितीचे सदस्य एस. एन. त्रिपाठी यांच्या मते हवेच्या गुणवत्तेच्या निरीक्षणासाठी मॅन्युअल मॉनिटर्सचा जास्त उपयोग होत नाही. "मॅन्युअल मॉनिटर्स ही एक कंटाळवाणी प्रक्रिया आहे. हवेच्या गुणवत्तेबद्दल दैनंदिन डेटा समजून घेण्यासाठी आठवड्यातून एकदा किंवा दोनदा परीक्षण करणे फारसे उपयुक्त नाही. आम्हाला अधिक वारंवार मोजमापांची आवश्यकता आहे. किमान दर एक तासाला हवेचे परीक्षण होणे गरजेचे आहे." अशे त्रिपाठी यांचे मत आहे. भारताला दीड हजार मॉनिटर्सची गरज भारतातील सहा मेगासिटीजमध्ये (मुंबई, कोलकाता, बेंगळुरू, चेन्नई, हैदराबाद, दिल्ली) प्रत्येकी किमान 23 ते 44 मॉनिटर्सटी आवश्यकता आहे. सध्या ही संख्या 9 ते 12 अशी आहे. यात दिल्लीचा समावेश नाही. कारण दिल्लीत जास्त प्रदूषण असल्यामुळे तेथे यापेक्षा जास्त मॉनिटर्सची आवश्यकता आहे. सध्या भारताकडे उपलब्ध असलेल्या मॉनिटर्सचेही समान वितरण करण्यात आले नाही. "वेळेनुसार हवेची गुनवत्ता तपासणाऱ्या मॉनिटर्सपैकी 33 टक्क्यांहून अधिक दिल्ली-एनसीआरमध्ये आहेत. एकट्या दिल्लीने 38 स्टेशन्स उभारण्यासाठी जवळपास 100 कोटी रुपयांहून अधिक गुंतवणूक केली आहे," असे CSE च्या अहवालात म्हटले आहे. मणिपूर आणि अरुणाचल प्रदेशसह अनेक राज्यांमध्ये, स्टेशनची संख्या खूपच कमी आहे. 2019 मध्ये स्प्रिंगर जर्नलमध्ये प्रकाशित आलेल्या अहवालानुसार 9 लाख लोकसंख्या असलेल्या ग्रेटर लंडन प्रदेशात PM 10 साठी 87 आणि PM 2.5 साठी 32 मॉनिटरिंग स्टेशन आहेत. 2021 मध्ये, 2.7 लाख लोकसंख्या असलेल्या मणिपूरमध्ये फक्त एक मॉनिटरिंग स्टेशन आहे आणि 1.25 लाख लोकसंख्येच्या अरुणाचल प्रदेशात दोन आहेत. CPCB निकष वापरून, दहा लाखांपेक्षा जास्त रहिवाशांच्या शहरासाठी सुमारे 25 मॉनिटरिंग स्टेशन्सची आवश्यकता असते आणि जर ही संख्या 60 लाखांपेक्षा जास्त वाढली गेली तर दीड हजार स्टेशन्सची आवश्यकता असेल. असे स्प्रिंगर जर्नल पेपरने प्रसिद्ध केलेल्या अहवालात म्हटले आहे. पर्यावरण मंत्रालयाच्या अहवालानुसार "देशातील सध्याच्या चाह हजार शहरांतील 307 शहरांमधील 703 मॅन्युअल मॉनिटरिंग स्टेशन मर्यादित कमी आहे. ती वाढवण्याची गरज आहे. सध्याच्या 703 केंद्रांपासून दीड हजार केंद्रांपर्यंत वाढवण्याचा प्रस्ताव आहे,"

• Director General Office

‘The challenge is to make sure that everybody has a right to energy’

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

India has 9 of 10 most polluted cities, but few air quality monitors

Research shows that the number of air quality monitors in India per million people is lower than other highly populated countries. This prevents it from gauging the true extent of various pollutants With its size, population and aggravating air pollution, India needs 1,600 to 4,000 air quality monitors but has only 804 as of September 16, 2021, most of which are concentrated in urban areas, shows research. This, experts say, prevents India from knowing the true extent, scale and geographical spread of various pollutants, and limits the government's ability for preventive public health measures. India has nine of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, but with 200 particulate matter (PM) 2.5 monitoring sites in operation during the 2010-2016 period, India's air quality monitor density--about 0.14 monitors per million people--is below China (1.2), the United States of America (3.4), Japan (0.5) and Brazil (1.8), according to research from 2019. As a consequence, India does not accurately know the spread of pollutants, including sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrous dioxide (NO2), respirable PM 10, the finer particulate matter or PM 2.5, lead, carbon monoxide (CO) and ammonia. Chronic exposure to these pollutants contributes to the risk of developing ailments such as cardiovascular, respiratory diseases, as well as of lung cancer, according to the World Health Organization. Further, since existing air quality monitors are concentrated in urban areas, health and environmental authorities cannot assess the extent of air pollution in rural areas due to biomass, fuelwood, stubble burning and spraying of pesticides. Real-time air quality monitoring needed Ambient air quality is monitored by observing pollutants, including SO2, NO2, PM 10, PM 2.5, lead, CO and ammonia, present in the air. Currently, the country's clean air programme has set a tentative national target of 20%-30% reduction of air pollution in 132 non-attainment cities by 2024, taking 2017 as the base year. The 'non-attainment cities', called so because they did not meet the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) at the time, are required to formulate city-specific action plans in order to reduce air pollution. So, while the thrust is on the most-polluted cities, rural and semi-urban areas are not being fully monitored for want of monitors and protocols. In India, air quality has been traditionally monitored using manual readings. Data from 804 monitoring stations are used for monitoring ambient air quality. Even after the introduction of real-time monitors, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) continues the practice of using data only from manual monitors to report compliance with air quality standards, according to a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report from 2020. There are 261 real-time monitors whose data are updated on the central database. This network is technically part of the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) but its data are stored and treated separately because CPCB has not established a method of equivalence between the two monitoring techniques, the 2020 CSE report pointed out. In the manual method, the monitoring of pollutants is carried out for 24 hours (four-hourly sampling for gaseous pollutants and eight-hourly sampling for particulate matter) with a frequency of only twice a week, whereas real-time monitors measure pollutants constantly. In simple terms, the readings from manual monitors are the ones the CPCB uses for ascertaining long-term air quality trends, including annual data on air quality. Data from real-time monitors are only included in calculating daily AQI (air quality index) of a location. "These numbers from our 2020 report need updating but, in any case, coverage of overall urban population is inadequate and rural population is completely outside the ambit of monitoring today," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at CSE and the report's author. "Manual monitoring protocol requires readings from 104 days in a year but for some stations, we have found data was recorded only for 50-75 days," she said. Manual monitors do not make sense for air quality monitoring anymore, said S.N. Tripathi, head of the civil engineering department at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and a member of the NCAP steering committee. "It is a very tedious procedure and readings once or twice a week are not very helpful for a day-to-day understanding of air quality. We need more frequent measurements--at least hourly readings are needed." Experts have suggested that data from real-time monitors also be used for ascertaining long-term trends and not just for daily AQI. In 2015, identifying this lack of monitors--there were even fewer at the time--IndiaSpend had launched its own network of low-cost sensors to measure the air quality in many Indian cities. You can read more about the project that ended in 2018, here. India needs 1,500 air quality monitoring stations The minimum number of stations to monitor suspended particulate matter where the area's population is less than 100,000 is four. The minimum number is three for SO2, four for NO2, one for CO, according to CPCB guidelines for ambient air quality monitoring released in 2003. The number of monitors required increases with the population. The number of sampling sites depends on the size of the area to be covered, variability of pollutant concentration, data requirements related to monitoring, pollutant to be monitored and population figures which can be used as indicators of criticality both from view of likely air quality deterioration as also health implications, the guidelines state. When scientists compared the density of India's monitoring network with that of other high-population countries, they found large differences. "It is like when a person is ailing, the doctor will need to measure fever before deciding the course of treatment, otherwise treatment can go wrong. The number of monitors we have recommended [in the paper] is the basic, bare minimum requirement," explained Tripathi, who is also one of the authors of this paper. India's six megacities (Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi) need at least 23 to 44 air quality monitoring stations each, while the existing number of stations range between nine and 12 [excluding Delhi], according to the CSE report from 2020. The monitors that India has are also not evenly distributed. "More than 33 per cent of the real-time monitors are concentrated in Delhi-NCR. Delhi alone has invested over Rs 100 crore to set up 38 stations over time," said the CSE report. In several states, including Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, station density is very poor and only two to five years of data are currently available, said another paper, titled 'Monitoring particulate matter in India' published in Springer journal in 2019. For comparison, there are 87 monitoring stations for PM 10 and 32 for PM 2.5 in the Greater London region, a city of nine million, it said. In 2021, Manipur, with a population of 2.7 million, has only one monitoring station and Arunachal Pradesh, with a population of 1.25 million has two. Using CPCB criteria, an average city of one million-plus residents requires around 25 monitoring stations, and if this number is extrapolated across 60 [million-plus] cities, a total of around 1,500 stations would be required, the Springer journal paper said. An environment ministry report on NCAP agreed. "With reference to the existing 4,000 cities in the country, 703 manual monitoring stations in 307 cities reflect limited numbers and need augmentation. It is proposed to augment it to 1500 stations from existing 703 stations," it stated in its 2019 report. At its very launch, NCAP had promised to increase the number of monitoring stations in the country, including rural monitoring stations. The cost of measuring pollutants To address the data gaps in monitoring pollutants, India will require 1,600-4,000 monitors (1.2-3 monitors per million people), the Elsevier paper said, and warned that even at these densities, only relatively basic information on common air pollutants would be available more frequently, and would cover a relatively limited area. The average cost of a monitoring station is around Rs 1 crore with around 10% for annual maintenance costs, the 2019 Springer paper had estimated. This would require an initial investment [of setting up 1,500 stations] of Rs 3,000 crore due to capital and operational costs for 10 years. India has set aside a budget of Rs 470 crore for control of pollution in the financial year 2021-22, which includes funding for its ambitious National Clean Air Programme. "On top of this, costs associated with infrastructure, personnel and training need to be accounted for; and this can be estimated as an additional Rs 3,000 crore; to cover other miscellaneous costs, an additional 50% is added to this, resulting in a total of Rs 7,500 crore. These estimates indicate that the average cost of running the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring [CAAQM] station network in each city over a 10-year period would amount to around Rs 12.5 crore per year," the paper read. Rural areas should also be monitored The NCAP report had itself pointed out the grave problem of air pollution in rural areas and proposed to set up 75 stations in rural areas. Rural areas suffer from outdoor air pollution as well as indoor air pollution. Major sources of outdoor air pollution are indiscriminate use of insecticides/pesticides sprays and burning of wheat and paddy straw. Atmospheric concentration of ozone has been observed higher in rural areas as compared to urban areas, the report stated. "Under NCAP, city-level action plans were to find out pollution sources within the city," said Sunil Dahiya, analyst, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. "But instead of looking at just cities, look at airsheds [airshed is a region which shares similar air quality]. States were supposed to formulate their own state-level clean air plans based on cities' plans. Stubble burning, power plants, these are regional sources of pollution and not limited to a city or town. A hybrid of local and regional approach is needed. While we have formulated local city action plans, we are far away from state or regional plans." Alternatives to expensive monitors Procuring new air quality monitors is expensive and time-consuming. "Apart from government monitors, there are monitors set up by industries. If that data is coupled with government data, it could give much more granular information for the situation of pollution across the country. It will also save the cost of setting up new stations," Dahiya said. Another alternative to expensive monitors could be low-cost sensors. These sensors offer an opportunity to generate high-resolution data at a lower cost, and with fewer deployment and access limitations. But they have not been proven to provide long-term, accurate data yet and efforts are underway to improve precision in such sensors. Latest analyses are supporting the case for deployment of well-designed low-cost sensors for measurement of air pollution at the city level, according to the Springer paper. "While it is true that we have to expand our monitoring network, procurement of monitors is very expensive. India needs to leverage its real-time monitoring network for long-term trends and have a hybrid model with satellite monitoring and low-cost sensors that help in mapping the pollution profile and exposure of a region," Roychowdhury said.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

As Hotspots Revert To Type, 2020 Gains Lost

New Delhi: The Centre for Science and Environment has determined that on average, PM2.5 concentration at 17 pollution hotspots in Delhi-NCR initially showed a fall in 2020 only to rise again at several locations this year, with a few even faring worse than in 2019. The CSE analysis, which is based on the Central Pollution Control Board’s real time air quality data, found industrial locations such as Bawana, Mundka, Narela, Sahibabad, Jahangirpuri and Wazirpur to be among the areas with an upward trend in PM2.5 levels. CPCB and DPCC had identified 13 places in Delhi with average PM2.5 and PM10 levels throughout the year higher than the mean of the city and designated them as pollution hotspots. A comparison of the annual average PM2.5 levels of 17 hotspots show them all recording an improvement in 2020 mainly due to the Covid lockdown. However, the gains made last year were lost this year as pollution levels again increased at most of the locations. Mayapuri in Delhi and Faridabad in NCR were the exception, with the annual average PM2.5 concentration there remaining stable till December 13 compared with the level in 2020. Jahangirpuri and Narela saw a spike in PM2.5 concentration in 2021 against the levels of 2019. The annual average PM2.5 concentration at Jahangirpuri was 129 micrograms per cubic metre in 2019. It reduced to 124 micrograms per cubic metre in 2020 but has again shot up to 131 micrograms per cubic metre this year. Similarly, Narela’s annual average PM2.5 concentration was 101 micrograms per cubic metre in 2019 before it rose to 105 and 112 micrograms per cubic metre in 2020 and 2021, respectively. According to the analysis, of the 17 hotspots, 10 recorded PM2.5 concentrations higher than the Delhi city average of 104 micrograms per cubic metre. However, seven locations — Bahadurgarh, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Mandir Marg, Mayapuri, Okhla Phase II and RK Puram — reported average levels below that of the Delhi city average. Experts said the cause of the pollution spike in some locations should be investigated. They stressed that apart from a city-wide action plan, local issues in certain areas should also be targeted. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE, said, “It is necessary to strengthen targeted action to control highly polluting local sources including waste burning, local industrial stack and fugitive emissions, construction activities, unpaved roads, and traffic congestion. Strong local action has to align with city-wide improvement in infrastructure, compliance systems and clean fuel access." Meanwhile, CSE analysis of the current winter season (October-December 13) showed a mixed trend with several hotspots recording an improvement and a few worsening from the status in 2020.

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

For every kilo of petha produced, 400 grams of waste adds to Agra’s pollution woes’

As per the findings of a recent study, Agra’s famous petha industry generates 17,800 kilograms of solid waste per day. The waste is dumped in public spaces which raises the risk of outbreak of diseases like cholera, malaria, dengue and diarrhoea. Details here. The magnificence of the Taj Mahal is undoubtedly the first image that strikes most of the people whenever Agra is mentioned but what is often overlooked about the city is the unhygienic disposal of waste that is prevalent in its congested lanes and bylanes. What adds to the city’s notorious waste disposal woes is its petha industry. Rivalling the Taj Mahal in being the historic city’s identity for centuries, petha is a soft, translucent candy made from winter melons (ash gourd) but a study titled Petha Waste Management in Agra City – An Assessment which was conducted by New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment in April, 2021, reveals that 17,800 kilograms of solid waste is generated by the petha industry in the city. Also Read: India’s waste management systems unfit to address the silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance The study informs that 44,650 kilograms of raw petha is procured for producing the sweetmeat on a daily basis and the final product produced in a day weighs 26,850 kilograms. “Therefore about 0.4 kg of petha waste is generated for every 1 kg raw petha used to make petha,” the study found. Also Read: World Toilet Day: ‘Livelihood a bigger concern for sanitation workers than personal safety’ According to the study, due to improper collection, transportation and processing facilities most of this petha waste is dumped or disposed of on open plots and grounds or roads. “The petha waste purifies and emits a foul odour, is an unpleasant sight and attracts flies and mosquitoes, leading to diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, malaria and dengue,” it stated. To study the process of petha making, current management practices and disposal of waste generated from petha making and to estimate the quantity of waste, 30 petha makers in eight locations under three administrative zones were covered — Chhatta, Lohamandi and Tajganj. Also Read: ‘90% diarrhoea deaths in India due to lack of safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities’ Challenges for treating petha waste The study mentioned that storing large volumes of ash gourd peel, which forms almost 40 per cent of the total petha waste, is a challenge for petha makers. “ Large metal or plastic vessels are used for storing the waste. The size of the vessel depends on the scale of production. For example, every 100 kg of raw petha produces about 40 kg of petha waste, which is completely organic and biodegradable,” the study stated. During the study, vessels full of ash gourd peel were found on the roadside, with stray cattle feeding from it. “Field-level observation suggests that the current practice of storing and placement of petha waste prior to disposal needs substantial improvement,” it mentioned. Also Read: Open dumping and burning of mixed biomedical waste raises a stink in Sitapur It is informed that about 54 per cent petha makers that were interviewed during the study claimed that their waste—which is basically vegetable peels—is collected by cattle farms in Agra city. “However, no field-level evidence of the collection mechanism was observed,” the study noted. The study added that despite the significant pollution footprints from petha waste since the 1990s, no dedicated facility has been planned or installed. “While the Agra Municipal Corporation has recognized the management of petha waste as a major challenge, field-level arrangements to manage the waste were absent,” it stated. As a result, petha waste has been dealt with like other municipal solid waste generated within the city. “Processing and treatment is currently limited to options exercised by the petha makers, such as sending waste to cattle farms as feed for animals, giving the waste to AMC’s collection services for monthly charges, getting rid of the waste through the informal collectors and dumping it erratically in the nearest dhalaos or bins,” it noted. “In absence of a proper collection, transportation and treatment facilities, the problem has barely been addressed. Petha peel and seeds extracted from petha pulp have a good market if avenues to use them are properly planned and executed,” it added. Solutions for safe disposal of petha waste According to the study, there are about 200 cattle farms around the city that require 40,000–48,000 kg of cattle feed every day (assuming the daily diet of cattle is around 25–30 kgs). Also Read: CPCB guidelines and centralised waste treatment facilities help in better management of COVID19 waste in Delhi: Toxics Link study “Therefore systematic channelization of the petha waste could be a good solution to the problem of petha waste in Agra. Such system would require planned fleet movement designed to factor in the total quantity of petha waste generated every day,” it suggested. The study also mentioned as a suggestion that petha seeds can be sold in local markets at different rates depending on whether they are raw or processed. “Wet seeds are sold for about Rs 15 per kg while the dried seeds are sold for as much as Rs 60 per kilogram,” claimed the study. Some suggestions from the study Creating a geotagged inventory of petha makers in Agra: To effectively plan for sustainable management of petha waste, it is of paramount importance to create an inventory of petha makers in the city. By geotagging the locations and providing trade licenses to the petha makers, ANN can keep a tab on the changing number of petha making units in Agra. Getting the petha makers registered as bulk waste generators: According to Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, establishments producing more than 100 kg of waste on a daily basis shall be considered BWGs (bulk waste generators) and they shall be responsible for in situ treatment of the organic waste. As revealed during the study, all the petha makers are BWGs as they produce more than 100 kg of organic waste on a daily basis. Hence Agra Nagar Nigam should serve them notice to get themselves registered as BWGs. Alternative use of raw petha waste for generation of food products: Raw petha has several health benefits. Once it is utilised for petha making, however, it is considered as waste by petha makers. Petha waste can also be used to make food products like pickles etc.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Delhi pollution: Curbs imposed by agencies had little impact, say experts

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on November 16, after directions from the Supreme Court, put in place a slew of measures to check pollution levels, including a ban on construction across the NCR, stopping the entry of trucks Residents of the Capital breathed “very poor” air for the third straight day on Wednesday, even a month after the central air quality management panel imposed curbs on polluting activities across the National Capital Region (NCR), with experts blaming the coupled impact of inaction against active local pollutants and unfavourable weather conditions for the negligible effects of these restrictions on the city’s pollution indices. Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) continued in the “very poor” zone on Wednesday, with a reading of 363 at 4pm, barely lower than 367 on Tuesday and worse than 331 on Monday, according to data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Over the last fortnight, Delhi has recorded one “severe”, nine “very poor” and five “poor” AQI days. The city recorded at least one “moderate” air day during the same period last year, as well as in 2019. The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on November 16, after directions from the Supreme Court, put in place a slew of measures to check pollution levels, including a ban on construction across the NCR, stopping the entry of trucks carrying non-essential items into Delhi, as well as shutting schools and educational institutions. Experts, however, said that these measures have not had the desired impact due to a combination of “misdirected” orders and inconducive weather conditions. “After Diwali, Delhi has not received a proper western disturbance, which brings some rain and clears out accumulated pollutants. We received one spell of rain, but just 1mm, which was barely enough to clear the air. The accumulated pollutants since Diwali have also not been cleared off because of slower than usual winds. Winds from the northwest have seen several obstructions, which means that by the time they reached Delhi, they weakened and could not properly disperse pollution particles,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice-president (meteorology and climate change), Skymet Weather Services. Palawat said that November and December usually see at least two to three western disturbances each. But this year, only one active western disturbance has hit the city over the two months so far. Maximum wind speeds have also only gone up to 15kmph in the period. Further, the delayed monsoon withdrawal this year also pushed back stubble burning season in Punjab and Haryana, which then peaked around Diwali (on November 4), creating a double whammy situation for the Capital. The remnants of pollution from this period are yet to disperse entirely, said experts. This, they said, can be seen in the severe concentration of aged organic carbon in Delhi’s air currently, according to the Union ministry of earth science’ air quality early warning system. Aged organic carbon (OC2) is an indicator of accumulated pollution in the air. The data showed that from November 3 to December 10, the OC2 levels were between 80µg/m3 and 150µg/m3, which indicates high accumulation. Experts meanwhile said that action against local air pollution sources needed to be amped up. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said that several pollution analysis and weather forecasting systems in Delhi showed that vehicles were the biggest contributor to the city’s poor air. “We recently released an analysis studying the data from IITM’s (Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology) decision support system and found that after stubble burning season ended, vehicular emissions were the biggest contributor to Delhi’s pollution, and there has not been much focus on that. Yes, the truck entry has been banned, but after the construction of the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways, the share of non-destined trucks entering Delhi is anyway very low,” said Roychowdhury. She added, “We are yet to make any concrete call on increasing parking charges and improving our public transport systems to discourage the use of private vehicles, especially at a time we are witnessing an emergency situation.” CAQM spokespersons did not respond to requests for comment. Other experts also agreed on the need for stronger moves against local pollution sources, while also working on the air shed as a whole. “Forecasts indicate that emissions from vehicles, road dust and biomass burning industries and regional emissions from nearby districts such as Sonipat and Jhajjhar (Haryana) are driving the pollution levels in the Capital. Therefore, actions must be taken to reduce emissions from year-round sources of pollution like transport, road and construction dust, and disposal of municipal waste. Further, restrictions on heavy vehicles entering the city should continue to be enforced,” said Tanushree Ganguly, programme lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) She added, “The Delhi government should also explore hiking the parking charge to limit the use of privately owned vehicles... Since a significant share of Delhi’s pollution burden can still be attributed to sources outside the city limits, it is important to ensure stringent enforcement and a close watch on its compliance of the CAQM directions in NCR districts as well.”

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

आखिर प्रदूषण से लड़ने के लिए एनसीआर के राज्यों को दिल्ली जितना ध्यान देने की जरूरत क्यों है | भारत की ताजा खबर

नई दिल्ली: पिछले तीन दशकों में दिल्ली लगातार दुनिया के सबसे प्रदूषित शहरों में शुमार है, देश की राजधानी हवा की गुणवत्ता को ठीक करने के लिए देख रहे सरकारी निकायों, न्यायपालिका और एजेंसियों के लिए ध्यान का केंद्र रही है। यह ध्यान 1990 के दशक का है जब हवा जहरीली होने लगी थी, जिससे हर सर्दियों में शहर पर धुंध छाई हुई थी। केंद्रीय प्रदूषण नियंत्रण बोर्ड, राज्य प्रदूषण नियंत्रण बोर्ड और सुप्रीम कोर्ट द्वारा नियुक्त पर्यावरण प्रदूषण (रोकथाम और नियंत्रण) प्राधिकरण जैसे निकाय सभी का गठन वर्ष 1998 तक किया गया था, सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने वर्ष तक राजधानी भर में एक बड़ा बदलाव शुरू किया था। 2002 के रूप में इसने सभी सार्वजनिक परिवहन को संपीड़ित-प्राकृतिक गैस (सीएनजी) में स्थानांतरित करने के लिए कहा, एक ऐसा कदम जिसने दिल्ली के लिए लाभ उठाया है, लेकिन पड़ोसी एनसीआर शहरों में लेने में विफल रहा है। हालांकि, दुनिया भर में, उदाहरणों ने एक “एयरशेड” दृष्टिकोण दिखाया है – जो केवल अलग-अलग शहरों और कस्बों पर काम करने के बजाय एक बड़े भौगोलिक क्षेत्र पर विचार करता है – वायु प्रदूषण को सामूहिक रूप से हल करने का तरीका है, एक समस्या दिल्ली और उसके पड़ोसी राज्य असमर्थ रहे हैं अब तक संबोधित करने के लिए। एनसीआर और उसके आस-पास के क्षेत्रों के लिए वायु गुणवत्ता प्रबंधन आयोग (सीएक्यूएम) ने हाल ही में इस मुद्दे को संबोधित करने के लिए दिल्ली सरकार द्वारा लगाए गए एनसीआर में समान प्रतिबंध लगाए हैं। 14 नवंबर को, दिल्ली सरकार ने निर्माण गतिविधियों को बंद कर दिया, स्कूलों और कॉलेजों को बंद कर दिया और सरकारी कार्यालयों को घर से काम करना शुरू कर दिया। दो दिन बाद, आयोग ने एक समान आदेश जारी किया, इन सभी गतिविधियों पर प्रतिबंध लगा दिया, लेकिन पूरे एनसीआर में। एयरशेड दृष्टिकोण सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) में कार्यकारी निदेशक, अनुसंधान और वकालत अनुमिता रॉयचौधरी का कहना है कि सुप्रीम कोर्ट सहित बड़ी संख्या में निर्णयों ने एनसीआर को राष्ट्रीय राजधानी होने के नाते एक एयरशेड क्षेत्र के रूप में देखने के लिए कहा है, दिल्ली हमेशा सुर्खियों में रही है और इसलिए इसने तेजी से बदलाव देखा है। “विचार हमेशा एनसीआर को समग्र रूप से मानने और एक ही समय में पूरे क्षेत्र में बदलाव लाने का रहा है, लेकिन राजधानी होने के नाते दिल्ली हमेशा सवालों के घेरे में रही है। इस स्तर पर, अब आपको दो-स्तरीय दृष्टिकोण की आवश्यकता है। केंद्र से एक शीर्ष स्तरीय दृष्टिकोण और राज्य सरकारों से नीचे से ऊपर की तैयारी। किसी भी प्रकार के दृश्य परिवर्तन को देखने के लिए हमें दोनों को सद्भाव में कार्य करने की आवश्यकता है, ”रॉयचौधरी कहते हैं, राज्यों के बीच समन्वय एक महत्वपूर्ण कारक रहा है, लेकिन राज्यों को भी व्यक्तिगत रूप से कार्य करने की आवश्यकता है। रॉयचौधरी ऐसे उपायों का सुझाव देते हैं जिन्हें अब लागू किया जा सकता है, जिसमें थर्मल पावर प्लांटों को क्लीनर तकनीक में बदलना, एनसीआर में उद्योगों में क्लीनर ईंधन को अपनाना और नई सीएनजी या इलेक्ट्रिक आधारित बसों का उपयोग करना शामिल है। “ईपीसीए, या आयोग जैसे एक सामान्य केंद्रीय निकाय द्वारा जारी किए गए निर्देश अब पर्याप्त नहीं हैं। राज्यों को अपने लिए स्पष्ट समयसीमा निर्धारित करने और प्रदूषण के अपने व्यक्तिगत स्रोतों पर कार्य करने की आवश्यकता है। एक बार ऐसा करने के बाद, क्षेत्र अपने आप में सुधार देखना शुरू कर देता है। कुछ उपायों के लिए प्रत्येक एनसीआर राज्य और शहर में समान समयसीमा और प्रयासों की आवश्यकता होगी और वहां आयोग को कार्यान्वयन सुनिश्चित करना होगा, ”उसने कहा। पीएनजी और इलेक्ट्रिक वाहन आगे का रास्ता? दिल्ली ने वर्तमान में वाहनों और उद्योगों दोनों के लिए गंदे, अधिक प्रदूषणकारी ईंधन को चरणबद्ध तरीके से समाप्त करने के लिए दोहरे दृष्टिकोण का विकल्प चुना है। जबकि दिल्ली प्रदूषण नियंत्रण समिति (डीपीसीसी) द्वारा पाइप-प्राकृतिक गैस (पीएनजी) पर स्विच करने वाले उद्योगों को बंद किया जा रहा है, 15 वर्षीय पेट्रोल और 10 वर्षीय डीजल वाहन के पंजीकरण प्रमाण पत्र हैं नवीनीकरण नहीं किया जा रहा है और इसके बजाय इलेक्ट्रिक वाहनों के लिए सब्सिडी है। डब्ल्यूआरआई में इंटीग्रेटेड अर्बन ट्रांसपोर्ट के निदेशक अमित भट्ट का कहना है कि सीएनजी को अपनाने के लिए एनसीआर के लिए जहाज अब रवाना हो गया है, अब सार्वजनिक परिवहन को इलेक्ट्रिक वाहनों में बदलने पर ध्यान देने की आवश्यकता है। “सीएनजी को अपनाने के बाद दिल्ली ने बहुत अच्छा प्रदर्शन किया और लाभान्वित हुआ। जबकि स्विच राजधानी के लिए हुआ, हमें अभी तक एक व्यापक सीएनजी नेटवर्क और एनसीआर शहरों में कार्यान्वयन नहीं हुआ है और इसका मतलब है कि उन स्रोतों से प्रदूषण हवा में बना हुआ है, ”भट्ट ने कहा। उनका मानना ​​है कि जहां सीएनजी किफायती है, वहीं दिल्ली की इलेक्ट्रिक-वाहन नीति व्यापक है और अन्य राज्य भी इसी तरह का तंत्र अपना सकते हैं। “सभी राज्यों को समान तरंग दैर्ध्य पर रहने और मिलकर काम करने की आवश्यकता है। तभी वाहन क्षेत्र में समग्र प्रदूषण भार में कमी देखी जा सकती है, ”भट्ट ने कहा। अपनी ओर से, दिल्ली सरकार केंद्र और उसके पड़ोसियों को सुझाव दे रही है कि वे अपने सार्वजनिक परिवहन बेड़े के लिए सीएनजी अपनाएं। अक्टूबर में, दिल्ली के पर्यावरण मंत्री गोपाल राय ने एक बैठक में इस बात पर जोर दिया जिसमें एनसीआर में वायु गुणवत्ता प्रबंधन आयोग के अध्यक्ष, एमएम कुट्टी और केंद्रीय पर्यावरण मंत्री भूपेंद्र यादव शामिल थे। हॉट मिक्स प्लांट, स्टोन क्रशर और ईंट-भट्टे सभी दिल्ली के बाहर फलते-फूलते हैं सेंटर फॉर रिसर्च ऑन एनर्जी एंड क्लीन एयर (सीआरईए) के विश्लेषक सुनील दहिया ने कहा कि जहां कई उद्योगों को दिल्ली से बाहर स्थानांतरित कर दिया गया है, वहीं एनसीआर शहरों में ईंट-भट्ठों, हॉट-मिक्स प्लांट और स्टोन क्रशर अभी भी एक कारक थे। . ग्रेडेड रिस्पांस एक्शन प्लान (जीआरएपी) के हिस्से के रूप में, इन इकाइयों को पूरे एनसीआर में बंद करने की आवश्यकता है, जब हवा की गुणवत्ता गंभीर रूप से प्रभावित होती है – 250 माइक्रोग्राम प्रति क्यूबिक मीटर की पीएम 2.5 सीमा को पार करना और 430 माइक्रोग्राम प्रति क्यूबिक मीटर की पीएम 10 एकाग्रता को पार करना। “पिछले कुछ वर्षों में, क्लीनर ज़िग-ज़ैग तकनीक पर स्विच करने के लिए बहुत सारे ईंट-भट्ठों का निर्माण किया गया था, लेकिन उनमें से बहुत से अभी भी ऐसा करना बाकी है। जीआरएपी के दौरान हर सर्दियों में इन इकाइयों पर अधिक ध्यान दिया जाता है और बंद कर दिया जाता है, लेकिन साल भर ये एक समस्या बनी रहती है, ”वे कहते हैं। ईंट-भट्ठों से ईंट जलाने की प्रक्रिया के दौरान पीएम 2.5 और पीएम 10 दोनों के अलावा कार्बन मोनोऑक्साइड और सल्फर डाइऑक्साइड छोड़ते हैं। स्टोन क्रशर बड़ी मात्रा में पीएम 10 और धूल छोड़ते हैं, जबकि नाइट्रोजन के ऑक्साइड, सल्फर के ऑक्साइड और सीओ फिर से निकलते हैं। हॉट-मिक्स प्लांट्स के माध्यम से। थर्मल पावर प्लांट – दिल्ली के लिए उच्च प्रदूषण का वार्षिक स्रोत दिल्ली ने भले ही 2015 और 2018 में अपने दो कोयला आधारित थर्मल पावर प्लांट बंद कर दिए हों, लेकिन शहर में अभी भी 300 किलोमीटर के दायरे में कम से कम 12 प्रमुख बिजली संयंत्र हैं। जबकि इन बिजली संयंत्रों को पर्यावरण मंत्रालय द्वारा 2015 में जारी मानदंडों के अनुसार क्लीनर फ्लू-गैस डिसल्फराइजेशन (एफजीडी) तकनीक पर स्विच करना था, दहिया का कहना है कि अब तक 12 में से केवल 2 बिजली संयंत्रों ने इस कदम की शुरुआत की है। इन कोयला आधारित संयंत्रों से होने वाले प्रदूषण को रोकने के लिए, उनमें से पांच को 17 नवंबर से इस क्षेत्र में अस्थायी रूप से बंद कर दिया गया है। यह पहली बार है जब किसी नियामक निकाय ने प्रदूषण को नियंत्रित करने के लिए थर्मल पावर प्लांट बंद कर दिए हैं। “दादरी बिजली संयंत्र और झज्जर संयंत्र ने सल्फर डाइऑक्साइड उत्सर्जन को नियंत्रित करने के लिए FGD तकनीक स्थापित की है, लेकिन उनके अलावा, शेष संयंत्रों में से कोई भी मानकों को पूरा नहीं कर रहा है। सीएक्यूएम द्वारा अपनाया गया दृष्टिकोण इस मायने में अच्छा है कि 2015 के मानकों को पूरा नहीं करने वालों को बंद कर दिया जाना चाहिए, ”दहिया ने कहा। आईआईटी कानपुर द्वारा इस साल की शुरुआत में जारी एक अध्ययन में कहा गया है कि बिजली संयंत्रों के प्रदूषण में योगदान गर्मियों के दौरान भी अधिक रहता है, जो दिल्ली के कुल पीएम 2.5 लोड का लगभग 16.2% है, दूसरा, केवल धूल के पीछे। सच्चिदा एन. त्रिपाठी, एचओडी – सिविल इंजीनियरिंग, आईआईटी कानपुर, जिन्होंने अध्ययन किया, ने कहा कि 2019 के जून और जुलाई में किए गए रीयल-टाइम स्रोत विभाजन के आंकड़ों में दिल्ली की हवा में उच्च सल्फेट स्तर पाए गए, जो आम तौर पर तब निकलते हैं जब ऑक्साइड सल्फर गर्मी के साथ प्रतिक्रिया करता है। त्रिपाठी ने कहा, “वे जिस दिशा से आ रहे थे, उसके आधार पर हम जानते थे कि यह बिजली संयंत्रों से था और कोई अन्य स्रोत नहीं था।” क्षेत्र के लिए आगे का रास्ता ऊर्जा, पर्यावरण और जल परिषद (सीईईडब्ल्यू) में अनुसंधान और समन्वय के फेलो और निदेशक कार्तिक गणेशन का कहना है कि एनसीआर के भीतर प्रदूषण के कई स्रोतों को संबोधित करना महत्वपूर्ण होगा। “जैसा कि हम एपिसोडिक खेत की आग के प्रभाव से देख सकते हैं, दिल्ली में दूर के स्रोतों के प्रभाव भी महसूस किए जाते हैं। दिल्ली पर विशेष ध्यान दिए बिना, सभी क्षेत्रों में राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर स्वीकृत उत्सर्जन मानकों और शमन उपायों के समान कार्यान्वयन पर ध्यान दिया जाना चाहिए। हालांकि सीएनजी और पीएनजी को पेश करने के दिल्ली के प्रयास सराहनीय हैं, लेकिन इन हस्तक्षेपों की मापनीयता व्यापक भूगोल में एक चुनौती है। निरंतर निगरानी और निगरानी के माध्यम से उत्सर्जन मानदंडों को लागू करना दिल्ली द्वारा लागू किए गए समाधानों को दोहराने की तुलना में कहीं अधिक प्रभावशाली होने की संभावना है, ”गणेश ने कहा। इस बीच रायचौधरी ने राज्यों के बीच बेहतर समन्वय पर जोर दिया। “हमें राज्यों को आम मुद्दों को हल करने के लिए मिलकर काम करने की आवश्यकता है क्योंकि वायु प्रदूषण एक एनसीआर शहर से दूसरे शहर में जाएगा। जब तक प्रत्येक राज्य सरकार प्रतिबद्ध है, हम कोई बड़ा अंतर नहीं ला सकते हैं।

• Industrial Pollution

Delhi's Industrial Units Switch to Clean Fuels as Directed by the Commission for Air Quality Management

Complying with the Commission for Air Quality Management's (CAQM) direction, all 1,636 industrial units that were re-inspected twice in October and November were found to have converted to clean fuels. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) carried out the re-inspection of 1,636 industries to check the use of fuel or Piped Natural Gas (PNG) and found out that all operating units are complying or using the latter as fuel, the Delhi government said in a report. The CAQM on December 2 directed that industrial operations and processes in the National Capital Region (NCR), not running on PNG or cleaner fuels, shall be allowed to operate only up to eight hours a day from Monday to Friday and shall not be allowed to operate on Saturdays and Sundays. As per the report, 2,447 industrial sites have been inspected from November 17 to 25. Of these, five were found defaulting, which were shut down, and a fine of Rs 20 lakh was imposed on them. The inspection figure rose by 23% in December as the DPCC teams visited 3,002 sites from November 26 to December 6. Five industries found defaulting were shut down, and a fine of Rs 8.5 lakh was imposed. The CAQM, in its October report, had stated that all the identified industries in the national capital have switched to cleaner fuels. However, the neighbouring states are yet to follow suit. The use of non-cleaner fuels in the industries of either the capital or its adjoining regions affects the air quality adversely. As per the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report, industries contributed 9.9-13.7% to air pollution in the national capital between October 24 and November 8 this year. Delhi's AQI improved slightly and settled in the 'poor' category at 256 on Monday morning, as per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research's (SAFAR) estimates. According to the air quality and weather bulletin for Delhi-NCR, "The air quality over Delhi-NCT is likely to deteriorate marginally and remain in poor to the lower end of very poor category on December 13. The air quality is likely to remain in very poor category on December 14 and 15. The outlook for subsequent five days: The air quality is likely to remain in the 'very poor' category till December 16 and improve thereafter significantly."

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Air quality in Delhi deteriorates further amid low temperature, moderate winds

Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 7.5°C and maximum temperature of 22.7°C on Tuesday, both a degree below the normal temperature for this time of the year. Delhi’s air quality deteriorated on Tuesday, touching the higher end of the “very poor” category, as temperatures remained low and wind speed remained moderate. The Capital recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 367, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) daily 4 pm bulletin on Tuesday, an increase from Monday’s reading of 331 (very poor), and 254 (poor) on Sunday. Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 7.5°C and maximum temperature of 22.7°C on Tuesday, both a degree below the normal temperature for this time of the year. In comparison, the maximum and minimum temperature on Monday was 22.4°C and 6.6°C. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast the minimum temperature to remain around 7°C for the next two days. It, however, said that the minimum temperature could rise to around 8 degrees Celsius (°C) by Friday under the influence of a fresh western disturbance, which is expected to bring a spell of very light rain on Thursday night. The temperatures will again start dropping from Saturday and could touch 5-6 degrees Celsius, it added. “There is a possibility of very light rain and drizzle activity occurring on the evening and night of December 16. This is under the influence of another western disturbance, but its impact will be minimal as it will be fairly weak over Delhi NCR,” said R.K Jenamani, scientist at IMD. In terms of air quality, agencies forecast that Delhi’s AQI will remain in the “very poor” range till Wednesday, with a slight improvement expected from Thursday. “Delhi is recording low temperatures for the past three days and that has led to a slight deterioration in air quality, with wind speed also moderate. Air quality will remain ‘very poor’ for two days before a combination of some light rain and an increase in wind speed aids Delhi from Thursday onwards,” said Gufran Beig, founder and project director at the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (Safar). CPCB classifies AQI as “poor” when it is between 201 and 300, as “very poor” when it is between 301 and 400, and “severe” when it is over 400. Delhi last recorded a “severe” day on December 2. According to experts, Delhi tends to see a second spike in air pollution towards the last week of December, when temperatures dip to their lowest. “Air quality should remain between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ during this period, but historical data shows a spike tends to occur in the last week of December and the first week of January,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

In New Delhi hebben sommige kinderen hun juf nog nooit fysiek ontmoet

Luchtvervuiling India Na 21 maanden coronalockdown mochten kinderen in New Delhi eindelijk weer naar school. Maar de vreugde was van korte duur: vanwege de zeer slechte luchtkwaliteit gingen de klaslokalen een paar dagen later alweer dicht. Maandag 29 november was een dag waarnaar het hele gezin van Richa Ojha lang had uitgekeken. Vrolijk en vol goede moed zette ze haar twee zoons af bij school, na maar liefst 21 maanden thuisonderwijs. Maar drie dagen later zaten Rudsranch (7) en Reyansh (4) alweer thuis achter hun beeldscherm. Tot nu toe konden de kinderen in december niet één volle week naar school. Het knipperlichtbeleid is het gevolg van de worsteling van het stadsbestuur van New Delhi, dat zich niet alleen geconfronteerd ziet met corona, maar ook met een gevaarlijk slechte luchtkwaliteit. „Hoorndol” wordt Ohja ervan – zij besloot na een verhuizing in corona-tijd thuis te blijven voor de online lessen. In de wintermaanden zorgen weersomstandigheden en luchtvervuiling voor een giftige deken boven Delhi. Naast de gebruikelijke uitlaatgassen door het verkeer, is er extra vervuiling door de rijstboeren in de omliggende districten die in dit seizoen hun oogstresten verbranden, en dan is er ook nog de extra vervuiling door het vuurwerk tijdens lichtjesfeest Diwali. Beiden vielen dit jaar in november. De maand ging de boeken in als de slechtste ooit gemeten door de centrale monitor (CPCB) van het ministerie van Milieu. Op elf dagen sloegen de luchtkwaliteitsmeters uit tot ‘zeer ernstig’, waarbij ook gezonde mensen direct last kunnen krijgen van de concentratie fijnstofdeeltjes in de lucht. Bekijk ook deze fotoserie: Uitlaatgassen, fabrieksuitstoot en rook hullen New Delhi in een dik pak smog Na die piek in de luchtvervuiling konden scholen en hogescholen eind november heropenen, vond het stadsbestuur. Maar op 2 december liet het Hooggerechtshof, dat een langlopende petitie behandelt over het beleid tegen luchtvervuiling, zich daarover zeer kritisch uit. Het stadsbestuur kreeg 24 uur om nieuwe maatregelen te treffen en besloot prompt tot een nieuwe schoolsluiting. Ook de dochter van tandarts Pooja Bahl heeft dus weer thuis les, vertelt zij aan de telefoon. Het is vrijdagavond, Isha van 12 mag haar huiswerk even laten voor wat het is. „Mijn praktijk is aan huis, dus gedurende de dag kan ik een paar keer binnenvallen. Maar ik doe dat niet van harte, controleren of ze wel online oplet. Ik had gehoopt dat niet meer te hoeven doen.” Al bijna twee jaar Veel ouders in Delhi maken zich grote zorgen over de gevolgen van het langdurige online leren. Het onderwijs in India ging in maart vorig jaar op slot wegens corona. Sommige kinderen die toen begonnen in de kleuterklas hebben hun allereerste juf nog nooit fysiek ontmoet. Richa Ojha’s jongste zoon heeft net de schoolgaande leeftijd, maar „Reyansh begrijpt nu niet wat ‘naar school gaan’ is, alles gaat via een schermpje. Terwijl het op zijn leeftijd juist belangrijk is om buitenshuis sociale dingen te doen. En mijn oudste zoon mist zijn vriendjes uit de klas.” Ojha en Bahl behoren tot de welvarende Indiërs die hun kinderen naar privéscholen sturen, en proberen te helpen met huiswerk. Maar het VN-kinderfonds Unicef becijferde dat slechts 60 procent van alle scholieren in India de middelen heeft voor digitaal onderwijs. Het land telde voor de pandemie ongeveer 268 miljoen schoolgaande kinderen; tientallen miljoenen leerlingen moesten zich dus behelpen met enkel tekstboeken. In september, toen het coronavirus nog de reden voor de sluiting was, deed Unicef onderzoek naar ontstane leerachterstanden. 76 procent van de ouders merkte dat hun jonge kinderen (5-13 jaar) minder goed leken te leren; onder de tieners die zelf antwoordden was dat 80 procent. Op openbare scholen in Delhi zou sluiting door de pandemie de uitval van zo’n 30 procent van de scholieren veroorzaken, stelde een landelijke ouderraad onlangs. Leerlingen die niet meekonden in de digitale lessen, zouden bij heropening niet meer zijn teruggekeerd. De organisatie waarschuwt voor isolatie van kinderen. Sociale ongelijkheid, kinderarbeid en exploitatie kunnen toenemen: „We mogen niet uit het oog verliezen dat school voor veel leerlingen een veilige plek is.” Maar is school ook een gezonde plek? Richa denkt dat „de lucht thuis of in de klas even goed of slecht is”. In haar huis beschikt ze in ieder niet over extra voorzorgsmaatregelen. Op Twitter klinken, onder de hashtag #Backtoschool, ook andere geluiden. Daar wijzen ouders erop dat in sommige privéscholen veel luchtfilters staan, maar dat openbare zulke maatregelen vaak niet kunnen treffen. „Ronduit triest”, aldus een ouder. Structurele aanpak Het is lastig om over de luchtkwaliteit op specifieke plekken te spreken, zeker als het gaat om verschillende thuissituaties, reageert Anumita Roychowdhury van het Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), dat veel studies doet naar de luchtverontreiniging in de hoofdstad. Ze voelt mee met „het dilemma” voor ouders: „Kinderen zijn kwetsbaar, hun longen zijn nog niet zo sterk. Zij moeten zo min mogelijk aan de vervuiling worden blootgesteld. Maar daarmee is niet gezegd dat ze per se thuis moeten blijven.” Ook in voorgaande jaren golden tijdelijk ‘vervuiling-lockdowns’, of werden vakanties verlengd zodat kinderen binnen konden blijven tijdens de ergste vervuiling. Maar door de recente ad-hoc besluiten is het geduld bij ouders op, denkt Roychowdhury. Na de ‘pandemie-lockdown’ willen ouders dat het leven van hun kinderen weer makkelijker wordt. „We zouden nu ouders de keuze kunnen geven. De scholieren die komen, blijven in de klas en er zijn geen buitenactiviteiten. Vanwege coronarichtlijnen moeten ze sowieso een mondkapje dragen.” Lees ook Vluchten uit sepia gekleurde, permanente rookhok Delhi De belangrijkste kritiek van het CSE: incidentele schoolsluitingen veranderen niets aan het eigenlijke probleem. Roychowdhury pleit voor een structurele aanpak. „Het weer kunnen we niet veranderen. Maar lokale overheden kunnen wel strenge restricties instellen op vervuilende voertuigen, het gebruik van steenkool, of afvalverbranding. Men moet het hele jaar proberen vervuiling te verminderen, en niet alleen in actie komen als ’s winters de meters uitslaan.” Voor de schoolsluiting was geen einddatum gegeven. Na twee weken getouwtrek kwam dinsdag hoopgevend nieuws voor de ouders: het departement voor onderwijs in New Delhi stelt de directe heropening van het onderwijs voor voor tieners en studenten, en voor de jongsten vanaf maandag. Ojha houdt er rekening mee dat die behoedzaamheid zal voortduren. „Nu zitten we ook nog met de nieuwe coronavariant”, verzucht ze aan de telefoon. „Ik zie al aankomen dat het de volgende reden wordt voor weer een sluiting .”

• Sustainable Mobility

Is India’s Pollution Data Hiding Behind The Poor?

The bottom 50 per cent of India's population who holds just 2.8 per cent of national wealth, are prone to health issues and other factors due to increased pollution levels. Janak Prasad, 52, lives in Jasola, Delhi, from where he commutes to his office every day on a bicycle. He says it is convenient and economical, and it also saves a lot of time. However, his major concern is that there’s no separate lane for cyclists. “We have to ride on the main road which makes us prone to road accidents. And then there is air pollution. Cyclists directly inh­a­le the pollutants. We do not pollute the env­ironment but are the worst sufferers.” This very concern of Janak Prasad questions the government’s claim to have less per capita CO2 emissions in India than other countries. In last month’s COP26 summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that in India, CO2 emissions per capita are much lower than other major world economies. India has claimed this at several world conferences. He also talked about consumerism, and gave a mantra of LIFE—lifestyle for the environment. But a recent study conducted by Pew Research Center using World Bank data has estimated that the number of poor in India—with income of $2 per day or less in terms of purchasing power parity—has more than doubled to 134 million from 60 million in just a year due to the pandemic-induced recession. This shows that a large section of our society lacks the privilege of leading a decent lifestyle and they the contribute least to air pollution and CO2 emissions. If we try to understand this by taking the example of Delhi, then according to the recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment, the transport sector contribution is around half of the pollution from only local sources. This is followed by household pollution that has ranged bet­ween 12.5 to 13.5 per cent, industry 9.9-13.7 per cent, construction 6.7-7.9 per cent, with waste burning and road dust each varying between 4.6-4.9 per cent and 3.6-4.1 per cent, respectively. The data clearly indicates that vehicles contribute to 50 per cent of air pollution in Delhi. According to an economic survey report, 643 out of 1,000 people in Delhi own personal vehicles. This also means that 347 out of 1,000 people do not contribute to vehicle emissions. But if the per capita average of CO2 emission is calculated, then every person will contribute to CO2 emissions to some extent, directly or indirectly. If we look at the vehicle data for India, according to website Statista, there were around 225 registered vehicles for every thousand people across India in the fiscal year 2019-20. This means that over three quarters of India’s population do not own personal vehicles. Similarly, a sizeable population of India does not contribute to industrial pollution, or pollution due to construction, or pollution due to waste burning. Now, without taking these data into consideration, where already a large share of India’s population do not contribute to air pollution, India boasts its numbers on the global stage by calculating average per capita, as it gets us less CO2 emissions per capita. Greenpeace India’s senior climate campaigner Avinash Kumar Chanchal says, “We should stop calling the climate crisis a ‘human-induced’ crisis when we know the fact that just 100 polluting producers are responsible for around 70 per cent of global emissions. It is the rich countries and classes that have been historically responsible for emissions growth and they need to change their business and lifestyles if we are to ever tackle climate heating. We need to acknowledge that in soc­iety the most vulnerable communities are paying a higher price for impacts of climate change than the rich when they are not guilty of it in the first place.” He adds, at this point, that we are facing two sharply contradictory realities. On the one hand, we have a rapidly growing rich consumer class that has been contributing to the climate crisis by choosing certain lifestyle choices, and on the other hand, we have millions of low-inc­ome group people who are extremely vulnerable to climate or air pollution crisis. We need to talk about the elephant in the room. Who is contributing to the emissions? Is the rich class hiding behind the poor? On the international platform, India talks a lot about common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) which is the right thing to do, but is it right to implement this principle among the various social-economic groups in the country? India’s poor must not bear the climate impact bec­ause of the other India’s lifestyle choices. According to Oxfam India’s report 2020, India’s top one per cent population holds 42.5 per cent of the national wealth, while the bottom 50 per cent holds just 2.8 per cent. Now this 50 per cent are the people who are daily wage earners and migrants who work in unorganised sectors. These people commute by metro, bic­ycles, or even on foot. They work in high-risk areas where pollution levels are high, like at construction sites, along roadside dumping areas etc. Thus, this section is prone to health iss­ues and other factors due to increased pollution levels. The hazards of air pollution are not just res­tricted to our health and well-being, but also imp­act the economy of the country. According to the Greenpeace report, air pollution from fossil fuels costs India Rs 10.7 lakh crore annually. It is clear that the government must come up with a holistic mechanism to combat pollution which is suffocating not only our breath but has also started strangulating our economy. For the human race to survive, more than our health, the economy is the key factor for initiating any big change for our overall well-being and it has to happen now.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

India Has 9 Of World's 10 Most-Polluted Cities, But Few Air Quality Monitors

Research shows that the number of air quality monitors in India per million people is lower than other highly populated countries. This prevents it from gauging the true extent of various pollutants Mumbai: With its size, population and aggravating air pollution, India needs 1,600 to 4,000 air quality monitors but has only 804 as of September 16, 2021, most of which are concentrated in urban areas, shows research. This, experts say, prevents India from knowing the true extent, scale and geographical spread of various pollutants, and limits the government's ability for preventive public health measures. India has nine of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, but with 200 particulate matter (PM) 2.5 monitoring sites in operation during the 2010-2016 period, India's air quality monitor density--about 0.14 monitors per million people--is below China (1.2), the United States of America (3.4), Japan (0.5) and Brazil (1.8), according to research from 2019. As a consequence, India does not accurately know the spread of pollutants, including sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrous dioxide (NO2), respirable PM 10, the finer particulate matter or PM 2.5, lead, carbon monoxide (CO) and ammonia. Chronic exposure to these pollutants contributes to the risk of developing ailments such as cardiovascular, respiratory diseases, as well as of lung cancer, according to the World Health Organization. Further, since existing air quality monitors are concentrated in urban areas, health and environmental authorities cannot assess the extent of air pollution in rural areas due to biomass, fuelwood, stubble burning and spraying of pesticides. Real-time air quality monitoring needed Ambient air quality is monitored by observing pollutants, including SO2, NO2, PM 10, PM 2.5, lead, CO and ammonia, present in the air. Currently, the country's clean air programme has set a tentative national target of 20%-30% reduction of air pollution in 132 non-attainment cities by 2024, taking 2017 as the base year. The 'non-attainment cities', called so because they did not meet the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) at the time, are required to formulate city-specific action plans in order to reduce air pollution. So, while the thrust is on the most-polluted cities, rural and semi-urban areas are not being fully monitored for want of monitors and protocols. In India, air quality has been traditionally monitored using manual readings. Data from 804 monitoring stations are used for monitoring ambient air quality. Even after the introduction of real-time monitors, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) continues the practice of using data only from manual monitors to report compliance with air quality standards, according to a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report from 2020. There are 261 real-time monitors whose data are updated on the central database. This network is technically part of the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) but its data are stored and treated separately because CPCB has not established a method of equivalence between the two monitoring techniques, the 2020 CSE report pointed out. In the manual method, the monitoring of pollutants is carried out for 24 hours (four-hourly sampling for gaseous pollutants and eight-hourly sampling for particulate matter) with a frequency of only twice a week, whereas real-time monitors measure pollutants constantly. In simple terms, the readings from manual monitors are the ones the CPCB uses for ascertaining long-term air quality trends, including annual data on air quality. Data from real-time monitors are only included in calculating daily AQI (air quality index) of a location. "These numbers from our 2020 report need updating but, in any case, coverage of overall urban population is inadequate and rural population is completely outside the ambit of monitoring today," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at CSE and the report's author. "Manual monitoring protocol requires readings from 104 days in a year but for some stations, we have found data was recorded only for 50-75 days," she said. Manual monitors do not make sense for air quality monitoring anymore, said S.N. Tripathi, head of the civil engineering department at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and a member of the NCAP steering committee. "It is a very tedious procedure and readings once or twice a week are not very helpful for a day-to-day understanding of air quality. We need more frequent measurements--at least hourly readings are needed." Experts have suggested that data from real-time monitors also be used for ascertaining long-term trends and not just for daily AQI. In 2015, identifying this lack of monitors--there were even fewer at the time--IndiaSpend had launched its own network of low-cost sensors to measure the air quality in many Indian cities. You can read more about the project that ended in 2018, here. India needs 1,500 air quality monitoring stations The minimum number of stations to monitor suspended particulate matter where the area's population is less than 100,000 is four. The minimum number is three for SO2, four for NO2, one for CO, according to CPCB guidelines for ambient air quality monitoring released in 2003. The number of monitors required increases with the population. The number of sampling sites depends on the size of the area to be covered, variability of pollutant concentration, data requirements related to monitoring, pollutant to be monitored and population figures which can be used as indicators of criticality both from view of likely air quality deterioration as also health implications, the guidelines state. When scientists compared the density of India's monitoring network with that of other high-population countries, they found large differences. "It is like when a person is ailing, the doctor will need to measure fever before deciding the course of treatment, otherwise treatment can go wrong. The number of monitors we have recommended [in the paper] is the basic, bare minimum requirement," explained Tripathi, who is also one of the authors of this paper. India's six megacities (Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi) need at least 23 to 44 air quality monitoring stations each, while the existing number of stations range between nine and 12 [excluding Delhi], according to the CSE report from 2020. The monitors that India has are also not evenly distributed. "More than 33 per cent of the real-time monitors are concentrated in Delhi-NCR. Delhi alone has invested over Rs 100 crore to set up 38 stations over time," said the CSE report. In several states, including Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, station density is very poor and only two to five years of data are currently available, said another paper, titled 'Monitoring particulate matter in India' published in Springer journal in 2019. For comparison, there are 87 monitoring stations for PM 10 and 32 for PM 2.5 in the Greater London region, a city of nine million, it said. In 2021, Manipur, with a population of 2.7 million, has only one monitoring station and Arunachal Pradesh, with a population of 1.25 million has two. Using CPCB criteria, an average city of one million-plus residents requires around 25 monitoring stations, and if this number is extrapolated across 60 [million-plus] cities, a total of around 1,500 stations would be required, the Springer journal paper said. An environment ministry report on NCAP agreed. "With reference to the existing 4,000 cities in the country, 703 manual monitoring stations in 307 cities reflect limited numbers and need augmentation. It is proposed to augment it to 1500 stations from existing 703 stations," it stated in its 2019 report. At its very launch, NCAP had promised to increase the number of monitoring stations in the country, including rural monitoring stations. The cost of measuring pollutants To address the data gaps in monitoring pollutants, India will require 1,600-4,000 monitors (1.2-3 monitors per million people), the Elsevier paper said, and warned that even at these densities, only relatively basic information on common air pollutants would be available more frequently, and would cover a relatively limited area. The average cost of a monitoring station is around Rs 1 crore with around 10% for annual maintenance costs, the 2019 Springer paper had estimated. This would require an initial investment [of setting up 1,500 stations] of Rs 3,000 crore due to capital and operational costs for 10 years. India has set aside a budget of Rs 470 crore for control of pollution in the financial year 2021-22, which includes funding for its ambitious National Clean Air Programme. "On top of this, costs associated with infrastructure, personnel and training need to be accounted for; and this can be estimated as an additional Rs 3,000 crore; to cover other miscellaneous costs, an additional 50% is added to this, resulting in a total of Rs 7,500 crore. These estimates indicate that the average cost of running the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring [CAAQM] station network in each city over a 10-year period would amount to around Rs 12.5 crore per year," the paper read. Rural areas should also be monitored The NCAP report had itself pointed out the grave problem of air pollution in rural areas and proposed to set up 75 stations in rural areas. Rural areas suffer from outdoor air pollution as well as indoor air pollution. Major sources of outdoor air pollution are indiscriminate use of insecticides/pesticides sprays and burning of wheat and paddy straw. Atmospheric concentration of ozone has been observed higher in rural areas as compared to urban areas, the report stated. "Under NCAP, city-level action plans were to find out pollution sources within the city," said Sunil Dahiya, analyst, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. "But instead of looking at just cities, look at airsheds [airshed is a region which shares similar air quality]. States were supposed to formulate their own state-level clean air plans based on cities' plans. Stubble burning, power plants, these are regional sources of pollution and not limited to a city or town. A hybrid of local and regional approach is needed. While we have formulated local city action plans, we are far away from state or regional plans." Alternatives to expensive monitors Procuring new air quality monitors is expensive and time-consuming. "Apart from government monitors, there are monitors set up by industries. If that data is coupled with government data, it could give much more granular information for the situation of pollution across the country. It will also save the cost of setting up new stations," Dahiya said. Another alternative to expensive monitors could be low-cost sensors. These sensors offer an opportunity to generate high-resolution data at a lower cost, and with fewer deployment and access limitations. But they have not been proven to provide long-term, accurate data yet and efforts are underway to improve precision in such sensors. Latest analyses are supporting the case for deployment of well-designed low-cost sensors for measurement of air pollution at the city level, according to the Springer paper. "While it is true that we have to expand our monitoring network, procurement of monitors is very expensive. India needs to leverage its real-time monitoring network for long-term trends and have a hybrid model with satellite monitoring and low-cost sensors that help in mapping the pollution profile and exposure of a region," Roychowdhury said.

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Kumbakonam lone TN city among 28 in country cited for best practices in waste management

In the study titled 'Waste-wise cities', Kumbakonam has been featured as one of the three cities under the category of best practices in plastic waste management. THANJAVUR: Kumbakonam has emerged the only city in Tamil Nadu among the 28 featured by NITI Aayog and Centre for Science and Environment (CSC) in a study, for their best practices in municipal solid waste management. In the study titled 'Waste-wise cities', Kumbakonam has been featured as one of the three cities under the category of best practices in plastic waste management. The Kumbakonam municipality in Thanjavur district has a population of around 1.5 lakh with a daily floating population of 25,000 as it acts as a business centre and market for nearby villages not only in Thanjavur but also Ariyalur. The municipality has 45 wards with around 36,105 households. The city generates 70 tonnes of waste as a whole on average every day. Of the total waste generated, 58 per cent is biodegradable and the remaining non-bio degradable, officials said. The study said Kumbakonam is one of the few towns utilising non-recyclable plastics in an eco-friendly manner as refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in cement factories. Kumbakonam has also been utilising other non-biodegradable waste materials such as coconut shells and liquor bottles in a productive way, the study adds. The municipality also came third in Swachhata Excellence Award, 2019 for including self-help groups in its waste management mission. The study took into account that Kumbakonam is the first municipality in Tamil Nadu to have successfully used biomining technology for reclaiming a dump. At its peak, source segregation in the city stood at 80 per cent, which is a notch higher than most other municipalities in Tamil Nadu, the study said. When contacted, Dr K Prema, Municipal Health Officer of Kumbakonam said, of the 70 tonnes of waste, around 20 tonnes are of non-saleable plastic waste. "These are sent to cement factories in Ariyalur for use as refuse-derived fuel," Dr Prema said. Another six tonnes of plastic are saleable and sold to the waste merchants. The report appreciated the municipality for focusing on holistic waste management model with decentralised waste management and source segregation. The stakeholders, including resident welfare associations and SHGs, have been made integral part of the transformation, the report said. The information education and communication programme on waste management, which included drawing traditional kolam, rewarding good practitioners with gold coins, integrating authorised waste pickers in the management system, mixing of plastic aggregates with bitumen to lay roads -- all came into praise in the report. V Sathyanarayanan, secretary of the Federation of Kumbakonam All Traders Association who appreciated the efforts of the municipal administration, said the administration sensitised the public and traders to the evils of plastic waste and even took them to the waste segregation facility to highlight the need to do away with the carry bags.