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Identification Of Sources Of Pollution On Real Time Basis Starts In Delhi. What Does It Mean?

December 23, 2022
Bharat Times

The identification of air pollution sources in real time has started in Delhi, stated Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday evening.

“We have been working on this for quite some time,” he said.

Kejriwal examined the status of the ‘Real-time Source Apportionment Project’ on Friday. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has begun a study to detect the sources of Delhi’s pollution in real-time in partnership with the Indian Institute of Kanpur (IIT-K), Indian Institute of Delhi (IIT-D), and TERI.

In response to the study, the Chief Minister stated, “The real-time identification of air pollution sources has now begun in Delhi. The Delhi government and IIT Kanpur’s real-time source apportionment study are proactively assisting Delhi with pollution-related data. Based on the study’s findings, we have directed officials to take immediate steps to decrease pollution. The Delhi government will present the analysis to CAQM so that the Centre can address the issue as well,” according to a report by the news agency IANS.

What Does Identification Of Sources Of Pollution On Real-Time Basis Mean?

The real-time source apportionment study comprises of a supersite equipped with cutting-edge air analysers and mobile air quality monitoring equipment that will measure the concentrations of various compounds in the air above Delhi.

Secondary inorganic aerosols that travel long distances contribute to a considerable amount of the air pollution mix, according to the IIT Kanpur team, while biomass burning (wood, stubble, etc), vehicular emissions, and dust (road and construction) are the other major contributors of PM2.5 in the last month.

The researchers also displayed hourly data on recent pollution sources as well as the direction from which external pollution may have reached Delhi.

Following the meeting, Kejriwal directed the environment department and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to immediately begin identifying pollution sources and locations and taking all necessary steps to control pollution.

He also encouraged the DPCC and IIT Kanpur teams to present their findings to the Commission for Air Quality Management.

“Addressing air quality in Delhi is a combined effort from multiple stakeholders. A state-of-the-art project that we conceptualised almost two years back has now started giving us rich data on a real-time basis. I have asked Delhi Government officials to immediately take actions based on the study’s findings, as well as to share the analysis with the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for action by the Government of India,” said Kejriwal, IANS reported.

Key Features Of The Project:

According to the official website of the Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) of the government of NCT of Delhi, the project would entail:

  • Aid in understanding the real-time impact of various pollution sources such as cars, dust, biomass burning, stubble burning, and factory smoke.

  • Daily and weekly forecasts of air quality and the Air Quality Index (AQI) for numerous locations in and around Delhi, as well as real-time diurnal source apportionment

  • The air quality will be interpreted on a weekly, monthly, and seasonal basis, as well as further knowledge about PAHs, molecular markers, and secondary organic and inorganic aerosols.

  • After the winter analysis of PM2.5 and source apportionment, which will have different financial implications, PM10 source apportionment will be addressed.

Based on the findings, the team will recommend short-term daily and weekly activities to routinely assess, mitigate, and avoid air quality deterioration in Delhi for the foreseeable future. This model has been tried and tested in developing countries and cities with tremendous results.

More Details About Real-Time Source Apportionment Study For Delhi:

DDC Delhi collaborated closely with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Government of NCT of Delhi, to evaluate the performance of a team from the University of Washington that attempted to set up a real-time source apportionment lab for air pollution in Delhi in order to understand the pollutants of air in Delhi in real-time and to suggest short, medium, and long-term recommendations for reducing air pollution contributions, according to the DDC website.

Based on the experiences, a collaborative team of IIT Kanpur, TERI, and IIT Delhi was proposed to take the project ahead, and a thorough plan for conducting a study to find out real-time information to help determine the sources behind the surge in air pollution in Delhi was created. The proposal for identifying the sources of air pollution in Delhi with the goal of guiding mitigation measures was presented to the chief minister of Delhi for approval in February 2021 by a team of scientists led by Prof Mukesh Sharma from IIT-Kanpur, and it was approved by the Delhi Cabinet in July 2021, as per the information available on the website.

According to the DDC website, to commence the project, an MoU was signed in October 2021 between IIT Kanpur and DPCC in the presence of Prof A R Harish, Dean of Research and Development from IIT Kanpur, and Dr K S Jayachandran, Member Secretary, DPCC from the Delhi Government.

In Delhi, a group of scientists led by IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Delhi, The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali established a real-time source apportionment and pollution forecasting system. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has been designated as the study’s nodal agency on behalf of the Department of Environment, GNCTD.

A mobile laboratory outfitted with devices will scour several districts of Delhi and give source apportionment at multiple places. There will also be a cutting-edge supersite capable of monitoring NOx, SO2, Ozone, BTX, elemental carbon, organic carbon, and other organic compounds, where data will be collected and processed in order to take appropriate action.

The DPCC and the Environment Department of the Delhi Government conducted the second assessment of the project titled with a team from IIT Kanpur and other partner organisations in February 2022.

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(With Inputs From Agencies)