Abstract
Bad air is one of the key concerns for most of the urban centres today, and Siliguri is no exceptions to this. In order to assess the air quality of Siliguri, Exceedance factor (EF) method was applied based on the average annual concentration of the pollutants named as; NO2, SO2, PM2.5 and PM10 and it is found that PM2.5 and PM10 are the major pollutants that pose a severe threat for the city. After applying the EF method, it is found that the values of PM2.5 was between moderate to high pollution level and for PM10 it falls under high to critical pollution level. On the other hand, the concentration of NO2 and SO2 falls under moderate to low pollution level. Through trend analysis of the various pollutants, it is found that their concentration was varying in nature. In case of PM10, the trend shows high concentration which exceeds national standard; whereas PM2.5 shows its concentration near towards violating the national standard soon if not checked. In contrast, trends of NO2 and SO2 were recorded lower than the national standard. The present situation of ambient air of Siliguri was analyzed based on Air Quality Index which reveals that air quality of the city can be classified into two seasons, i.e. clean air period (from April to October) and polluted period (from November to March). Lastly, the annual trends of PM2.5 and PM10 were constructed as they are the major pollutants, and it shows their skewed nature during winter months which results in smog episodes. It unveils how critical the situation of air quality of Siliguri became especially during winter months which seek immediate attention. Thus the study tries to present a vivid scenario about the present air quality of Siliguri, which concludes with some of the suggestions to restrain the air quality.
Highlights
In the past few years, a significant enhancement in the process of prevention and management of air pollution was seen, instead of this advancement, air pollution has continued to be foremost environmental health vulnerability to humans
There are very few studies done over the ambient air quality of Siliguri. To fill this gap, we conducted our study over ambient air quality of Siliguri based on available literature and data.The purpose of this study was to; 1) assess the air quality status along with pollution level based on Exceedance factor for Siliguri, 2) analyze the concentration and trends of various pollutants, 3) to know about the present situation of air quality of the city based on Air Quality Index (AQI) and 4) identify the current trends of PM2.5 and PM10 as a noteworthy pollutant
To analysis, the status of air quality and pollution level, the Exceedance factor (EF) method was applied as shown in table 1, which revealed that SO2 (Sulfur dioxide) recorded low in all the years
Summary
In the past few years, a significant enhancement in the process of prevention and management of air pollution was seen, instead of this advancement, air pollution has continued to be foremost environmental health vulnerability to humans. The Transportation sector is associated with the emission for about 50% of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and 90% of the carbon monoxide (CO).[4]
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