Assessment/monitoring of air pollution and effect on human health in Kota city during Spring season - 2020

Abstract

National Clean Air Program (NCAP), a national initiative started in 2019, in response to the ongoing failure of Indian cities to achieve air quality norms. One of its key goals is to reduce the concentration of Particulate Matter (PM) by 20 % to 30 % compared to 2017 levels by the year 2024. The main objective of this work is to analyze the percentage of the air pollutants (respirable suspended particulate matter) in the month of January 2020 till March 2020 at Kota City in Rajasthan. The observed data collected during this time was analyzed and mitigation measures were suggested based on the NCAP guidelines. Finally, the measured metrics are also compared with the ambient air quality (AAQ) standards of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The current data indicates that the concentrations of gaseous pollutants like SO2 and NO2 remain below the AQI permissible limit, which is 80 µg/m3 while the level of PM10 is determined to be higher than the allowed limit of 100 µg/m3. This is especially in the colder season when temperature inversions are more likely to happen. It occurs when a layer of warm air traps cooler air near the surface. This can prevent the dispersion of pollutants, including PM10, leading to their accumulation in the lower atmosphere.