Brick kilns: Cause of Atmospheric Pollution

Abstract

This is the first type of study that has been undertaken where mushrooming of brick kilns (more than 15 brick kilns just in 2 km diameter) is deteriorating the air quality. Although industrialization is very important for the development of a country, this is a bitter fact that it speeds up the process of environmental degradation as was observed at the Panzan village of district Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir state (India). The monitoring of brick kiln emissions was carried out on 8 hourly basis to estimate the pollution level of gaseous pollutants like oxides of sulphur (SOx), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), particulate pollutants (Respirable particulate matter-RSPM) and (Non-Respirable Suspended particulate matter- NRSPM) during the non-operational and operational phases of brick kilns in the months from April to September 2012. The results revealed that all the pollutants SOx, NOx, RSPM, NRSPM and SPM (sum of RSPM and NRSPM) were crossing the limits prescribed by National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) during the operational phase of brick kilns. Further, the air quality index (AQI) was calculated and the study sites were categorized from severe to high pollution including residential areas which is of most concern in respect to health conditions of the local people. Inter correlations of SOx, NOx, RSPM, NRSPM and SPM showing very strong correlations (p < 0.01) with each other indicated that their sources are the same i.e. brick kilns. To minimize the emission level of air pollutants from brick kilns, possible air pollution mitigation measures are suggested.