Abstract
Anthropogenic contaminants arising from both stationary (power plants, industries and residential heating) and mobile sources (road traffic) can harm ambient air quality in urban areas. Depending upon their physical state, these pollutants are classified as liquid and vapor phases and are subsequently transported to the Earth’s surface through dry and wet deposition. After the deposition of these pollutants onto the surface of earth various health effects caused by these pollutants occurred like cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. In this study four different locations/sites were selected from the Rawalpindi city depending upon the population, traffic rush and industries to examine the noise level, concentration of carbon dioxide and heavy metals. Air sampler was used for the collection of air sample to analyze the heavy metal concentration, Quest electronic sound meter for measuring sound level and SIBATA for CO2 measurement. The study findings revealed that noise level was higher at all selected locations as described by WHO limit (70 dB) being highest at Industrial area due to heavy machinery and lowest at green area. Concentration of all four heavy metals were high as compared with the prescribed limits. CO2 level reaches up to 300 ppm because of coal consumption during the winter season. The threshold values of all these selected parameters well above the prescribed limits defined by the authorities so to combat with this situation we should move towards more energy efficient fuels, proper maintenance of vehicles and machineries, traffic management and installation of noise barriers in industries as well as installation of catalytic convertors in vehicles to stop further air pollution.
Highlights
Pakistan is bestowed with a great diversity of landscape, climate, seasons, ecosystems, etc
Two different types of air pollutants are present, Primary and secondary pollutant. Primary pollutants are those that occurs in a harmful concentration, added directly to the air by natural events or human activities while secondary pollutants are formed in atmosphere when a primary pollutant reacts with the normal air components or with other air pollutants
The noise level at all the selected locations was greater than the prescribed limits given by world health organization (WHO)
Summary
Pakistan is bestowed with a great diversity of landscape, climate, seasons, ecosystems, etc. The landscape ranges from snowcapped peaks in the Himalayan Range in the north to Arabian Sea coastline in the south, from agriculture ranges in the plains to hot dry deserts in Sindh and Baluchistan This diversity has given rise to a variety of living organisms including flora, fauna, animals, birds, insects, etc. Two different types of air pollutants are present, Primary and secondary pollutant Primary pollutants are those that occurs in a harmful concentration, added directly to the air by natural events or human activities while secondary pollutants are formed in atmosphere when a primary pollutant reacts with the normal air components or with other air pollutants. Effects of all these man-made or natural atmospheric pollutants are very adverse like severe respiratory problems such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, and degraded lung function and at last but not least respiratory failure [2, 3]
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