Patterns of daily exposure to TSP and CO in the Garhwal Himalaya

Abstract

Daily integrated exposure to TSP and CO was assessed by personal and stationary sampling of air in six microenvironments. Time-budget surveys were conducted to determine how much time four population groups (adult women, children, adult men and youths) spend in these microenvironments. Burning of biofuels in traditional unvented cookstoves is the most important anthropogenic source of pollutants in the study area—a rural and hilly region in the Garhwal Himalaya. Concentrations of pollutants measured at the time of cooking were found to be very high but comparable to those measured in the Indian plains (5.6 mg m −3 and 21 ppm for TSP and CO, respectively). The daily exposure of adult women to TSP and CO was estimated to be 37 mg h m −3 and 110 ppm h, respectively. Daily exposure, within each of the four population groups, was found to be very uniform across individuals for both the pollutants. Patterns of concentrations and daily exposure, as influenced by the time of the day, season and altitude are discussed.