Air Quality In India Research Articles

Impacts of COVID-19 on Air Quality in India

The COVID-19 pandemic spread all over the world in early 2020. India imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 25, 2020, for more than a month to contain the COVID-19 infection. During the nationwide lockdown, transport, industries, and commercial activities were suspended, except for essential services. We made a detailed analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 on air quality in India by using the data from more than 200 Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) and reported a change in the National Air Quality Index (NAQI), spatial distribution and concentration levels of PM10, PM2.5, CO, NO2, SO2, and O3 from January to April 2020 nationwide and in five major cities, namely, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad. We defined the period between February 25 to March 24, 2020, as ‘before lockdown’ and March 25 to April 30, 2020, as ‘during lockdown’. The NAQI and satellite visual maps of AOD, NO2, CO, and SO2 from January to April 2020 showed a significant decrease in air pollution levels in India. The average concentration levels of PM10, PM2.5, CO, NO2, and SO2 have decreased nationwide by 33, 34, 21, 47, and 21%, respectively, during the nationwide lockdown compared to their concentration levels before the lockdown. While comparing their concentration levels of the nationwide lockdown period with those observed in April 2019 at the same CAAQMS, it was found that the nationwide average concentration levels of PM10, PM2.5, CO, NO2, and SO2 were decreased by 53, 45, 27, 54, and 35%, respectively. The trends of decreasing air pollutants during the lockdown in five major cities were almost the same as nationwide. The concentration levels of O3 have shown an increasing trend from January–April 2020 including during the nationwide lockdown. The COVID-19 has provided a rare opportunity for India for the collection of air pollution baseline data which could be useful in the formulation of air pollution reduction policies in the future.

The Impact of the Crisis-inducted Reduction in Air Pollution on Infant Mortality in India: A Policy Perspective

Credible estimates of the health effects associated with changes in air pollution exposure are of considerable importance for research and policy agendas, especially for developing countries. This paper estimates the impact of the sharp reduction in particulate air pollution driven by the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 on district-level infant mortality in India. Utilizing plausibly exogenous geographic variation in the crisis-induced changes in air quality and novel data from household surveys and satellite-based sources, I find that the infant mortality rate fell by 24% more in the most affected districts, implying 1338 fewer infant deaths than would have occurred in the absence of the crisis. Analysis of the mechanisms indicates that the PM2.5 reductions affected infant mortality mainly through respiratory diseases and two biological mechanisms: in utero and postbirth PM2.5 exposure. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that the estimated decline in infant mortality translates into a three-year after crisis total of 312.5 million U.S. dollars. The resulting health benefits could be used as a benchmark for assessing the effectiveness of the policies designed to improve air quality in India.

Positive Effects of COVID-19 Lockdown on Air Quality in India

Positive Effects of COVID-19 Lockdown on Air Quality in India

Regional pollution loading in winter months over India using high resolution WRF-Chem simulation

Air quality in India during the winter months is particularly bad, due to the meteorological conditions limiting dispersal of pollutants. However, investigations of this period using regional air quality models have, so far, been limited. Air quality simulations, using the Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model, at a high grid resolution of 12 km × 12 km, have been carried out for the 2015–16 winter period over the Indian subcontinent. Gas and aerosol chemistry are simulated using the CBM-Z and MOSAIC (4-bin) modules. Emissions from the EDGAR-HTAPv2.2 database are used, scaled to the simulation year based on changes in activity data for each Indian state, which increases national emissions of PM2.5, BC, OC, NOx, SO2 and NMVOCs by 2.6, 0.3, 0.5, 6, 13.5 and 3.6 Gg/day, respectively, in winter. Model performance was evaluated with respect to ground-based observations of PM2.5, CO, NO2 and O3 from available monitoring stations in the cities Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Patna, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad. PM2.5 predictions at most of the monitoring cities fell within the excellent model performance criteria (Mean Fractional Bias range − 0.15 to 0.11). The NO2 concentrations were reproduced well by the model, with a Mean Fractional Bias range of −0.17 to 0.25. CO concentrations were generally underpredicted, but with relatively smaller biases over northern Indian cities. Ozone was reasonably reproduced at Delhi, but modelled day time peaks are much higher than observations in the other cities (~ 42–62%). Patterns of diurnal cycles of pollutants were found to be broadly similar for both observations and WRF-Chem predictions. The 24 h averaged PM2.5 mass loading over most Indian cities and states were found to exceed the Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). PM2.5, CO and NO2 mass loadings were highest in northern and eastern India, particularly over the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Overall in this study, wintertime pollution loading in India is reproduced well by WRF-Chem. However, creating diurnal emission cycles based on local activity data, updated national emission inventories for recent years at higher resolution, and extra air quality monitoring stations, especially in rural areas, are needed to increase the accuracy and validation of model predictions, to better inform policy making.

Impact of lockdown on air quality in India during COVID-19 pandemic.

First time in India, total lockdown was announced on 22 March 2020 to stop the spread of COVID-19 and the lockdown was extended for 21 days on 24 March 2020 in the first phase. During the total lockdown, most of the sources for poor air quality were stopped in India. In this paper, we present an analysis of air quality (particulate matter-PM2.5, Air Quality Index, and tropospheric NO2) over India using ground and satellite observations. A pronounced decline in PM2.5 and AQI (Air Quality Index) is observed over Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai and also a declining trend was observed in tropospheric NO2 concentration during the lockdown period in 2020 compared with the same period in the year 2019. During the total lockdown period, the air quality has improved significantly which provides an important information to the cities’ administration to develop rules and regulations on how they can improve air quality.

The Influence of COVID-19 on Air Quality in India: A Boon or Inutile.

Corona virus diseases-2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease identified in late December, 2019, in Wuhan city of China, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Most countries including India have announced some sort of lockdown to reduce the effects of COVID-19 and discontinue the transmission of novel coronavirus. Major negative effects on the social and surrounding environment have been reported due to COVID-19, however positive effects have also been observed with respect to air quality. Secondary results have been taken from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), indicating significant reduction (50%) in air quality of Indian region. This perspective highlights the effects of the lockdown due to COVID-19 on aerosol optical thickness specifically in India.

Effect of restricted emissions during COVID-19 on air quality in India

The effectiveness and cost are always top factors for policy-makers to decide control measures and most measures had no pre-test before implementation. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, human activities are largely restricted in many regions in India since mid-March of 2020, and it is a progressing experiment to testify effectiveness of restricted emissions. In this study, concentrations of six criteria pollutants, PM10, PM2.5, CO, NO2, ozone and SO2 during March 16th to April 14th from 2017 to 2020 in 22 cities covering different regions of India were analysed. Overall, around 43, 31, 10, and 18% decreases in PM2.5, PM10, CO, and NO2 in India were observed during lockdown period compared to previous years. While, there were 17% increase in O3 and negligible changes in SO2. The air quality index (AQI) reduced by 44, 33, 29, 15 and 32% in north, south, east, central and western India, respectively. Correlation between cities especially in northern and eastern regions improved in 2020 compared to previous years, indicating more significant regional transport than previous years. The mean excessive risks of PM reduced by ~52% nationwide due to restricted activities in lockdown period. To eliminate the effects of possible favourable meteorology, the WRF-AERMOD model system was also applied in Delhi-NCR with actual meteorology during the lockdown period and an un-favourable event in early November of 2019 and results show that predicted PM2.5 could increase by only 33% in unfavourable meteorology. This study gives confidence to the regulatory bodies that even during unfavourable meteorology, a significant improvement in air quality could be expected if strict execution of air quality control plans is implemented.

CO2 Emission Due to Excavation

Rapid urbanization in developing countries causes the emission of greenhouse gases. A major part of emission is released by infrastructure construction sites. construction process involves excavation, (which is a significant area of study, given that it involves changing the site by disturbing and removing vegetation. The main gases which are associated with excavation include carbon dioxide(CO2), methane(CH4) and nitrous oxide(N2O). These gases (greenhouse gases) are responsible for global warming. Nearly about 22.6% emission of co2 is due to earthwork on the construction site. Although excavation is economical in terms of delivering a flat base for raft construction, the environmental outcome of this approach needs to be examined more carefully in terms of influencing the environment. The air quality in India according to a WHO one of the polluted country in the world. In this situation, controlling and reducing pollution is an area of prime concern

Contributions of local and regional sources to PM2.5 and its health effects in north India

Air quality in India, especially in north India, is increasingly severe due to rapid growth of industrialization and urbanization in past decades. Very few studies were conducted in the recent past to quantify regional contributions to high pollutant concentrations for designing effective control strategies. In this paper, source-oriented versions of Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model were applied to quantify the contributions of nine source regions (Delhi, Haryana & Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh & Punjab, Central India, West India, South India, East & Northeast India and Outside India) to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and its components including primary PM (PPM) and secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA) i.e. sulfate, nitrate and ammonium ions, in Delhi and three surrounding cities, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Jaipur in 2015. PPM is dominated by local sources (>70%), with Delhi as the top contributor in Delhi contributing to a maximum of 90 μg/m3 in winter. Unlike PPM, SIA contributions from non-local sources are more significant. Delhi, Haryana & Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh & Punjab contribute to ~4 μg/m3 SIA concentrations in North India. In Delhi, local sources contribute to over 70% of total PM2.5, but the non-local sources are still important (over 30%) especially in winter. Furthermore, local emissions contribute less in highly polluted days compared to less polluted days indicating the importance of regional transport on high pollution episodes in Delhi. Overall, while local sources contribute to 1.495 × 104 premature deaths in Delhi, non-local sources contribute to 0.483 × 104 premature deaths.

Impacts of household sources on air pollution at village and regional scales in India

Abstract. Approximately 3 billion people worldwide cook with solid fuels, such as wood, charcoal, and agricultural residues. These fuels, also used for residential heating, are often combusted in inefficient devices, producing carbonaceous emissions. Between 2.6 and 3.8 million premature deaths occur as a result of exposure to fine particulate matter from the resulting household air pollution (Health Effects Institute, 2018a; World Health Organization, 2018). Household air pollution also contributes to ambient air pollution; the magnitude of this contribution is uncertain. Here, we simulate the distribution of the two major health-damaging outdoor air pollutants (PM2.5 and O3) using state-of-the-science emissions databases and atmospheric chemical transport models to estimate the impact of household combustion on ambient air quality in India. The present study focuses on New Delhi and the SOMAARTH Demographic, Development, and Environmental Surveillance Site (DDESS) in the Palwal District of Haryana, located about 80 km south of New Delhi. The DDESS covers an approximate population of 200 000 within 52 villages. The emissions inventory used in the present study was prepared based on a national inventory in India (Sharma et al., 2015, 2016), an updated residential sector inventory prepared at the University of Illinois, updated cookstove emissions factors from Fleming et al. (2018b), and PM2.5 speciation from cooking fires from Jayarathne et al. (2018). Simulation of regional air quality was carried out using the US Environmental Protection Agency Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system (CMAQ) in conjunction with the Weather Research and Forecasting modeling system (WRF) to simulate the meteorological inputs for CMAQ, and the global chemical transport model GEOS-Chem to generate concentrations on the boundary of the computational domain. Comparisons between observed and simulated O3 and PM2.5 levels are carried out to assess overall airborne levels and to estimate the contribution of household cooking emissions. Observed and predicted ozone levels over New Delhi during September 2015, December 2015, and September 2016 routinely exceeded the 8 h Indian standard of 100 µg m−3, and, on occasion, exceeded 180 µg m−3. PM2.5 levels are predicted over the SOMAARTH headquarters (September 2015 and September 2016), Bajada Pahari (a village in the surveillance site; September 2015, December 2015, and September 2016), and New Delhi (September 2015, December 2015, and September 2016). The predicted fractional impact of residential emissions on anthropogenic PM2.5 levels varies from about 0.27 in SOMAARTH HQ and Bajada Pahari to about 0.10 in New Delhi. The predicted secondary organic portion of PM2.5 produced by household emissions ranges from 16 % to 80 %. Predicted levels of secondary organic PM2.5 during the periods studied at the four locations averaged about 30 µg m−3, representing approximately 30 % and 20 % of total PM2.5 levels in the rural and urban stations, respectively.

Impact of diwali firecrackers on air quality in India and its effect on the health

Impact of diwali firecrackers on air quality in India and its effect on the health

Where to Breathe in India ?

This study attempts to analyze state of air quality in India from both long term and short term perspectives. Annual mean value of particulate matter concentration (PM) at one hundred thirty two locations in India reported by World health Organization (WHO) was analyzed. These locations were grouped in seven clusters according to severity of concentration of PM10 and PM2.5. Heuristic clustering (HC) was employed as clustering algorithm with Euclidian distance measure. Locations having worst concentration of PM concentration were identified using cluster profile summary. In second part of study, Air quality index of forty-two locations reported by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was observed on monthly basis for a period of twelve months. The study resulted in three observations. First, no location under the study was able to satisfy WHO recommendation of annual mean value of PM. Second, majority of regions having worse air quality are located in northern part of India. Third, condition of air quality deteriorates in months between Novembers to February and May to June at several locations in India.

Poison in the air: Declining air quality in India.

Air pollution is a burgeoning environmental problem with potential for climate change. The worst-hit areas are the rapidly developing capital cities of low- and middle-income countries across the globe. Delhi, the capital of India, is no exception. In fact, Delhi was the most polluted of more than 1600 cities in the world according to the WHO's 2014 database for outdoor air pollution. The recent declaration of a public health emergency in and around the city speaks volumes about the declining air quality in India. Introspection into the various causes and mechanisms responsible for this sorry state of affairs, its impact on human health, and possible solutions to the problem is being reported.

A Review on the Atmospheric Non Methane Hydrocarbons (Nmhcs) Study in India

This study present extensive review on the atmospheric non methane hydrocarbons for the monitoring technology, source profile, and variability studies which have been done by various researchers at different research and development institutions all over the India. Most of the studies have reported that the concentration level in the urban environment is elevated at alarming level due to vehicular emission, refinery operation, secondary industrial process, LPG leakage and biomass burning. The elevated ambient concentration of NMHCs in an urban environment has a significant impact on climate change and human health. NMHCs levels are to be removed and limit the emission by using newer technology under specific industrial and practical conditions in the present time. This review aims at a summarizing discussion on the entire areas which come underneath the umbrella of NMHCs technologies and helpful to the future researchers and those findings will be helped to the formulate policies and implement for the enhancement of air quality in India.

Urban Emissions and Regional Air Quality in India

Satellite observations from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument are used in support of model evaluation of seasonal average results from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Model evaluation was conducted with the purpose of identifying regional biases in model output compared to tropospheric columns. Comparison with tropospheric column NO2, an anthropogenic indicator, reveal that there are uncertainties regarding the emissions inventory input to CMAQ. Results have implications for developing accurate model inputs to produce accurate model output for relevant health impact assessments, which are increasingly important with increasing population, urbanization, and pollution in the region.

Online media coverage of air pollution risks and current policies in India: A content analysis.

Background Air pollution is of particular concern in India, which contains 11 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world. Media coverage of air pollution issues plays an important role in influencing public opinion and increasing citizen demand for action on clean air policy. Hence, this study was designed to assess news coverage of air pollution in India and its implications for policy advancement. Methods Articles published online between 1 January 2014 and 31 October 2015 that discussed air pollution in India were systematically content analysed. From 6435 articles in the national media and 271 articles in the international media, a random selection of 500 articles (400 from national and 100 from international media) were analysed and coded by two independent coders, after high inter-rater reliability (kappa statistic above 0.8) was established. Results There was an increase in the number of news stories on air pollution in India in the national media over the study period; 317 (63%) stories described the risk to health from air pollution as moderately to extremely severe, and 393 (79%) stories described the situation as needing urgent action. Limited information was provided on the kinds of illnesses that can result from exposure. Less than 30% of stories in either media specifically mentioned the common illnesses resulting from air pollution. Very few articles in either media mentioned the population groups most at risk from air pollution, such as children or older people. Vehicles were presented most often as the cause of air pollution in India (in over 50% of articles in both national and international media). Some of the most important sources of air pollution were mentioned less often: 6% of national and 18% of international media articles mentioned unclean sources of household energy; 3% of national and 9% of international media articles mentioned agricultural field burning. Finally, the majority of articles (405; 81%) did not mention any specific institution or organization - such as the government or industry groups - as the primary responsible stakeholder, thus leaving ambiguous the organizations whose leadership was necessary to mitigate air pollution. Conclusion Gaps exist in the current media discourse on air pollution, suggesting the need for strengthening engagement with the media as a means of creating citizen engagement and enabling policy action. Through greater elaboration of the health burdens and evidence-based policy actions, the media can play a critical role in galvanizing India's action on air quality. These data may suggest opportunities for media advocacy and greater public and policy engagement to address issues around air quality in India.

Foreign Direct Investment And Air Pollution: Granger Causality Analysis

This paper seeks to examine the relationship between foreign direct investments (FDI) inflow, and CO2 emissionin Indiafrom last three decade (1981 to 2011). This study provides a better understanding offoreign investment while maintaining a sustainable development. In order to achieve this task, this paper tests whether or not FDI inflow has impact on environmental deterioration in particular on air quality. The Unit Root test,Johansen Co-integration test and Granger-causality test has been used to check the causal relationship between foreign direct investments (FDI) inflow and Airpollution. The findings show that FDI has significant andnegative impact on the air quality in India. There are needs to set environmental policy and to monitor progress towards meeting society environmental goals; a reliable information system and database for degradation of environment are needed. Since the paper shows that FDI has negative impact on the air quality, this result is important in framing policy regarding FDI and pollution regulation in India.

Air Pollution in India: Bridging the Gap between Science and Policy

AbstractAir pollution is an emerging public health concern as there are increasing evidences that the quality of air adversely affects human health due to the presence of various toxic pollutants. Linking air pollution from its source to adverse human health effects is a complicated phenomenon that requires a multidisciplinary approach for better understanding. Decision-makers need relevant, comprehensive estimates of the disease burden attributable to different risk factors. Many statistical models have become very relevant for estimating atmospheric concentrations by analysis of complex datasets to produce inferences and predictions that can lead to better management of air pollution. This paper focuses on the Indian scenario as a case study and presents the current status of air quality in India with special reference to particulate matter. The study suggest that air-quality networks need to be developed that can depict and forecast pollution levels with health advisories for public and for pollution e...

Re-fueling road transport for better air quality in India

Road transport in India plays a vital role in our growing economy. Given an aggressive vehicle sales outlook through 2030, in order to maintain a balance between the energy demand, growing on-road emissions, and overall air quality in the cities, there is a need to implement and enforce Bharat-5 standards (equivalent of Euro-V) nationwide by 2015. Any delay in its implementation or even staggered implementation of the standards will result in a delayed response for improving air quality in the Indian cities.