Variation in Parameters of Ambient Air Quality in National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi (India)

Anunay A. Gour^1*, Santosh K. Singh¹, Sushil K. Tyagi², Anubha Mandal¹

¹Department of Environmental Engineering, Delhi Technological University (Formerly Delhi College of Engineering), Delhi, India.
²Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi, India.

DOI: 10.4236/acs.2015.51002                

Abstract

Air Pollution is an escalating problem worldwide fuelled by increasing anthropogenic activities, speedy development, rapid industrialization, transportation, superfluous use of fossil fuel consumption, increasing global power needs, etc. Also the diverse meteorological factors influence our environment to a great extent. Population explosion has led to remarkable increase in vehicular population. The use solely depends upon the lifestyle of the citizen. Any change in the lifestyle has a remarkable effect on the air we breathe. A comprehensive database for pollution levels from the year 2006 to 2010 was analyzed for a main traffic intersection and a non-traffic area in Delhi (India). The paper asserts that pollutant concentration levels on weekend are lower than those on weekdays (increase on Sundays with respect to weekdays is CO 2.98 times, PM2.5 1.18 times, NO 1.62 times, NO₂ 5.76 times, SO₂ 1.27 times and O₃ 1.15 times). The pollution levels have been found to attenuate on public holidays and weekends. Pollution can hence be related to the weekly cycle of human activities. Pollutions due to vehicular emissions on roads, rails, air or water all serve as major sources of pollution. Hence, viably possible solutions for pollution control can also be achieved by controlling the magnitude of traffic flow on roads.

Keywords

Ambient Air Quality, Emission, Seasonal Variation, Weekend Effect, Delhi

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	47 Blanchard, C.L. and Shelley, T. (2006) Weekday/Weekend Differences in Ambient Air Pollutant Concentrations in Atlanta and the Southeastern United States. Journal of Air & Waste Management, 56, 271-284. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10473289.2006.10464455
[2]	Murphy, D.M., Capps S.L., Daniel, J.S., Frost, G.J. and White, W.H. (2008) Weekly Patterns of Aerosol in the United States. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 8, 2729-2739. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-2729-2008
[3]	Fujita, E.M., Campbell, D.E., William, S., Keislar, R.E., Barbara, Z., Sagebiel, J.C., Wendy, G., Michael, K. and Bowen, J.L. (2002) Weekend/Weekday Ozone Observations in the South Coast Air Basin: Volume II—Analysis of Air Quality Data. Report, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Desert Research Institute, Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Nevada, USA.
[4]	Gour, A.A., Singh, S.K., Tyagi, S.K. and Mandal, A. (2012) Weekday/Weekend Differences in Air Quality Parameters in Delhi, India. IMPACT: International Journal of Research in Engineering & Technology, 1, 69-76.
[5]	Murphy, J.G., Day, D.A., Cleary, P.A., Wooldridge, P.J., Millet, D.B., Goldstein, A.H. and Cohen, R.C. (2007) The Weekend Effect within and Downwind of Sacramento: Part 1: Observations of Ozone, Nitrogen Oxides, and VOC Reactivity. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 7, 5327-5339. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-7-5327-2007
[6]	Karar, K., Gupta, A.K., Kumar, A., Biswas, A.K. and Devotta, S. (2006) Statistical Interpretation of Weekday/Weekend Differences of Ambient Particulate Matter, Vehicular Traffic and Meteorological Parameters in an Urban Region of Kolkata, India. Indoor and Built Environment, 15, 25-245.
[7]	Reddy, M.S. and Venkataraman, C. (2002) Inventory of Aerosol and Sulphur Dioxide Emissions from India: I—Fossil Fuel Combustion. Atmospheric Environment, 36, 677-697. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(01)00463-0
[8]	Kume, A., Charles, K., Berehane, Y., Anders, E. and Ali, A. (2010) Magnitude and Variation of Traffic Air Pollution as Measured by CO in the City of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, 24, 156-166.
[9]	Da Silva Júnior, R.S., De Oliveira, M.G.L. and De Fátima Andrade, M. (2009) Weekend/Weekday Differences in Concentrations of Ozone, NOx, and Non-Methane Hydrocarbon in the Metropolitan Area of Sao Paulo. Revista Brasiliera de Metrologia, 24, 100-110.
[10]	Ravindra, K., Wauters, E., Tyagi, S.K., Mor, S. and Van Grieken, R. (2006) Assessment of Air Quality after the Implementation of Compressed Natural Gas as Fuel in Public Transport in Delhi, India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 115, 405-417. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-006-7051-5
[11]	Chhabra, S.K., Pande, J.N., Joshi, T.K. and Kumar, P. (2001) Air Quality and Health. Workshop on Land Use, Transportation and the Environment, Pune, 3-4 December 2001, 1-24. http://www.deas.harvard.edu/TransportAsia/workshop_papers/ChhabraetalFinal2.pdf
[12]	Cropper, M.L., Simon, N.B., Anna, A. and Sharma, P.K. (1997) Policy Research Working Paper No. 1860: The Health Effects of Air Pollution in Delhi, India. Development Research Group, The World Bank.
[13]	Barman, S.C., Kumar, N., Singh, R., Kisku, G.C., Khan, A.H., Kidwai, M.M., Murthy, R.C., Negi, M.P.S., Pandey, P., Verma, A.K., Jain, G. and Bhargava, S.K. (2010) Assessment of Urban Air Pollution and It’s Probable Health Impact. Journal of Environmental Biology, 31, 913-920.
[14]	Ramalingaswami, V., Aggarwal, P., Chhabra, S.K., Desai, P., Ganguly, N.K., Gopalkrishnan, K., Kacker, S.K., Kalra, V., Kamat, R., Kochupillai, V., Nag, D., Pande, J.N., Raina, V., Ray, P.K., Saiyed, H., Seth, P.K., Trehan, N. and Wasir, H.S. (1999) Urban Air Pollution. Current Science, 77, 334-336.
[15]	Stephens, S., Madronich, S., Wu, F., Olson, J., Ramos, R., Retama, A. and Munoz, R. (2008) Weekly Patterns of Mexico City’s Surface Concentrations of CO, NOx, PM10 and O3 during 1986-2007. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 8, 5313-5325. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-5313-2008
[16]	Debaje, S.B. and Kakade, A.D. (2006) Weekend Ozone Effect over Rural and Urban Site in India. Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 6, 322-333.
[17]	Tan, P.-H., Chou, C., Liang, J.-Y., Chou, C.C.-K. and Shiu, C.-J. (2009) Air Pollution “Holiday Effect” Resulting from the Chinese New Year. Atmospheric Environment, 43, 2114-2124. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.01.037