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Journalism of Courage
Real-time data on sources of pollution in Delhi will be available from August 1, according to a communication from the Delhi government.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal chaired a review meeting with teams from IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) that are part of a Real-Time Source Apportionment System and pollution forecasting project.
The Delhi Cabinet had approved the project last year. The source-apportionment study will help identify sources of pollutants in the city, and determine the impact of sources like vehicular emissions, industrial sources, dust and biomass burning.
A ‘supersite’ will be set up at Pandara Road in Central Delhi, and work on the supersite will begin by the end of July on an area of around 36 square metres. The monitoring apparatus that will be set up at the supersite will keep tabs on pollutants and help trace their sources.
Equipment for the project, like real-time ambient air analysers, and particulate matter and ion analysis systems, are being procured for the project.
Kejriwal said: “In Delhi, pollution remains in the ‘moderate’ category around October 9 every year. After that, the pollution level starts increasing suddenly. Looking at NASA’s photos, it has been noticed that a large amount of stubble was burnt during that period. Whereas, the figures every time say that only 5% of Delhi’s pollution can be blamed on stubble. In such a situation it is important to ascertain the actual contribution of stubble in Delhi’s pollution and how many other factors contribute to pollution. This would enable real-time detection of factors causing pollution in the state, and help in controlling that source of pollution.”
The forecasting system will provide hourly, daily and weekly pollution forecasts, and could help make policy decisions like imposing restrictions.
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