New air quality norms to burn hole in govt’s pocket

The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) is preparing a list of fresh expenditure which it would submit to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). According to the WBPCB,each of the ambient air quality stations in the state may require anything between Rs 20 and 22 lakh for their upgradation.

“From now on,the monitoring units will have to measure parameters that are different from the usual standards. Though Bengal has sophisticate measuring equipment,yet it would require some upgradation,” said Deepak Chakraborty,Chief Scientist of WBPCB.

Till now,these stations measured parameters like Sodium dioxide,Nitrogen oxide,Suspended Respiratory Matter (SPM) and Respiratory Particulate Matter (RPM) level.

The new notification has also discontinued the earlier practice of having different air quality parameters for residential,industrial and sensitive areas and from now the country will have a uniform National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

It has also restricted the standard of nitrogen oxide from the existing 60 microgramme per cubic metre to 40 microgramme per cubic metre,and brought parameters like Ozone,Arsenic,Nickel,Benzene,Benzopyrene,carbon mono-oxide,ammonia into the measuring ambit.

According to WBPCB officials,the installation cost of each such station in the past used to be Rs 6 lakh. But now,since it has to measure fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) and ozone,sophisticated devices amounting from Rs 2 to 6 lakh will be required,they said.

“Apart from the new devices,new AC rooms and sophisticated lab-end analysis are needed. For instance,to measure metals like lead,nickel and arsenic the filter paper used has to be different and then the lab set up needs to be more sophisticated. In some cases,upgradation of lab may cost Rs 1 crore depending on the existing infrastructure,” said Ujjal Mukherjee,senior scientist,WBPCB.

Under the umbrella of CPCB,a network of over 300 ambient air quality monitoring stations that are funded by both the state and the Central governments are located across the country. West Bengal has 23 such ambient air quality measuring stations — 6 in Kolkata,5 in Durgapur and 4 each in Howrah,Haldia,Ranigunj and Asansol. Though a lot of these stations are better placed,officials are not sure when the new the notification could be implemented,as they require funds to buy new equipment. Even Union minister for Environment and Forests,Jairam Ramesh,had admitted that enforcing these new norms would be a challenge.

Interestingly,last year’s report on ambient air quality by CPCB revealed that 88 per cent of 110 Indian cities monitored do not comply with suspended particulate matter (or Particulate Matter 10) as per the old standards.

Earlier,RPM parameters were
* Industrial area: 120 mg/m3 (annual average) and 150 mg/m3 (24 hours)
* Residential area: 60 mg/m3 (annual avg) and100 mg/m3 (24 hours)
* Sensitive area: 50 mg/m3 (annual avg) and 75mg/m3 (24 hours)

From now
* A uniform standard of 80 mg/m3 (annual average) for all areas