AIR POLLUTION AND AIR QUALITY INDEX

A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY
1.

SUBMITTED BY: ADITYA KATARIA & ISHAN SHARMA

INTRODUCTION
Air pollution is steadily on it way to becoming the major
threat to both the human population and the environment. It
is the major reason for the degradation of the environment
as we see today. With the growth of an industrialized India
and the increasing indifference towards personal and
environmental health, it is no wonder that India accounts for
one-fourth of the total deaths caused by respiratory
diseases; the major two being COPD (Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease) and asthma. This data was published in
the Lancet Respiratory Medicine Journal way back in 2015. It
also observed that of the 32 lakh deaths caused by
respiratory diseases, 8 lakh deaths occurred in India, hence
the one-fourth.

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WHY THIS TOPIC?
The air quality index is a term heard by all but understood
by few. The current air quality scenario in Delhi as well as in
India as a whole is deplorable and is something we as
citizens should be ashamed of. We are in constant fear of
being affected by the bad air quality that plagues us and our
day to day lives, but we refuse to act on it. Most of the
population is not even aware of such a thing as air pollution,
lest be aware of something as technical as AQI. It is high
time that people act upon the rising pollution levels in our
city, and act accordingly to curb the causes and effects of
the same. We have to, and should be affected by the rising
cases of deaths due to inhalation of contaminated, toxic air.
We human are the most important resource on this planet
and we ourselves are planting seeds for our extinction, in the
process, mutilating the earth as well.
It is our duty to be aware of issues that plague our
environment. If more people become aware of the existence
of AQI, then more people will try their best to minimize their
emissions and bring the air quality back into permissible
limits.
AQI is a great way to measure, observe and study the levels
of pollution as well as the levels of individual pollutants. Air
pollution can be minimized only if each and every pollutant
is minimized, not one. the process of minimizing air pollution
starts from our own homes, and then should make its way
into society, country and then the world.

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STUDY AREA
Delhi, also known officially as the National Capital Territory
Of Delhi, is a union territory and the capital of India. The NCT
covers an area of 1,484 sq. km. As per the 2011 census,
Delhi’s population stood over at 11 million, while the
population of NCT as a whole stood at 16.8 million.
However, Delhi’s urban area is now considered to extend
beyond the NCT and includes the following neighboring
cities:

 Faridabad
 Gurugram (formerly known as Gurgaon)
 Noida
 Ghaziabad

The collective area is now known as the Central National

Capital Region (CNCR). The population of the CNCR, as per a
2016 census, was over 26 million.
STATISTICAL DATA

 Latitude………………………………………………………………
………………28.7041° N
 Longitude……………………………………………………………
……………….77.1025° E
 Area…………………………………………………………………
……………….1,484 km. sq.
 Water…………………………………………………………………
………………….18 km. sq.
 Time
Zone…………………………………………………………………
………… UTC+5.30

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 Elevation……………………………………………………………
……...……..200m-250m

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METHODOLOGY
This report is primarily based on both desk and field study,
involving compilation, observation, and analysis of
information and data from a small survey conducted of 30
people. For this, we chose questionnaire as a statistical
methods to collect the primary data. This report analyses the
major causes of air pollution as well as the part of humans in
it. With this report we shall discuss about the effects of air
pollution, the Air Quality Index’s role in measuring the
pollution levels and the impact both of them have or will
have in the near future. As the statistical data on Page 4
suggests, The data collected from the respondents through
questionnaire was interpreted in the form of pie charts. The
population of the NCR is growing exponentially, thereby also
increasing the chances of worsen the air pollution in the near
future.

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RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

The above data is a one-week air quality index/data analysis

across multiple public continuous monitoring stations across
NCR. Some of the networks which use regulatory monitoring
systems in Delhi are

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  SAFAR Program, maintained by the Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorological (IITM) and the Indian
Meteorological Department.
 The United States Embassy in Delhi records and reports
PM2.5 concentrations and AQI on an hourly basis, using
MetOne-BAM.
Some independent networks using non-regulatory
monitoring systems, to report concentrations and AQI

 India Spend
 India Open Data Association
 SocialCops
 Air Veda

The data shows that during the period of a week, from 21 st

September up till 27th September, the CO and the NO2
concentrations were well within permissible limits by both
the Indian and the WHO standards. However, the PM2.5 as
well as the PM10 concentrations were at particular time as
high as 4-5 times the permissible limit. This is a cause for
concern due to the inherent danger of inhaling such
compounds and the fatal consequences related to the same

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DISCUSSIONS
Delhi is currently facing a prominent and complex issue of
air pollution due to the rapid increase in urbanization and
economic growth caused by heavy industrialization.
Environmental degradation could become more severe if
proper management, environmental safety, and planning are
not assured by the concerned environmental protection
agencies, and also if the current scenario continues. The ill-
effects of long-term exposure to air pollution on human
health, such as weakening of the immune system,
respiratory problems, low birth weight, and increased head
circumference of children at birth, have been well-
documented. Air pollution can cause mortality rate issues if
different pollutants are present and exceed their permissible
limits, for example, from continuous exposure to air
containing 0.001% CO. In 2015, Delhi was ranked by the
WHO as the most polluted city in the world. According to a
report by the Centre For Science and Environment, urban air
pollution contributed to over 15,000 premature deaths in
2016 in Delhi.

National Air Quality Index is notified by the government

which classifies the air quality of a day considering all
criteria pollutants through color codes, air quality descriptors
along with health advisories. According to the Central
Pollution Control Board(CPCB) the air quality index is as
follows,

 A count from 0 to 50 is considered good;

 51 to 100 is satisfactory;
 301 to 400 is very poor and
 401 to 500 counts as severe.

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On the 30th of November, 2015, the pollution level at Anand
Vihar in Delhi went expeditiously high at 999.In fact things
are so bad as of now, that half of Delhi’s school children, a
humongous 22 lacs in number, are growing up into adults
with irreversible lung damage. Apparently, about 38% of
pollution in Delhi is caused by trucks and cars, mostly of
which run on diesel engines. Diesel exhaust is 10 times more
likely to give you cancer than petrol exhaust. Delhi has more
cars than Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore combined. Delhi is
also always full of construction waste, it generates 4000 tons
of construction debris per day and the city’s only processing
plant can only process 10% of the waste. Another reason for
the pollution is that the farmers in Punjab and Haryana end
up burning all the waste crops and therefore, the smoke
from that, mixed with industrial pollutants floats into Delhi.
In the face of rising pollution, citizen of Delhi should co-
operate with the government to work together to reduce
pollution and try out the alternatives. People should avoid
going outside at night, because that’s when the pollution
level are highest. If we are going outside, we could check out
the SAFAR app, which gives us real time updates about air
quality in different areas and if you feel you have to go out,
then you could protect yourself with face masks. Now, what
the government authorities could do about it? Well for
beginning it could start something like a car free day, which
happened in Delhi in 2015, the six kilometer stretch between
the Red Fort and India Gate was declared as car free and
within five hours pollution levels dropped by 60%

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CONCLUSION

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QUESTIONNAIRE
A small questionnaire comprising of 10 questions was used
for a survey of a sample of 49 people, and the results were
compiled into individual pie charts for each question.

 THE QUESTIONNAIRE

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  THE RESULTS
1. HAS AIR POLLUTION AFFECTED YOU 2. HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THE
OR YOUR FAMILY'S HEALTH? TERM ' AIR QUALITY INDEX ' BEFORE?

YES NO DON'T KNOW YES NO MAYBE

3. DO YOU THINK ANYTHING CAN BE 4. DO YOU SUFFER FROM ANY

DONE TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE? RESPIRATORY DISEASE?

YES NO MAYBE YES NO

5.DO YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE 6. DO YOU THINK THAT AIR QUALITY
VEHICLE? HAS DECLINED OVER THE PAST FEW
YEARS?

YES NO
NOT APPLICABLE YES

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 7. DO YOU PREFER POOLING TO 8. DO YOU THINK THAT EVERY VISITOR
TRAVELLING ALONE? SHOULD HAVE AWARENESS OF AIR
POLLUTION?

YES NO DON'T KNOW YES NO

9. DO YOU HAVE A P.U.C. CERTIFICATE 10. DO YOU THINK THE GOVT. IS

FOR YOUR VEHICLE? TAKING ANY INITIATIVE TO CURB AIR
POLLUTION IN DELHI?

YES NO
NOT APPLICABLE YES NO DON'T KNOW

 ANALYSIS
Of the sample surveyed, 100% believe that air quality
has in fact worsened over the past few years. Also, 76%
of the people surveyed have heard of the term ‘AIR
QUALITY INDEX’ before. 84% of the people believe that
something can be done to tackle climate change with
respect to air pollution, but only 41% believe that the
government has taken any steps to tackle this problem.

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