Air pollution by vehicular traffic reduced to half

Vehicular pollution in Delhi has grown from 64 per cent to 72 per cent from year 1990 to 2000

Air pollution caused by vehicular traffic declined by over 50 per cent in the national capital on Saturday, mainly due to strong winds and sunny conditions, the Delhi government said on Sunday. It also said that the scientists have been consistent in their opinion that the moment weather conditions improve, the results of the odd-even formula restricting movement of four-wheeled vehicles in the city will show immediate results.

“More than 50 per cent drop in air pollution primarily caused by vehicular traffic has been recorded according to the latest ambient air data collected by mobile teams of Delhi Pollution Control Committee on Saturday at 18 locations, through mobile dust samplers on using the light scattering technique,” the Kejriwal government said in a statement. Experts put Saturday’s air quality in the “moderate” category, which is a rarity during the city’s winters, notorious for soaring levels of pollutants.

According to the scientists, Saturday’s favourable weather conditions helped improve air quality. PM 2.5 air pollution levels on Saturday showed recordings of less than 100 micrograms/m3 at nine locations, which is more than 50 per cent less than average recordings since the odd-even regulations were put in place, the AAP government said.

The Kejriwal government added that four locations showed PM 2.5 measurements between 100-200 micrograms/m3. Of these 18 locations, the lowest measurement was at 59 (Jhilmil Colony, Shahdara) and the highest at 301 micrograms/m3 at Kazipur, Najafgarh. Even the PM 10 air pollution levels have shown a “marked decline,” and the recordings on Saturday were between 135-475.

The safe limits of PM 2.5 and PM 10, a product of vehicular emissions and dust among others, are 60 and 100 each.

The Kejriwal government also said that the concerned scientists from IIT Kanpur made a detailed presentation to city PWD minister Satyendar Jain and environment minister Imran Hussain, according to which Delhi faces severe air pollution problem due to the number of sources which are impacting the ambient air quality.

Vehicular pollution in Delhi has grown from 64 per cent to 72 per cent from year 1990 to 2000, whereas petrol and diesel consumption have grown by 400 per cent and 300 per cent respectively. The presentation also states that vehicular pollution is the second largest source and most consistently contributing source to PM 10 and PM 2.5 in winters. “Various control options, including the implementation of BS-VI, introduction of electric and hybrid vehicles, traffic planning and restriction of movement of vehicles, retro-fitment in diesel exhaust, improvement in public transport etc. have been proposed and their effectiveness has been assessed,” it added.

Some of the measures suggested by the scientists in the presentation included the need to maintain the vehicles as per the recommendation of the manufacturer. “In this regard, it is proposed that each vehicle manufacturing company should have its own service centres in sufficient number to cater to the need of their vehicles in the city,” it said and also suggested that for the long-term sustenance of the air quality, the vehicular population should stabilise to the level of number of vehicles at the end of 2019.