Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Infographic - Are We Chasing the Right Vehicle in Delhi to Control Air Pollution?


6 comments:

Shantanu Roy said...

Require robust source apportionment studies with rigorous and peer-reviewed analysis (as per currently accepted standards) on a continuous basis, to monitor the progress in air quality (and AQI) made with the policy interventions, over time.

Sarath Guttikunda said...

Agreed.

The source apportionment study quoted here was published in 2010 by CPCB and no study was conducted since, at this level. It is about time, another field campaign is put together with new technologies. For example, aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ACSM), which allows for measuring PM mass loading and chemical composition in real-time.

And, in general more continuous monitoring stations, so that a true map of pollution can be drawn.

Jeff, Vismita, and Anushree in India said...

Hi we are having a discussion in the Facebook group <> about the infographic above depicting the profile of the Delhi pollution.

We have a question for anyone or Dr. Guttikunda about the the large percentage of particulate that is created in Delhi from diesel power backup generator sets sitting in so many driveways of the poshest colonies and used by office buildings and industry surrounding greater Delhi and the NCR. These "Die"sel gensets actually "generate" much of the particulate in Delhi making up 9% of all total PM10 levels and a whopping 16% of PM2.5 levels all across our city. Not to mention the toxic gases from the burning of diesel that we can't even hope to filter.

The question is do we know what the breakdown of gensets used for domestic power backup, retail power backup, and office buildings power backup, vs industrial power generation?

Sarath Guttikunda said...

There is some estimates for gensets in use - domestic and commercial. Clean Air Asia (Delhi office) conducted this survey based on the sales data from various manufacturers in India. At the city scale, we tried to estimate the share of diesel in the non-transport sectors, and did this for about 10 cities. You can download the reports @ http://www.urbanemissions.info

This infograph pies are based on CPCB's 2011 source apportionment work.

If you can post on this blog, the on-going discussion on this infograph on facebook, it will be nice for the readers here.

Jeff, Vismita, and Anushree in India said...

Aparna Mohan Dhawan This is indeed a very good infographic. Seems like 'waste burning' causes the maximum problem. Shouldn't this be the low hanging fruit that the Govt. should be looking at tackling in the short run?

November 24 at 8:17am
Jeff Smith We have the Whatsapp number that the Delhi Pollution Control Board monitors +91-97175-93574 . I've written about it several times in the last year on this group. However, they never reply or provide anyone feedback on whether a challan was issued or any action taken at all.
I usually am forced to put small fires out myself or to call 100 and ask the police to call the fire department and respond to issue a challan or fine. The Fire department number 101 was not answered when I began calling back in 2009. The numbers of fire stations can be found at this link. It is suggested that we call the fire station directly to speed service. http://dfs.delhigovt.nic.in/telephone.html

Contact us: Delhi Fire Services
The Delhi Fire Services can be contacted on telephone no. 101 for communicating the fire/emergency…
DFS.DELHIGOVT.NIC.IN

November 24 at 10:40am · Edited
Jeff Smith ...I have been advocating that the Whatsapp reporting method be improved or that feedback be given. The Delhi #AamAdmiParty representatives are actively engaging the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) on this issue. I feel confident that the work is going on. However, more people will report 'waste burning' if the process is interactive and they get feedback or see more active results.

November 24 at 10:47am
Aparna Mohan Dhawan I think they have to make waste burning an offense and fine it heavily (just like they do with water logging for dengue checking) … People are so conditioned to seeing trash burning on roadsides and in parks that without a huge awareness drive nobody will even figure how wrong it is. Just whatsapp numbers etc are not enough … RWAs will have to be involved in a big big way

November 24 at 10:55am
Jeff Smith I'd like to point out the large percentage of particulate that is created in Delhi from diesel power backup generator sets sitting in so many driveways of the poshest colonies of greater Delhi and the NCR identified in Dr Guttikunda's infographic above.

"Die"sel gensets also actually "generate" death making up 9% of all total PM10 levels and (caution! run and get your mask!) a whopping 16% of PM2.5 levels all across our city. Not to mention the toxic gases from the burning of diesel that we can't even hope to filter.

November 24 at 11:00am
Aparna Mohan Dhawan yup saw that one too …. guess solutions would involve (1) getting regular power supply (2) people using the gen set only for minimal things in the house in case of an outage (3) cleaner gen sets availabilty


November 24 at 11:04am
Jeff Smith I've used two truck batteries with a Luminous inverter brain for 9 years in Delhi. I can power CFL and LED lights and 2 ceiling fans and a TV and then some for hours. Most of our outages last only a couple hours or so throughout South Delhi.

November 24 at 11:07am · Edited
Aparna Mohan Dhawan Do we also know the break up between domestic gen sets and those used for industrial purposes?

November 24 at 11:23am
Jeff Smith Let me ask on the www.urbanemissions.blogspot.com page

Daily Dose of Air Pollution
Air pollution is a growing problem in most cities (big and small). The "Daily Dose" aims to… URBANEMISSIONS.BLOGSPOT.COM

Sarath Guttikunda said...

Good evening.

Posted some notes @
http://delhiair.org/india-and-delhi/exclusive-qa-with-air-pollution-scientist-dr-sarath-guttikunda/