Study finds transportation and road dust are biggest contributors to air pollution

Naomi Pandya Posted on: 2022-02-28 08:25:00 Viewer: 5,222 Comments: 0 Country: India City: Bengaluru

Study finds transportation and road dust are biggest contributors to air pollution

Benagluru, India (Urban Transport News): The Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) has recently study on emission inventory estimates that the total PM10 emission load for Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) areas would reach around 28,000 tonne a year by 2024 under the business-as-usual scenario (BAU).

The studies were conducted under the aegis of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and Shakti Foundation to generate scientific data and contribute to India’s National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

The study also finds that in the year 2019, around 24,600 tonne PM10 and 14,700 tonne PM2.5 were emitted within the civic body’s limits.

The studies, ‘Emission Inventory and Pollution Reduction Strategies for Bengaluru’ and ‘Identification of Polluting Sources for Bengaluru – Source Apportionment Study’, pointed at transportation and road dust as the biggest contributors to air pollution in Bengaluru city.

The studies recommend a multi-pronged approach to control particulate matter emissions — PM10 and PM2.5. To curb pollution from transportation, the studies encourage the deployment of electric vehicles with charging stations at regular distances along with the proper implementation of the vehicle scrapping policy. The reports also highlight the need for regular servicing of public transport vehicles, such as shared autos, buses and heavy vehicles (dumper trucks, trolleys), to curb pollution.

The studies recommend vacuum sweeping of dust from paved roads, laying end-to-end pavements and covering barren areas on the roadside with green covers and studying the efficacy of mechanical sweepers before deploying them.

“Analysis of pollution sources is essential for identifying effective control measures for a city’s air pollution issue. Emission inventory and source apportionment studies are vital to understanding the polluting activities, associated emission load and sources contributing to the ambient air pollution in a city,” said Dr Pratima Singh, who heads the Centre for Air Pollution Studies at CSTEP.

“With Bengaluru identified as one of the non-attainment cities in India, it was crucial to carry out these studies and prepare efficient strategies. The study found transportation to be the major contributor (40% to 51%), followed by road dust resuspension (17% to 51%). Other polluting sectors include construction dust, domestic fuel and diesel generators,” she added.

To reduce the amount of construction dust, the studies recommend keeping the construction material fully covered while in transit. Further, construction buildings should be covered vertically with fine screens and material stored at the sites should be covered properly.

Besides controlling dust from construction sites, efforts to provide last-mile connectivity for transporting debris to processing plants can also aid in reducing pollution levels.

“Although the share of PM emissions from industries is very low, they contribute the highest SO2 emission (45%). Diesel Generator sets contribute heavily to NOx (28%) and SO2 (36%) emission. These gaseous compounds are precursors to secondary PM and the reduction of these pollutants will greatly reduce the PM concentration over Bengaluru. The use of diesel in generator sets should be restricted with renewable energy being used instead,” the study recommends.

“The recommendations from these studies will help modify the action plan developed under NCAP for effective implementation. This will help plan and prepare futuristic strategies for making Bengaluru a model city with an improved quality of life for citizens, better environment and ecology,” KSPCB Chairman Dr Shanth A Thimmaiah said.

“The state government will work with the KSPCB to control the problem of air pollution in Bengaluru. However, scientific studies are essential to understand the problem and for this we need to work hand in hand with research institutes,” said Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. He was speaking at a function organised by the KSPCB, where air pollution studies conducted by the CSTEP were launched.





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