Air Pollution

About Air Pollution:

• According to the report, existing measures by the government can reduce particulate matter, significant reduction is possible only if the territories spanning the airsheds implement coordinated policies.
• Currently over 60% of South Asians are exposed to an average 35 g/m3 of PM2.5 annually.
• In some parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) it spiked to as much as 100 g/m3 – nearly 20 times the upper limit of 5 g/m3 recommended by the World Health Organisation.
• According to the report, India has six large airsheds, some of them shared with Pakistan, between which air pollutants move.
• The six major airsheds in South Asia where air quality in one affected the other were:
  • West/Central IGP: Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab (India), Haryana, part of Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh;
  • Central/Eastern IGP: Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bangladesh;
  • Middle India: Odisha/Chhattisgarh;
  • Middle India: Eastern Gujarat/Western Maharashtra;
  • Northern/Central Indus River Plain: Pakistan, part of Afghanistan; and
  • Southern Indus Plain and further west: South Pakistan, Western Afghanistan extending into Eastern Iran.
• When the wind direction was predominantly northwest to the south east, 30% of the air pollution in Indian Punjab came from the Punjab Province in Pakistan and, on average, 30% of the air pollution in the largest cities of Bangladesh (Dhaka, Chittagong, and Khulna) originated in India.
• In some years, substantial pollution flowed in the other direction across borders.
• If Delhi National Capital Territory were to fully implement all air pollution control measures by 2030 while other parts of South Asia continued to follow current policies, it wouldn’t keep pollution exposure below 35 g/m3.
• However if other parts of South Asia also adopted all feasible measures it would bring pollution below that number.

Q1) What is meant by particulate matter?

Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets in the air. In general, any type of burning or any dust-generating activities are sources of PM. PM comes in many different sizes. Larger particles come mostly from the soil. Smaller particles come from burning of fossil fuels, like gasoline in cars, diesel in trucks and coal used by power plants.

Source: The Hindu