On Monday, Delhi government said that Indian scientists and their nobles are going to conduct a joint study at Washington University. It is expected to start later this this month. This joint study will help to gather information on pollutants in Delhi’s air, their sources and how to reduce them.
US university, Indian experts to study source of Delhi’s pollutants
According to the sources, the study would be of 18 month long duration. It is assured that this study will help the authorities to gain the chemical composition of Delhi’s pollution as well as will help in identifying the source of pollutants.
Delhi government officials said that the study would be done combinely by both scientists from the Washington University at St Louis, Missouri and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC). The plan for the study was made in March 2018 in the ‘Green Budget’ of AAP government. Later, memorandum of understanding was signed on last Thursday.
“Apart from the usual pollutants such as PM10 and PM2.5, which we know of, the study is expected to shed light on sources of several other pollutants such as PM1. It would also analyse elemental, organic carbon and 72 inorganic elements. Simply speaking it would help us to better understand the chemistry of Delhi’s pollution,” said a senior DPCC official.
Meanwhile, the National Air Quality Index monitors eight key pollutants that are PM2.5, PM10, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, etc. Authorities claimed that after the study, they would be able to know the source of the pollution and would take charge according to the different sources of pollution. This new study will be most helpful during winters as Delhi experiences highest pollution level in that season.
IIT-Kanpur is also scheduling to have a similar study with conclusions from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). At present, most of the cause distribution lessons that have been done for Delhi are seasonal. They classify the pollution causes according to the seasonal periods — summer and winter.
An official of the Delhi government’s environment department said that, “Wireless sensors will be deployed together with algorithm developed by the scientists. This would help monitoring real-time air quality and the source at selected locations in the city.”
The study is projected to start by the end of this month and would be of about 18 months. A key percentage of the work would be done by scientists from the Aerosol and Air Quality Research Laboratory at Washington University. The laboratory has knowledge to classify air quality issues and recommend the key points to restrict the release to lessen the air pollutant discharge.
