Investigation of the status, causes, and remedial measures of air pollution in an industrial town in Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Chandrapur City of Maharashtra state of India has undergone rapid industrialization, development, and infrastructure facilities along with prominent increase in population. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to study the air quality of the city. The mitigation measures of air pollution in the city were also discussed in the present study. Air quality monitoring was carried out at each monitoring station taken twice a week for 24 hours for particulate matter (PM10), particulate matter (PM2.5), sulphur dioxides (SO2), nitrogen dioxides NO2, and carbon monoxides (CO). The data revealed the high levels of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) to approximately 1.56-2.15 times and 1.47-2.21 times higher than National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), respectively and were many times higher than WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines. The major sources of pollution were the emission from industries, mining activities and traffic. Observed concentrations of SO2 (24.88 to 45 μg/m3), NO2 (45.4 to 70.6 μg/m3) and (0.63 to 0.88 mg/m3) were below NAAQS. The obtained data was also processed for the calculation of air quality index (AQI). The AQI value at Chandrapur super thermal power station (CSTPS) was found higher (310) followed by MIDC with AQI of 302 (Very poor air quality) mainly due to higher particulate pollution, indicating respiratory illness to the people on prolonged exposure. AQI for remaining three stations namely, Jatpura gate, Bimba gate and Babupeth ranged from 264 to 284 (Poor air quality) mainly due to vehicular pollution indicating breathing discomfort to people on prolonged exposure. All the pollutants were observed higher than the concentrations recorded in earlier studies and showed increasing trend as compared to records of previous studies.