Aerosol pollution likely to rise in Bengal by 8%, state to remain in 'red zone' in 2023: Study

Due to its strategic location, Bengal receives Indo Gangetic Plain air pollution outflows and its local emissions have put Bengal in the highly vulnerable zone

MP | 9 Nov 2022 | KOLKATA: Aerosol pollution in the state is anticipated to rise by 8 per cent and continue to remain in the "highly vulnerable" red zone for aerosol pollution in 2023, a recent study by Bose Institute has indicated. 

After Bihar, this is the second-highest aerosol pollution level forecast in the country. High aerosol amounts include particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) among other pollutants as well as sea salt, dust, black and organic carbon. 

If inhaled they can be harmful to people's health. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) is the quantitative estimate of the aerosol present in the atmosphere and it can be used as a proxy measurement of PM 2.5. 

The present study done by researchers Dr Abhijit Chatterjee Associate Professor and his PhD scholar Monami Dutta from Bose Institute, Kolkata, provides a national scenario of aerosol pollution with the long-term (2005–2019) trend, source apportionment, and future scenario (2023) for various Indian states. 

"Due to its strategic location, Bengal receives Indo Gangetic Plain air pollution outflows and its local emissions have put Bengal in the highly vulnerable zone. West Bengal is already in the highly vulnerable zone; a nominal increase (approximately 8 per cent projected increase in AOD) can cause a disastrous impact on the health and life of the people residing in this state," said Dr Abhijit Chatterjee, Principal author of this study and Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences at Bose Institute. 

Monami Dutta, Senior Research Fellow, Bose Institute, Kolkata said that from 2015 onwards to 2019, solid fuel burning (35 per cent) became the major emission source while the contribution of vehicular emissions (18 per cent) dropped becoming the least. 

"The reason for the drop in vehicular emissions could be due to the introduction of EURO-IV fuel standards and up-gradation of engines, ban on 15-year-old vehicles etc. 

At the same time, vehicular driven dust was replaced by construction driven dust which is a result of over urbanization," she added. The study highlighted a list of recommendations to curb rising aerosol pollution for West Bengal. 

"The government should increase the subsidy rate at least for underprivileged people, which might show some relief to this situation. However, since we do not have any specific data for solid waste burning in India, we could not quantify the amount of reduction for this source of aerosol pollution," Dr. Chatterjee. said. 

The values of AOD range from 0 and 1. 0 indicates a crystal-clear sky with maximum visibility whereas a value of 1 indicates very hazy conditions. 

AOD values less than 0.3 fall under the green zone (safe), 0.3-0.4 is blue zone (less vulnerable), 0.4-0.5 is orange (vulnerable) while over 0.5 is the red zone (highly vulnerable). 

http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/aerosol-pollution-likely-to-rise-in-bengal-by-8-state-to-remain-in-red-zone-in-2023-study-498509