Monitoring of air pollution and assessment of its risk on traffic policemen
Article Main
Abstract
The ambient air quality was monitored at five selected sites in proper Rohtak City. The parameters i.e. sulphur dioxide (SO2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ) and suspended particulate matter (SPM) were monitored for eight hours from 9 am to 5 pm once in a week at each of the five sites. Two sites out of five were found to have low pollution, while the other three sites had high level of pollutants, which exceeded the safety limits as per National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The levels of SO2 , NO2 and SPM were lowest at polluted site 2 (University Gate NO. 2) in the City, which ranged between 4.12 µg/m 3 and 40.37 µg/m 3 , 25.37 µg/m 3 and 73.80 µg/m 3 , 138.0 µg/m 3 and 530.7 µg/m 3 of the air respectively. Highest levels of SO2, NO2 and SPM were observed at site 5 ( Hisar Road ) which ranged between 5.30 µg/m 3 and 120.0 µg/m 3 , 68.01 µg/m 3 and 197.84 µg/m3, 730.5 µg/m 3 and 3319.0 µg/m 3 respectively. The concentrations of lead and cadmium were very much below the safety limits at all the sampling sites Health surveillance studies of the traffic policemen revealed that there is a significant excess risk of respiratory problems for traffic policemen as they are exposed to heavy loads of vehicular pollution.
Article Details
Article Details
SO2, NO2, SPM, Traffic policemen
Bishoi, B., Prakash, A. and Jain, V.K. (2009). A comparative study of air quality index based on factor analysis and USEPA methods for an urban environment. Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 9 (1): 1-17.
Bose, R.K. (1998). Automotive energy use and emissions control: A simulation model to analyse transport strategies in Indian metropolies. Energy Policy, 26 (13): 1001-1016.
Brunekreef, B. and Holgate, S.T. (2002). Air pollution and health. Lancet, 360 : 1233-1242.
CPCB (2000). Air quality status and trends in India, National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Series: NAAQMS/14/1999-2000. Delhi. Central Pollution Control Board.
Fromme, H., Twardella, D., Dietrich, S., Hietmann, D., Schierl, R., Liebl, B. and Ruden, H. (2007). Particulate matter in the in door air of classrooms –exploratory results from Munich and surrounding area. Atmospheric Environment, 41 : 854-866.
Gajghate, D.G., and Hasan, M.Z. (1999). Ambient lead levels in urban areas. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 62 : 403-408.
Gauderman, W.J., Vora, H., McConnel, R., Berhane, K., Gilliland, F., Thomas, D.,Lurmann, F., Avol, E., Kunzli, N., Jerret, M., and Peters, J. (2007). Effect of exposure to traffic on lung development from 10 to 18 years of age: a cohort study. Lancet, 369: 571-577.
Gilbert, M.M. (2004). Introduction to Environmental engineering and science. 2nd ed., Pearson Education, Singapore.
Gomez-Perales, J.E., Colvile, R.N., Fernandez-Bremauntz, A.A, Gutierrez-Avedoy, V., Paramo-Figueroa, V.H., Blanco-Jimenez, S., Bueno-Lopez, E., Bernabe-Cabanillas, R., Mandujano, F., Hidalgo-Navarro, M., and Nieuwenhuijsen, M.J. (2007). Bus, minibus, metro inter-comparison of commuters’ exposure to air pollution in mexico city. Atmospheric Environment, 41: 890-901.
Gurjar, B.R., Van Aardenne, J.A., Lelieveld, J., and Mohan, M. (2004). Emission estimates and trends (1990-2000) for megacity Delhi and implications. Atmospheric Environment, 38: 5663-5681.
Guttikunda Sarath, K. and Aggarwal, R. (2009). Contribution of vehicular activity to air pollution in Hyderabad, India: Measurements, chemistry and analysis. Indian Journal of Air Pollution Control, 9 (1): 37-46.
Hoek, G., Brunekreef, B., Goldbohm, S., Fischer, P., Van den and Brandt, P.A. (2002). Association between mortality and indicators of traffic related air pollution in the Netherlands: a cohort study. Lancet, 360 (9341): 1203-1209.
Jacobs, M.B., and Hochheiser, S. (1958). Continous sampling and ultra micro determination of nitrogen dioxide in air. Analyst Chem., 30: 426-428.
Lehoczki, Z. (2000). Product charge on transport fuel in Hungary. In: J.Rietbergen-McCracekn and H. Abaza (Ed.), Economic instruments for Environmental management, (pp. 122-134). London Earthscan publications.
Prashar, D. C., Gadi, R., Mandal, T. K., and Mitra, A. P. (2005). Carbonaceous aerosol emissions from India. Atmospheric Environment, 39: 7861-7871.
Singh, M.P., Goyal., S. B., Agarwal, P., Nigam, S., Kumari M., and Panwar, T.S. (1990). Predicted and measured concentrations of traffic carbon monoxide over Delhi. Atmospheric Environment, 24A(4): 801-810.
West, P.W., and Gaeke, G.C. (1956). Fixation of SOX as a sulfatomecurate (II) and subsequent colorimetric estimation. Analyst Chem., 28: 1816-1819.
This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) © Author (s)
