Abstract Number: 1160 Working Group: Air Quality in Megacities: from Sources to Control
Abstract The Central Pollution Control Board has listed 94 cities that are non-compliant for PM10 as per National Ambient Air Quality Standards. An effort is underway to develop action plans for mitigation of ambient air particulate matter in ten such cities in Maharashtra. Ambient air quality is monitored under the National Ambient Air Monitoring Program (NAMP) and the State Ambient Air Monitoring Program (SAMP). An analysis of historical data was carried out using the NAMP and SAMP datasets for the cities of Amravati, Aurangabad, Chandrapur, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik, Navi Mumbai, Pune and Solapur. In some of these cities, road dust was found to be a major contributor to the ambient PM. An initial analysis of seasonal data indicated that such dust is suppressed by rainfall. The same was also verified using data from Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations from Nashik and Pune for episodic rains, and additionally for Chandrapur also by using real time measurements at eleven locations. Particle size distribution measurements were carried out using MOUDI in Chandrapur on a dry day and a subsequent day when it had rained. The results showed a bimodal distribution on the dry day, while on the day with rain, the larger size mode was suppressed. The results provide insights into the extent of contribution from fugitive dust sources, and are currently being used to develop control strategies.