Abstract Number: 315 Working Group: Aerosol Exposure
Abstract Ghaziabad is an industrial and semi-urban city sharing border on one side with New Delhi, Indian national capital. Several articles in the Indian and International press have termed Ghaziabad as the most polluted city in India. The 24 hour average PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations reported1 in Ghaziabad during April 20172 - Dec 2017 were 145.35 (±132.9) µg/m3 and 298.15 (±183.98) µg/m3, respectively. During this period, PM2.5 and PM10 maxima were as high as 752.19 µg/m3 and 949.71 µg/m3, respectively. These PM concentrations are way above the Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) which is 60 µg/m3 for PM2.5 and 100 µg/m3 for PM10 (24 hour average). Further, daily average PM concentrations were always above the standards except during the monsoon period (June – August).
Ambient PM concentrations are routinely monitored in India. However, the measurements are often limited to the total mass concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5. Information on the chemical composition of aerosol particles, essential for developing remediation strategies to prevent further deterioration of local air quality and health of residents of the city are very scarce. Few studies reporting the chemical composition of aerosols in India, focused on the urban areas (metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai). There are hardly any studies over semi-urban and rural areas. Further, no such study has been carried out for Ghaziabad so far.
This study aims to understand the chemical composition of PM2.5 and PM10 in Ghaziabad. The study will present preliminary results on the ambient concentrations of Organic and Elemental Carbon (OC and EC), water soluble ions and trace elements for the pre-monsoon season (March – May 2018). The PM samples will be collected at two sites in Ghaziabad using ABC-3000 samplers from URG Corporation, USA. The selected sites are located in the upwind and downwind directions of Ghaziabad city. 24 hour integrated PM samples will be collected on Quartz, Nylon and Teflon filters every third day The quartz filters will be subjected to thermal optical analysis for EC and OC, while ions and trace elements will be determined on Nylon and Teflon filters using Ion Chromatography (IC) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF), respectively. In addition, on-site meteorological parameters (like temperature, Relative Humidity, Wind speed and direction) will also be recorded at both the sites, to assess the influence of meteorology on the chemical constituents of the aerosol and to assess the formation of secondary aerosols.
Acknowledgement: We thank Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB, http://www.uppcb.com/) for funding this work.
[1] http://www.cpcb.gov.in/CAAQM/frmReportdisplay.aspx, http://www.cpcb.gov.in/CAAQM/mapPage/frmindiamap.aspx [2] Data is not available prior to April 2017.