IIT Kanpur to help Delhi fight pollution

New Delhi: In its endeavor to fight against pollution, the Delhi Government is making efforts to identify and tackle all possible sources of pollution in the state. The government has deployed extremely high-tech and data driven projects upon the cause of studying Delhi's pollution levels. 

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has reviewed the progress of the ‘Real-time Source Apportionment Project’. The project has been undertaken by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Kanpur (IIT-K), Indian Institute of Delhi (IIT-D) and TERI. 

The project, aimed at identifying the sources of Delhi’s pollution on a real time basis, was approved by the Cabinet in October 2021, and was set-up in November 2022. The Real-time Source Apportionment Study consists of a Supersite with state-of-the-art air analysers and a mobile air quality monitoring system, which will measure the level of various substances in the air above Delhi. 

CM has stated, “Identification of sources of air pollution on a real time basis has now started in Delhi. Delhi Government & IIT Kanpur's Real Time Source Apportionment Study is helping Delhi with pollution related data in a proactive manner. We have ordered officials to immediately take action to reduce pollution based on the study's findings. Delhi Government will place the analysis before CAQM so Centre too can act upon the problem.”

The meeting was attended by Environment Minister Gopal Rai, Advisor to Environment Minister Smt Reena Gupta, officers from Environment department and DPCC, and Prof. Mukesh Sharma, professor from IIT Kanpur leading the study and his team.

The team from IIT Kanpur informed that the secondary inorganic aerosols which travel long distance contribute to a large proportion of the air pollution mix, and biomass burning (wood, stubble etc.), vehicular emissions and dust (road and construction) are the other major sources of PM2.5 in the last one month. 

The team also showed hourly data on the sources of pollution in recent days and the direction from which external pollution may have reached Delhi. 

On being apprised of different sources of pollution, Kejriwal immediately instructed Environment department and Delhi Pollution Control Committee to start taking actions to identify sources and locations of pollution, and take all required steps immediately to control pollution. 

Kejriwal said, “Addressing air quality in Delhi is a combined effort from multiple stakeholders. A state-of-the-art project that we conceptualised almost 2 years back has now started giving us rich data on a real time basis. I have asked Delhi Government officials to immediately take actions based on the study’s findings, as well as to share the analysis with the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for action by the Centre.”

What is the Real-time Source Apportionment Study?

The Real-time Source Apportionment Study consists of a Supersite with state-of-the-art air analysers and a mobile air quality monitoring system, which will measure the level of various substances in the air above Delhi. Earlier in September, the CM had announced as part of this year’s Winter Action Plan that the start of the supersite would be one of the key components of Delhi’s fight against pollution.

The project include - identification of various sources of PM2.5 on a real time hourly basis, a 3-day hourly forecast of total PM2.5 as well as of different sources of PM2.5.  The data will help the government accurately identify the sources of pollution (such as vehicular exhaust, dust, biomass burning, and emissions from industries) on a real-time basis. 

The supersite data will also help forecast air pollution levels on an hourly, daily, and weekly basis. These forecasts will enable the Delhi government to take proactive steps to curb pollution and allocate resources to ensure compliance with pollution control norms. The findings will further be supplemented by a mobile van which will capture air pollution readings and sources from each corner of Delhi.