Survey to map sources of pollution at Anand Vihar

The Delhi environment department will launch a second survey by the end of the month to assess how effective on-ground action has been and how many point-sources of pollution are left in the area

New Delhi: Pollution levels at Anand Vihar in east Delhi -- a hotspot for PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulate matter in the Capital -- have improved significantly year-on-year after key interventions by the environment department in November 2022 to map pollution sources in the area, a field survey has revealed.

Officials said that based on the success of this pilot project, a similar inventorisation of other point sources of pollution will take place across other pollution hotspots in Delhi. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Officials said the department is set to launch a second such survey to assess how effective the on-ground action has been, and to ascertain how many pollution sources still remain.

The department in November 2022 had launched an exercise to map and crack down on sources of pollution, including unpaved roads, diesel generator sets, potholes, garbage heaps, road dust and construction sites.

Officials said the 470 “point sources” were identified in a 5-km radius from the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS) at Anand Vihar. A point source of pollution is a specific area or stretch in the pollution hotspot, which could contribute to the local pollution in some form.

“We used field surveys to record all micro-level sources which could be as small as a pothole or a heap of debris to a full-fledged construction site. However, within construction sites too, we identified several sources and each source was mapped with a geo-coordinate,” said an official on condition of anonymity, adding that Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) teams were then asked to either fix these sources, to remove them, or to ensure sprinkling of water to reduce localised emissions.

“The second survey will give us a clearer picture on what has changed on the ground and how many sources have been fixed so far. We will also try to derive a correlation with on-ground action and the reduction in pollution levels beyond meteorological factors.” the official added.

The official said that based on the success of this pilot project, a similar inventorisation of other point sources of pollution will take place across other pollution hotspots in Delhi.

Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said while it is important to have a city-wide action plan, it is equally important to have hyperlocal plans, which can pave way for improvement in air quality in a defined area.

“If we act on specific local sources, then people’s exposure to localised pollution gets reduced. Each hotspot and neighbourhood of Delhi will have very different sources and if this approach is successful, then we can scale this up too,” she said.