5 AQI monitoring stations to be functional soon

The official from the BMC’s environment department said that the locations were selected based on the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines and after getting consent from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB)

Mumbai: The five air quality monitoring systems, which were installed, for the first time by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), will be operational in the coming two weeks, an official from the civic body said.

5 AQI monitoring stations to be functional soon

The five locations where the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) has been set up are Govandi Hindi Municipal School Complex, Highway Suvidha Kendra on the Eastern Express Highway in Ghatkopar, near the penguin hall in Byculla Zoo, Sewri Municipal School Complex and BMC maternity home in Charkop, Kandivali.

The official from the BMC’s environment department said that the locations were selected based on the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines and after getting consent from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB).

“We have taken a NOC from MPCB while installing these stations. All these locations were provided to MPCB, and after their consent, the stations were installed.” the official said. “It took us some time to install them as various permissions related to space had to be taken. Besides the stations, we had to take separate permission for installation of the display board, which is a few hundred metres away from the station sites.”

As of now, 95% of the work is complete, and all permissions regarding the CAAQMS stations have also come through, he said, adding, “We are just waiting for power supply and internet connections, which will also be done in a few days.”

This is the first time that BMC has installed CAAQMS stations on its own. Currently, the MPCB and (IIT-M) have stations in the city, of which 11 are by MPCB and nine are by SAFAR.

With these, the number of CAAQMS stations will increase to 25. The BMC said that by the second week of July, the stations will be functional. “We will do the testing for two weeks, and we target to start sharing the data with CPCB servers from August 1.” said the official.

The total cost of the project is ₹6.88 crore, of which ₹3.72 crore are for installations, and the remaining amount is for eight years of comprehensive maintenance of these stations.

These stations are part of the BMC’s plan to mitigate air pollution in the city as the air quality index was affected last winter, the official said. “We will be able to mitigate air pollution only when we have data. These stations will help generate data for the government as well as the researchers for further study,” he added.

“Besides the eight parameters of air quality monitoring, the stations will also be able to monitor wind speed, wind direction, humidity, temperature, rainfall etc. The display board will be on roads/public places for all to see the air quality from the respective stations.” added the official.