NO2 pollution in Mumbai shoots up in a year | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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NO2 pollution in Mumbai shoots up in a year

ByPrayag Arora-Desai, Mumbai
Jul 08, 2021 12:47 AM IST

The city witnessed a 52% increase in the level of gaseous air pollution caused by nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in April this year (as opposed to April 2020), says a new report by Greenpeace India (Behind the Smokescreen) released Wednesday

The city witnessed a 52% increase in the level of gaseous air pollution caused by nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in April this year (as opposed to April 2020), says a new report by Greenpeace India (Behind the Smokescreen) released Wednesday. The report also claims that the general quantity of NO2 — a byproduct of fuel burning by motor vehicles, power generation and industrial activity — rose during this one month period in eight capital cities across India, also includingDelhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur and Lucknow.

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Delhi saw the most dramatic increase in NO2 levels during the study period, at 125%, followed by Chennai (94%), Bengaluru (90%), Hyderabad (69%), Mumbai, Jaipur (47%), Lucknow (32%) and lastly Kolkata (11%). NO2 can severely impact respiratory, circulatory and neurological systems in humans. With recent studies establishing a direct correlation between ambient air quality and the prevalence of severe Covid-19, the increase has elicited worry from experts.

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Many said these results, based on data from satellite observations, point to the heavy burden of tailpipe emissions from vehicles and other emissions from non-essential industries, which were all shuttered during the Covid-19 induced lockdown last year. This year, however, the movement of vehicles has been allowed to continue.

“Tailpipe emission is a major reason for the rise in NO2 levels in air pollution of Mumbai. There are around 40 lakh private vehicles in Mumbai. The immediate agenda should be to restrict the number of private vehicles, increase public transport, phase out older automobiles, and promote clean mobility,” said Bhagwan Kesbhat of Waatavaran, an organization that works on air pollution.

The sheer scale of these emissions sources becomes clearer when one looks at the deweathered scenario, which gives a picture of air pollution after removing the cleaning effect of the weather. “The deweathering model suggests that 2020 air pollution (in Mumbai) was strongly influenced by weather conditions and that the increase would have been as much as 164%, had weather conditions been the same in both years,” the Greenpeace report says.

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