Artificial intelligence to detect air-pollution sources in Bihar

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had issued a directive in June 2017, mandating brick kilns across India to convert to the less polluting zigzag setting design.

The Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) is all set to use artificial intelligence (AI) and remote sensing technology to detect key sources of air pollution in the state through satellite images and real-time monitoring.

Brick kilns are a major source of air pollution in Bihar, claim officials. (AP Photo)

For this, BSPCB chairman Ashok Ghosh and India-based representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Shoko Noda virtually signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Tuesday.

After inking the agreement, the pollution control board will soon be able to use the Geo AI platform developed by the Accelerator Lab of the UNDP and the University of Nottingham.

Elaborating on the function of artificial intelligence, Ghosh said, “It is a first-of-its-kind application used by the state government to tackle environmental concerns effectively. The remote sensing technology will enable us to track down such brick kilns which have not been converted to the zigzag setting design along with the identification of areas where stubble burning is taking place and heavy vehicular emission across the state.”

“Of the total 6,000 brick kilns, 70% have adopted the cleaner technology while the rest are still using the banned traditional method. Most of the brick kilns are situated in remote areas making it difficult to inspect manually,” said Ghosh.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had issued a directive in June 2017, mandating brick kilns across India to convert to the less polluting zigzag setting design.

According to the BSPCB, brick kilns are one of the major contributors to air pollution. As per available data, 14% of air pollution in the state is caused by brick kilns while 22% is caused by domestic burning. Transportation causes 19% pollution, dust 15%, industry 14%, waste burning 11% and diesel generator sets 5%.

Ghosh also shared that besides the existing 11 air-monitoring stations, the board is in the process to install additional 24 apparatus to monitor and analyse air and noise pollution in the state.

“About 40% of deaths worldwide were due to air, water, and soil pollutions. We have geared up to check on environmental pollution in all possible ways,” he stressed.