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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Big cities are gasping for fresh air; air pollution worsens in metros-Shelley Singh

Big cities are gasping for fresh air; air pollution worsens in metros-Shelley Singh

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published Published on Nov 14, 2012   modified Modified on Nov 14, 2012
-The Economic Times

Along with your tablet, smartphone and car keys, get ready to pack a gas mask. And if you thought the recent smog in Delhi and the more-than-usual pollution levels (20% higher) in the last fortnight were due to the burning of residual crop in Punjab and Haryana, you are wrong.

After a steady improvement since the late-1990 s, the air in Delhi — and all other Indian cities — has been getting worse in the last five years. The reason: differential norms in large and small cities. Overloading of trucks, time lag in emission norms and poor quality of fuel also contribute.

Some hard facts: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) levels in Delhi have gone up by 47% between 2000 and 2011, while nitrogen dioxide has gone up by 57%. PM10 is one-fifth of the human hair's diameter, small enough to penetrate the lungs. In IT hub Bangalore, PM10 has shot up 41% between 2005 and 2010.

In Kolkata, nitrogen dioxide emissions have increased 59% from the 2005 levels. In Mumbai, PM10 increased 18% between 2005 and 2010. And there aren't enough carbon monoxide emission detection centres, even in big cities. "We have multi-polluter crisis situation," says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science & Environment.

"Ozone, sulphur, carbon monoxide, NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), PM10, PM2.5, air toxicity are contributing to a deadly cocktail. Even tier-II cities like Nagpur, Kanpur, Mysore are seeing rising pollution — small cities are the new air pollution hot spots." While Roychowdhury paints a grim situation, the air quality had actually improved between 1998 and 2006, due what she calls "first generation" action.

"Supreme Court orders in 1990s relocate industries outside cities helped. There was a lot of improvement in air quality, but we lost that initiative and polluters have come closer to people. That's due to more than 100 increase in the number of vehicles on the road in 5-6 years," says Roychowdhury . Specific incidents aside, it's the cars you drive in, galloping population of low-technology two-wheelers and trucks that are contributing to the deteriorating air quality.

5 Years Behind Europe in Emission Norms

According to the Society of Indian Automobiles Manufacturers (SIAM), 2.5 million cars are sold every year and 12 million twowheelers — more than double the numbers sold per year six years ago. With petrol almost 40% dearer than diesel, buyers opt for diesel cars, comprising 60% of the total car sales. The share of diesel cars has jumped from 4% of all cars sold in 2000 to 50% of all cars sold in 2010.

While more diesel vehicles are sold in Europe as well, the difference lies in poor quality of both the engines and the fuel burnt in India. Says Vishnu Mathur, director general, SIAM: "We are five years behind Europe when it comes to acceptable levels of vehicular emission norms."

In India, 13 cities follow Bharat Stage IV (BS4) emission norms (used in India from 2010; equivalent to Euro IV, which became outdated in Europe in 2006) and, for rest of the country, it is BS III, the equivalent of Euro III, which was discontinued in Europe more than a decade back. Europe now has Euro V norms and India looks nowhere near getting there.

"That only adds to worsening air quality," says Ganesh Guruswamy, vice-president & country manager, Freescale Semiconductor, the world's largest maker of computer chips for automobiles. The various norms set the acceptable levels of pollutants. For example, under BS III, sulphur in diesel is 350 ppm (parts per million ) and in BS IV, it's 50 ppm. Euro V or BS V (not implemented in India ) brings down sulphur levels to 10 ppm. In India, dual norms — both BS III and BS IV are accepted — creates a situation that is difficult to control.

A car driven outside any of the 13 cities where BS IV is valid gets fuel that's of BS III level, contributing to the high levels of pollution. Says Mathur, "BS IV should be implemented across the country so that we have a single emission norm. Oil companies say BS IV fuel will be available only in 50 cities by 2015, and that doesn't help."

Dual norms also mean that trucks, the worse polluters due to their higher diesel consumption and rampant misuse (overloading), can be bought in Delhi or Mumbai or Chennai, but registered under BS III norms as they have a national permit to ply. Says Roychowdhury: "In big cities, the highest pollution is between 1 am and 5 am. That's because of the trucks going through the cities in these hours. So, you wake up breathing the most polluted air." 

The most affected, according to a 2012 study by US-based Health Effects Institute, are people living within 500 metres of the main traffic routes in cities, like Ring Road in Delhi, along which 55% of the city's 17-million population lives. "We have to check rapid dieselisation," says Roychowdhury, pointing to the fact that in June, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified diesel emission as class-1 carcinogenic, as bad as tobacco.

PASSING THE BUCK

Automakers blame fuel companies for the mess. Says Mathur, "We are not able to produce BS V fuel. The industry is ready with vehicle technology that can check pollution, but fuel is not there." Technology providers blame automakers' lack of investments in fuel injection systems, particularly for two-, three-wheelers and trucks, for pollution.

Says Guruswamy, "Power train sub-systems, which include fuel injection systems (embedded computers that regulate the amount of fuel being burnt), cost just an additional Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 (for bikes and scooters), but are rarely used. And we don't monitor fuel being sold in pumps, particularly in small towns."

A vehicle engine may be compliant with Euro V norms, but if the fuel is not (like in diesel it means low sulphur diesel), the advanced pollution systems will not be effective, compounding the problem.

Says Roychowdhury, "We need to get to sulphur content of 10 ppm in diesel for advanced pollution systems (air filters) to be effective. In diesel-driven trucks, oxidation catalysts are used but they are good only for some gases and cannot check pollution caused by sulphur in diesel." The lack of a road map for a shift to better fuels means air quality will deteriorate. Besides, while state governments have blueprints that show people will use public transport to commute to work, the last five years trend has been the reverse. 

The Economic Times, 14 November, 2012, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/big-cities-are-gasping-for-fresh-air-air-pollution-worsens-in-metros/articleshow/17210996.cms

Tagged with: Pollution



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