EIACP PC-Hub: Himachal Pradesh
Status of Environment and Related Issues

STATUS OF AMBIENT AIR QUALITY IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

AMBIENT AIR QUALITY MONITORING:

The monitoring of Ambient Air Quality was started in 1986-87 under the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) with the objective to find the current status of pollution and to study the trends as a result of increasing industrialization. The general objectives of the programme are:

1.         To evaluate the general air quality conditions in the cities and to provide the basis for analyzing long term trends of pollution concentrations.

2.         To provide the data for subsequent development of air quality standards and pollution prevention and control programme for the cities.

The Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) is monitored with the help of Respirable Dust Sampler on the basis of three days per station per week for 24 hours at 10 Towns/Cities covering 20 nos. of locations in the State. The State Board has also initiated air quality monitoring stations at Dharamshala.

National ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) as notified in 18th November 2009 are given in Table-4.1

TABLE-4.1

*           Annual arithmetic mean of minimum of 104 measurements in a year at a particular site taken twice a week 24 hourly at uniform intervals.

**         24 hourly or 08 hourly or 01 hourly monitored values, as applicable, shall be compiled with 98% of the time in a year. 2% of the time, they may exceed the limits but not on two consecutive days of monitoring.                                                          

(A) AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STATUS IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

Ambient air quality is being monitored in 10 towns/cities at Shimla, Parwanoo, Jassur, Paonta Sahib, Kala Amb, Baddi, Nalagarh, Sunder Nagar, Manali and Una under National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Program. Air quality standards fixed for 24 hour average is 100 g/m3 for RSPM and 80 g/m3 for SO2 & NO2 and annual average standard is 60 g/m3for RSPM, 50 g/m3 for SO2 & 40 g/m3 for NO2. The data collected of all the stations for the year 2012-13 scrutinized for the annual average and peak values for 20 locations and trends of annual average of SO2, NO2 and RSPM are shown below;

CONCLUSION:

Annual average values of SO2 and NOx at all the NAMP stations were observed well below the permissible limit for the annual average. The peak value of SO2 was observed as high as 25.8 g/m3 in the month of June 2012 at Hidimba RoadManali NAMP station and 97.0 g/m3 for NOx in the month of February 2013 at Housing Board Baddi NAMP station.

The annual average values of RSPM at both the station at Shimla, Sector IV Parwanoo, Hidimba Road Manali were observed well below the permissible limits for the annual average. While for other stations it was observed above the permissible limit for the annual average.

Table-4.3

Recommendations:

·         Action required for controlling the stack emission from induction furnace, brick kiln, stone crushers etc.

·         Condition of roads is required to be improved.

·         Regular vehicular monitoring is required to be conducted.

·         Open burning of waste/papers/ MSW etc. to be discouraged

·         Forest fire is required to be prevented.

·         Construction activities like Road, Bridge, Building, Project etc. should be carried out in planned manner and debris is required to be managed properly.

·         Regular air quality monitoring/ stack emission of industries is required to be carried out.

·         Air polluting industries should not be allowed to be set up in future at Baddi industrial area, Parwanoo industrial area, Kala Amb industrial area and Gondpur industrial area (Paonta Sahib).