Status Of Air Quality

Air pollution levels of some important cities of Maharashtra are compared with those of India in Annexure 3.4. Among these cities, Kolkata recorded the highest Nox levels followed by Solapur and Ahmedabad. The SPM levels in Solapur exceeded the standard limit, while the SPM and RSPM levels recorded in Delhi were higher than the prescribed level. The RSPM levels in almost, all places, at all times, are higher the standard limits. Form these readings, it appears that while Maharashtra's towns have better air quality compared to northern cities like Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, the air quality worsens when compared to southern cities like Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. RSPM constitutes a major fraction of SPM in residential areas of Nagpur and Chennai and industrial areas of Hyderabad and Chennai. In both Mumbai and Solapur, its share is reasonably less, both in residential and industrial areas. The percentage of RSPM in SPM for various cities is shown in Annexure 3.5.

Air quality in the State is assessed through routine and specific monitoring. From the analysis of monitoring results in 2005-06, it was noted that at more than 50% of monitored locations, levels of RSPM and SPM exceeded the standard. At some locations, SO2 and NOX levels also exceeded the limit. These latter parameter exceedances can be attributed to source emissions and vehicular pollution. The profile of air quality at various locations in Maharashtra State is shown in Table.

Profile of Air Quality at Various Locations in Maharashtra

I=Industrial, R=Residential, C=Commercial, Y=Compliant, N=Non-compliant,
Industrial Compliant Standards (in Microgms/cubic meters)- SO2=80, NOx=80, RSPM=120,
Residential/Commercial Standards (in Microgms/cubic meters)- SO2=60, NOx=60, RSPM=60,

Relative Pollution Levels
Pollution levels in terms of Exceedance Factor (EF) during the period 1997-2004 are presented for major cities of Maharashtra in Table 3.3 EF is the ratio of measured annual mean concentration of a pollutant to the annual standard for that pollutant. The extent of pollution in a city is presented in relative terms of pollution levels (low, moderate, high or critical), which is defined on the basis of EF. The four air quality categories are EF> 1.0- moderate pollution; and EF<0.5 - low pollution. In Maharashtra, in the 2003-04, most of the cities showed high to critical EF for SPM except for Thane, which had a medium EF for SPM. In the same year, most cities showed low to medium EF for SO2 and NOx parameters.