'Make Car-Free Day regular for clean air'

The Times of India , Monday, November 23, 2015
Correspondent : TNN
NEW DELHI: The effectiveness of car-free day in reducing Delhi's air pollution levels is massive, provided it's not just a monthly affair. This was opined by Centre for Science and Environment, which had taken up the task to monitor the effect of the event on pollution.

On Sunday , CSE compared the particulate pollution levels on the car-free road in Dwarka and a heavy traffic stretch from DhaulaKuan to Patel Chowk using their portable air pollution monitoring device. The PM2.5 (fine, respirable pollution particles) levels on the car-free road were found to be half in the heavy traffic stretch.

This reduction in PM2.5 levels was also seen in the monitoring done by Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC). Due to lower traffic on Sunday , the average ambient PM2.5 levels dropped by 21% in the city . "The car-free initiative as well as the low traffic load on a Sunday has helped lower pollution levels and toxic exposure in the city .Even though the overall winter pollution is high, the reduction in traffic volume has made a difference," said a statement by CSE. DPCC's city-wide average PM2.5 level of four hours in the afternoon on November 21 and November 22 had a huge difference. On November 21 the average PM2.5 level was 226 microgramme per cubic metres and on November 22 it dropped to 177 mcgcum.

CSE's monitoring is different from DPCC's as the portable monitor mainly measures a person's exposure to PM2.5 particles in real time.Exposure monitoring captures the pollution on road and the roadside that is influenced by direct emissions from vehicles within the breathing zone, say CSE researchers.This is normally higher than the ambient level.

During the car-free event, the PM2.5 level was 335 mcg cum in Dwarka. This was much lower than the levels observed in the heavy traffic stretch between DhaulaKuan and Patel Chowk when PM2.5 levels were 645 mcgcum.

Delhi observed its first `car-free day' on October 22, when the Kejriwal government kept a seven-km-long stretch between the Red Fort and India Gate free of vehicles. A World Health Organisation study last year said Delhi had the worst air quality out of the 1,600 cities surveyed worldwide.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Make-Car-Free-Day-regular-for-clean-air/articleshow/49886962.cms?
 


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