Kerala to get advanced air quality monitoring systems

The Times of India , Friday, November 11, 2016
Correspondent : Sudha Nambudiri
KOCHI: Kerala will get four new state-of-the-art real-time ambient air quality monitoring systems (AAQMS) by the end of this financial year. While Thiruvananthapuram has an AAQMS with less parameters, the first among the new set of devices will be installed on Friday at the Vyttila mobility hub in Kochi.

The public can see the pollution levels in the two display systems coming up at Vyttila junction and on the Gold Souk building on NH 66 on Edappally-Vyttila stretch. Kozhikode city will get a new system installed by the end of the month.The AAQMS at industrial belt of Eloor in Ernakulam will be overhauled. Another system will be installed on a commercial building on Banerji road in Kochi. "We will test the pollution levels now that Kochi Metro will also start functioning," said Kerala state pollution control board chairman K Sajeevan.

The new system can measure all common air pollutants including ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2), volatile organic compounds (VOC), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), nonm e t h a n e hyd r o c a r b o n s (NMHC), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5), noise and meteorological parameters such as rainfall, temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed and direction.

This could very well provide the state with the exact state of pollution at least in the three main cities. If one were to go by the figures released by the KSPCB, then Kerala could be rated as a less polluted state.But step on the road and you will find people using respiratory masks to prevent pollution. "As there is no continuous monitoring of air pollution in our state, the data that is being published is not correct. As of now, the PCB officials collect some air samples and test it maybe once or twice a week.With the kind of construction activity going on here, we have severe dust pollution," said C M Joy , member, working committee on environment, state planning board.

Environmentalist S Seetharaman said that smog events has risen in Kerala. "We have been mercilessly felling trees, especially those with small leaves. These trees absorb dust. There has been a 15-fold increase in pollution levels over the last decade or so.Because of the tropical climate, any suspended particulate matter would stay in the air but winds and rains play an important role in cleansing. However, gross violations has led to severe pollution."

Ironically , it is not just cities like Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram that are reporting high levels of pollution. The average level in Kannur has been above the permissible limits. "The wind is playing a role in movement of dust particles from other polluted cities. Thiruvananthapuram is a coastal city surrounded by waters on three sides and also receives both the monsoons in a year. The burning of agriculture waste and pollutants from cities like Bangalore is reflecting in these figures," said Prof Satheesh Kumar, Centre for atomic and molecular physics, Manipaluniversity .

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/Kerala-to-get-advanced-air-quality-monitoring-systems/articleshow/55363151.cms
 


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