NOIDA: The city will finally have its own automated air quality monitoring system soon. All parameters which determine air quality including PM2.5, which is crucial for the determination of levels of air pollution will soon be available from Noida round-the-clock.
At present, the regional office of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) can only determine PM10 levels of ambient air quality, which makes assessment and comparison of air quality in Noida difficult.
The gadget, costing a little over Rs 1 crore and funded by the UPPCB and CPCB, has finally been imported and will be set up by end of January. It will be installed within the campus of Amity University.
Noida does not have an automated air quality measurement system, which has made air quality measurement difficult. The UPPCB so far managed to execute it through manual processes. The new gadget will monitor the city's air quality round the clock and the data will be available on the UPPCB website.
B B Awasthi, regional officer, UPPCB, GB Nagar, told TOI that the machine would record and transmit all the 12 parameters that determine air quality. "The measurements will now be available round the clock. It will now be easy for all concerned to detect the exact quality of Noida air. It has been very difficult so far to determine air quality in Noida for lack of proper gadgets. We have been executing it manually, which often led to delays in assessing and announcing results."
The machine will now offer readings of PM10, PM2.5, NO2, O3, CO, SO2, NH3, Lead (PB).
The demand for the gadget was pitched by the regional office of the UPPCB four years ago, but was not being approved by the state government on the grounds of budget constraints. Finally the CPCB bailed it out with a 50% contribution for the procurement.
