Delhi follows Beijing, to intensify drive against air pollution

With the Commonwealth Games in mind, the Delhi government Saturday said it will intensify pollution checks in the capital. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit convened a meeting with officials and discussed about the possible increase in pollution level during the Oct 3-14 Games.

“There will be an huge increase in quantum of traffic during the Games. It will be in the fitness of things if number of vehicles coming from other states may be minimized at least during those days,” Dikshit said.

As of now, around one million vehicles enter the capital daily.

It was also decided to intensify pollution check drives in Delhi and exhort people to go for regular pollution under control (PUC) checks.

Dikshit also suggested that all coal-based power stations be shut down during the duration of the Games.

It was also decided that timings would be strictly enforced for trucks plying in the city.

During the meeting it was also suggested that in case of parking at unauthorized places the amount of fine may be increased along with the hike in parking charges to discourage use of private vehicles.

Since schools and colleges will remain closed during the Games so 1,200 school buses and 2,500 maxi cabs will remain off the roads.

Dikshit also stressed upon the need of a short-term and long-term strategy to de-congest roads.

UN praise Delhi pollution watch before CWG

A pollution monitoring system developed by Indian scientists has come in for praise from the United Nations as an important step to ensure clean air during the Commonwealth Games.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), a specialised agency of the UN, said the System of Air Pollution Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) will serve as an example within India, South Asia and globally.

Aimed at managing air quality, it has been developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.

"The WMO recognises SAFAR as a very important activity in the region and will make all efforts to get international visibility for the project," L. Jalkanen, head of the WMO's Atmospheric Environment Research Division, wrote in a letter to SAFAR project director Gurfan Beig in March.

The UN recognition holds significance as some athletes have hinted at skipping the Games, as they fear that Delhi's air is unsafe to breathe.

Scientists at IITM are elated and confident that the system will help in ensuring clean air during the Games, dubbed as the first ever Green Games.

"SAFAR will make India one of the few countries to take a big leap in environmental research," Beig told.

"The system will tell us the quality of air at a given moment and also what it will be 24 hours later, thus alerting people and helping them avoid immediate exposure to unhealthy air."

SAFAR will provide information on air quality on an hourly basis and forecast pollution levels 24 hours in advance through wireless colour digital display panels located at 11 key points in the city during the Games.

"On any day, if the pollution level is high, the Delhi government might order closing of shops or reducing traffic flow," Indian Meteorological Department director Ajit Tyagi told.

Only a few developed countries have the technical knowhow to use such a system. It was used during the Olympic Games in Beijing and also at the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

The Indian capital is among the most polluted cities in the world. Its major problem is an ever-growing number of cars, three- and two- wheelers, which occupy a staggering 75 percent of the road space, although only 20 percent of the commuting public use them.

Delhi has over five million vehicles and another one million come to the metropolis from towns in the national capital region in adjoining states.

China had a tough time battling air pollution during the Olympic Games last year and there are doubts whether Delhi can be as effective as Beijing in enforcing traffic curbs, raising emission standards and stopping Games' construction work well in time to improve air quality.

SAFAR will provide air quality levels in a four-kilometre stretch around the Games village and other major venues. Instruments like ozone and carbon monoxide analysers and real time analysers for various other pollutants would be used for collecting the data.

The system will provide details about oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, black carbon and benzene present in Delhi air.

"Exposure to the pollutants will affect human health, increased respiratory symptoms, heart and lung diseases, allergies being some of them," said Beig.

SAFAR's inputs will greatly help in identifying the major sources of air pollutants and recommending measures to help improve the air quality.

Delhi to be first Indian city to forecast air quality

India’s capital, which will host the Commonwealth Games in October, isn’t just getting a fresh coat of paint, several overpasses, hotels and roads, and assorted sports infrastructure towards this. It is also getting its own air quality forecasting system.

New Delhi will become the first city in the country to be able to provide, 48 hours in advance, a pollution forecast, much like a weather forecast.

French firms Aria Technologies SA and Leosphere SA, which created a similar forecasting system for the Beijing Olympics (2008), are helping New Delhi create its pollution forecast. India doesn’t have an official pollution forecasting system.

“Our goal in Beijing was to put together a pollution index for the Games. Paris, which has a similar system, uses the information to control pollutants in the near future. This (the pollution forecasting system in New Delhi) is a first for South Asia,” said Sarath Guttikunda, deputy programme manager, Aria.

The two French firms are working with India’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to create the system. Leosphere manufactures hardware and software for the laser-based monitoring systems and Aria Technologies develops and distributes air quality modelling systems.

The New Delhi project is sponsored by the French government. Officials at its embassy in New Delhi declined comment, saying they were not authorized to speak to the media.

“After the Games, CPCB will take it forward. We will be training the board so that they will be able to continue the forecasting,” added Guttikunda.

CPCB has the mandate for collecting and releasing data on air pollution. It does provide real-time data on the concentration of various pollutants in New Delhi. However, this is point-in-time data, not a forecast.

The new initiative will help it do better, said an official at CPCB. “The focus is on better understanding of pollution for national, regional and urban areas. This will be continued after the Games also. Delhi is just the pilot and we hope we can replicate it for other cities,” said Prashant Gargava, environmental engineer and in charge for computer division, CPCB. “Advance warning and information on ambient air quality can help citizens in planning outdoor activities. It can be used for planning air quality management systems, understanding sources of pollution and how to manage them.”

However, it wasn’t clear whether New Delhi would emulate Beijing’s aggressive environmental management.

In Beijing, where the forecasts were available five days in advance, officials “used it as a policy tool, through which they planned their short-term pollution control methods. They had a clear target, which was to meet air quality standards during games,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhary, associate director, Centre for Science and Environment, an environmental activist organization.

“They ordered three million cars off the roads and shut down industries to meet the standard,” she said, adding that New Delhi should have a similar plan.

Guttikunda, too, would like to see CPCB or other agencies use the data to good effect. “Our objective is to persuade the agencies to make an informed decision on pollution control rather than an ad hoc one.”

The forecasting system that is being put in place will use Lidar (light detection and ranging) technology. The process involves a laser beam which is released and captured, with the before-after difference being converted into concentrations of various pollutants.

The system will also factor in regional data because it is needed to make an accurate forecast, said Guttikunda. For instance, data from Rajasthan can help predict dust storms in New Delhi.

Guttikunda said the main aim of air quality forecasting should be public health. “For instance, Delhi is known as the asthma capital of the country. Air pollution, especially particulate, is linked to respiratory disorders and advisories could be based on such advance warning system for better public health.”

Several cities in other parts of the world do issue such health advisories.

Delhi turns on giant air purifier

India has switched on its first public air purifier in the heart of Delhi as part of an experiment that could help other smog-choked cities in emerging countries.

The maker of the seven-ton machine, Italy's Systemlife, claims the box-like structure can purify 10,000 cubic metres of air every hour, scrubbing out pollutants such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

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The unit, which is plugged in on a traffic-clogged street of central Delhi, is part of a pilot that could lead to more being installed in other areas of the city, ranked the world's fourth most polluted by the World Health Organisation.

"It is the first such project in India and if it works then we would acquire a number of them and place them at strategic locations," the health chief of the New Delhi Municipal Council, P.K. Sharma, said.

He said a state environmental agency will monitor the performance of the machine, which costs about 25 million rupees ($551,000 dollars) and works like a vacuum cleaner, sucking in air and releasing it purified form from a roof vent.

"Money does not matter when health is in question," Mr Sharma said, adding that the purifier would be tested for three months at the site, which is drawing curious onlookers.

Critics of the project say that government of India must focus on reducing pollution at source rather than trying to clean it. Controlling pollution may be a difficult choice involving altering habits (like lesser usage of private vehicles) but is the only viable solution. The air purifying machine is an attempt to replace trees with more expensive solution. It only adds to the pollution as it runs on electricity.

The electricity-driven unit, installed free of cost, uses a five-stage filtering process including electrodes to remove health-threatening solid and gaseous pollutants.

"Almost all Indian cities and especially New Delhi needs them," said Ritika Modi, director of the Indian partner company of Systemlife.

The Italian company has installed similar public purifiers at 26 locations in Spain, six in Switzerland and seven in Italian cities, including in the capital Rome, according to a statement issued by the firm.

Environmentalists said they could only give a thumbs-up to the machine after the tests were over, which will include an examination of the filters by the Italian firm after three weeks of operations.

"We have to examine the variation in air quality, but this can be done only after we analyse the readouts," said Vivek Chattopadhyaya, an air analyst with the Centre for Science and Environment, an environmental research and lobby group.

In November, the city government vowed to enforce a single standard for industrial and residential pollution as part of plans to tighten air quality rules.

Previous rules allowed lower air quality in industrial areas compared with residential areas.

The city government is also mulling the idea of shutting down thousands of industrial units as well as open-air eateries ahead of the Commonwealth Games later this year in a bid to clear up the city smog.

The Commonwealth Games of October 3-14 are set to draw 8,000 athletes and officials to New Delhi as well as 100,000 visitors.

Court asks Delhi to reduce noise level around airport

The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to take 'immediate measures' to check noise pollution near the airport that is affecting people at a hospital and a residential area nearby.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Mukta Gupta said: 'Some immediate measures should be taken so that residents should not suffer.'

Additional Solicitor General A.S. Chandiok said: 'We are ready with long and short-term steps that we are planning to take to control noise pollution in the airport vicinity. And if the present trend continues there is a need to create a separate airport zone so as to lessen the noise level as prevalent in other countries.'

On the last date of hearing, the court had barred Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) from using two runways at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport after a nearby hospital alleged that the noise created by landing of planes disturbs its patients.

On Wednesday, DIAL requested the court to lift the ban on runways 29 and 11 as repair work has to start on runway 28.

'If we don't use runway number 29 and 11 and shut 28 then it will lead to massive chaos,' Rajiv Nayyar, counsel for DIAL said, adding that the capital has to gear up for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.

However, the court did not issue any directions to that effect and asked the DGCA and DIAL to file a detailed affidavit as to how they plan to control noise pollution.

The court also asked the petitioners to file a rejoinder to the affidavit filed by the DGCA by March 10.

The Indian Spinal Injuries Centre had filed a petition, alleging that the noise created by landing aircraft, which fly at a low height of 200-300 feet, was disturbing patients.

'As a result of the thrust of the planes, patients constantly suffer from the immense noise pollution created by the planes. Sleeplessness is (experienced by them) on a regular basis. Even the doctors performing surgery have complained,' said the hospital.

The hospital said the noise created by the planes was usually between the range of 75 decibel to 94 decibel and was 'clearly beyond the stipulated standards laid down under the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000'.

The court is also hearing a similar plea from residents of nearby Vasant Kunj locality, who have also complained of noise pollution.

CWG: NZ to train offshore due to pollution

New Zealand teams are planning a hit-and-run mission at October's Commonwealth Games in India, not because of security fears, but because of Delhi's high pollution.

A report by a leading sports scientist has warned New Zealand athletes to prepare offshore and fly to India as late as three days before their events, to minimise the effects of air pollution. Usually, athletes would spend a fortnight in the Games village before their events.

But, after visiting Delhi last October, New Zealand Academy of Sport performance physiologist Paul Laursen told national governing bodies they should instead prepare in Singapore, or alternatively in the Australian cities of Perth and Darwin.

"Beijing Olympics was considered pretty bad, so imagine almost two times that level of pollution in Delhi," Laursen told the Sunday Star-Times.

He said a recent report suggested pollution levels in Delhi of 144 ppm (parts per million) compared to 88 in Beijing. The city has more than four million vehicles and nearly half run on diesel, leading to high levels of carbon monoxide in the air. Forbes magazine recently rated Delhi the 24th dirtiest city in the world.

Laursen has investigated venues and facilities in Singapore, where Canada and Australia's Games' federations have already made bookings. Among individual athletes who plan to leave their arrival into Delhi late is star shotputter Valerie Vili, who is considering basing herself in Darwin.

"It's best not to arrive too soon," said Laursen. Singapore was chosen because it is slightly hotter than India, has relatively clean air, has direct flights to Auckland and Delhi, and is just a two-hour time change from Delhi.

Worst hit by the pollution will be endurance athletes competing outdoors. Laursen said he couldn't "even imagine" how competitors in the cycling road races would fare in such conditions.

Athletics New Zealand chief executive Scott Newman said the NZOC had been "very honest" in briefing sports about the issue, saying "we've got no problem" with individual athletes making their own travel plans.

Common Wealth Games (CWG) causing air quality deterioration

The not so good air quality in Delhi has just gotten worse due to construction work for the Commonwealth Games, figures from the Central Pollution Control Board show. The report comes out amidst Delhi government's claims that the 2010 Commonwealth Games will be "Green", and will have carbon neutral footprint.

The board’s member-secretary, SD Makhijani, said massive building work for October’s Games and the subsequent traffic congestion are to blame for a large increase in nitrogen oxides and particulate matter in the air in New Delhi.

“At this stage the air quality is not so good,” Mr Makhijani said. “There are many construction projects going on and so much congestion.”

There is some positive news, however. While nitrogen oxides and particulate matter are getting worse, Delhi’s painful decision to switch all commercial vehicles onto natural gas fuel from diesel has kept the most toxic sulphur dioxides and carbon monoxides within acceptable limits.

With booming economy resulting in 1,000 extra cars hitting the roads each working day in Delhi, one third of them diesel, nitrogen oxides are soaring – as is particulate matter, or fine ingestible dust, according to the pollution board.

Respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) is a major health hazard, especially for children, and doctors are now warning that poor air quality could compromise the performance of contenders at the Commonwealth Games in October. This will make the participant's planning tricky. Many atheletes prefer to visit the host country few weeks in advance to acclimatize. However, that may not be of great help considering pollution level in Delhi.

“It is definitely going to affect their performance, because pollution has a bad effect on all parameters for vital capacity,” said Dr AK Sood at Rockland Hospital in the city.

“Respiratory capacity for any athlete is extremely important, so it is bound to affect them.”

RSPM levels have always been higher in Delhi than other Commonwealth countries, but they remained within World Bank limits until last autumn. In October, the levels suddenly tripled, and they have yet to drop. Also, infrastructure projects would continue late and close to the schedule of Delhi Common Wealth Games, thus negating any changes of reduction in pollution.

Mr Makhijani said a mammoth US $17.5 billion construction programme of flyovers, new Metro lines, stadiums and bus lanes in preparation for the Games has thrown clouds of dust up into the air while causing congestion that prevents exhaust from dispersing.

Winter fog then settled and trapped the foul air, which is why levels of pollution have yet to drop, he said.

As the weather warms up and the Commonwealth Games construction ends, Mr Makhijani hopes that levels will fall. “We hope that when the construction is completed, air quality will return back to 2008 levels,” he said.

In 2008 the pollution board recorded a better year as it reaped the benefits of a difficult decision to switch all commercial vehicles to natural gas.

The results were staggering. Within 12 months, sulphur dioxide levels dropped by three-quarters, and carbon monoxide levels plunged.

Delhi has won international acclaim for the move, which was prompted by a 2005 health study revealing that foul air had impaired lung function in nearly half of all Delhi children.

Delhi youngsters were also twice as likely as children in other Indian cities to suffer from respiratory disease, and they had three times the alveolar macrophages, or narrowing of the air passages – something that is directly linked to RSPM.

Children are especially vulnerable to poor air quality because their immune systems are not fully developed and they tend to spend more time than adults outdoors. They also breathe more deeply relative to body mass.

Although no comparable study has been done since 2005, Dr Sood at Rocklands Hospital said anecdotal evidence suggested that respiratory disease among children had started to improve, until the past few months.

Some are calling for an immediate increase in air quality standards as well as a reduction in the number of cars on the road.

“We have crossed the point this year where we can say Delhi is clean,” said Anumita Roychoudhary, from the Centre of Science and Environment. But the board is going to wait to see if levels drop towards the end of the year. If they do not, further action will be taken, said Mr Makhijani, who cited public transit as a core strategy to improve the city’s air quality.

“We need to ensure the smooth flow of traffic and decrease the number of vehicles, which is only possible if people switch to public transport,” he said.

Delhi has invested heavily in public transit, but it is also expanding and improving the city’s network of ring roads.

Mr Makhijani said if commuters driving into Delhi from outside the city refuse to save an hour by leaving the car at home, the pollution control board will tax them.

CWG 2010: Pollution watch

Despite all the efforts by authorities who are working overtime to make the capital cleaner and greener before the Commonwealth Games, the high levels of air pollution in the city might be a cause of discomfort to the visiting athletes.

With massive construction activities as a build-up to the 2010 sporting event, the city air is getting more and more polluted which the sport persons from many Commonwealth countries might find uncomfortable, according to health experts.

"Athletes, who breathe deeper and longer, can find themselves very uncomfortable. Higher level of suspended material could increase their stress level, and in turn affect their performance," said Dr A K Sood, senior health expert at Rockland Hospitals.

With Delhi government trying to advertise the games as 'GREEN' games, pollution poses a big challenge. Also, more troublesome is the fact that its SPM which immediately hinders with the respiration is at the most dangerous level. It is to be seen whether pollution actually impacts the performance of start like Usain Bolt and Jessica Ennis if they make an appearance.

Delhi's new Carpool Scheme

Delhi government plans to launch the Pan City Mega Carpool Scheme before the Commonwealth Games 2010.

The ride sharing scheme aims to provide a simple way to encourage car owners to share their vehicles with other car owners, thereby resulting in fewer cars on city roads. It has been proposed to enroll thousands of car owners, subject to verification of their credentials, into a single mega carpool and issue the members secure, smart identity cards as well.

The member cars will be fitted with a special hardware device comprising of a card reader, global positioning system (GPS) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). The device can read the smart card based photo identity card of a member, sense the location of the car and transmit this data digitally to a central agency. The rider will only be required to tap the smart ID card at the beginning as well as the end of the ride and all the information regarding the driver and the rider would be sent to the central server. A member of the carpool scheme may give a ride to any of the enrolled members who have a common or along-the-way travel destination. By giving rides, the member will earn mileage points which can be redeemed as cash or family members can avail of them by using the car pools.

According to the transport department, almost 50 to 60 per cent of the road space is used by an estimated two million car owners in Delhi, although they meet just 20 per cent of the commuting demand.

The scheme will ensure safety of the passengers as a central server will keep track of all shared rides, including vehicle number and owner and the time a particular rider boards the car.

The scheme, if successful will augument Delhi's improving public transport infrastructure which includes Metro and BRT scheme. However, it remains to be seen whether Delhi will accept this scheme considering its high crime rate.

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