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A history of Delhi’s air pollution: Can road rationing

even the odds?
Delhi’s radical road rationing plan kicks in from the new year as a desperate city struggles to clean up its lthy air. A lungful
of air in Delhi is a noxious mix of smoke, dust, fumes and ash with heavy concentrations of chemicals, acids, metals and
carcinogens. What makes this “particulate matter” so deadly is its size - the particles are small enough to pass through the
nose and throat, and even penetrate tissue. The tiniest, which are 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter (PM 2.5), are the worst.
They are more toxic, travel farther from their source and live deep in lung tissue.
CITIES Updated: Jan 04, 2016 13:06 IST

HT Correspondent
Hindustan Times
Delhi government's big experiment to get private cars off the road to alleviate the high pollution levels in the nation’s capital warrants a closer
look at the situation.(HT Photo)

Delhi’s radical road rationing plan kicks in from the new year as a desperate city struggles to clean
up its lthy air.

A lungful of air in Delhi is a noxious mix of smoke, dust, fumes and ash with heavy concentrations
of chemicals, acids, metals and carcinogens. What makes this “particulate matter” so deadly is its
size - the particles are small enough to pass through the nose and throat, and even penetrate tissue.
The tiniest, which are 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter (PM 2.5), are the worst. They are more
toxic, travel farther from their source and live deep in lung tissue.

Although Delhi’s (and India’s) air has gotten progressively worse - a 2014 report
(http://epi.yale.edu/ les/2014_epi_press_release_-_india_.pdf) said air quality in the country has
declined 100 percent in the last decade - contributions from different pollutants have shifted over
the years.

What’s changed?
Particulate matter - PM 2.5 speci cally - produced by vehicle emissions peaked around 1998. And
then it started to gradually decline. That was when the Supreme Court ordered
(http://www.seas.harvard.edu/TransportAsia/workshop_papers/Mehta.pdf) the city’s eet of buses
to switch from diesel to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). Also included in the ruling were pre-1990
autorickshaws and taxis.

By this time, the Delhi

government had passed
a slew of other measures

(http://delhigovt.nic.in/newdelhi/dept/transport/tr2.asp) to cut emissions from vehicles. They

introduced unleaded petrol as well as diesel and petrol with low levels of sulphur. This led to a drop
in the levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2), and since the gas converts to ne particles, a drop in PM10.

But some studies argue (http://www.rff.org/ les/sharepoint/WorkImages/Download/RFF-DP-07-

06.pdf)that a lot of these gains have been reversed because of the sharp increase in the number of
vehicles, especially those running on diesel. So Nitrogen Oxides and Ozone - by-products of
emissions from cars, trucks, construction etc. - have been rising while other pollutants such as
sulphur dioxides have reduced.

But vehicles aren’t the only culprits

Road dust - a term which refers to a high concentration of metals such as Copper, Manganese,
Nickel, Barium, Zinc etc. is a major cause of particulate matter in Delhi. It’s the result of poor roads,
heavy traf c and incessant construction.

An equally alarming cause is Delhi’s garbage - burning piles of trash are a source of particulate
matter, mercury and other harmful chemicals. According to some estimates
(http://www.scienti camerican.com/article/burning-trash-bad-for-humans-and-global-warming/),
burning trash produces nearly 30% of the world’s particulate matter and 40% of its Polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a class of chemicals associated with neurological diseases, heart
attacks and cancer.

Pollution from industries might be lower than that from

vehicles but they pose a major challenge for monitoring
and enforcement. Industries in and around Delhi, many
of them small-scale, have long been accused
(http://www.theguardian.com/environment/india-
untamed/2014/oct/20/india-air-quality-delhi-polluted-
city-world) of outing regulation and fudging data. For
one, the instruments they use to monitor pollutants are
rarely up to global standards because the manufacturers
“self-certify” their products.

Delhi’s air is not that different from its neighbours.

Emissions from brick kilns, coal plants, cement units,
tanneries etc. in Faridabad, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh send the most toxic particulate
matter as far as the Capital. A recent study (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/delhi-pollution-air-
punjab-haryana-up-border-states/1/426517.html) found that on the days PM 2.5 exceeded
120 micrograms per cubic metre in Delhi, 22% of it came from the south-southwest direction. That
is, Faridabad and Gurgaon.

Finally, there’s geography. Yes, that matters. Chennai, for instance, has ten times more cars per
kilometre of road length but a tenth of Delhi’s PM levels, according to some estimates
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151029102520.htm). Why? Because as a coastal city
that isn’t surrounded by dusty, industrial towns that are swiftly expanding, it can replace some of its
polluted air with cleaner breeze from the sea. Delhi’s air also gets worse in winters when cool
temperatures draw in more polluted air. It only gets a little better in the summer because dust
aggravates pollution.

Will the odd even rule help?

It’s certainly a start. But, as the number suggest, if vehicles aren’t necessarily the worst polluters,
Delhi needs more legislation to clean up its air.

This data from Urban Emissions.info (http://urbanemissions.blogspot.in/2015/04/infographic-are-

we-chasing-right.html) is helpful to understand what effect new regulations, if passed, would have.

First Published: Jan 04, 2016 09:47 IST

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