URBAN ECOLOGY

Final Report
10 November 2018

DELHI’S DETERIORATING AIR QUALITY

Diksha Bhutani, A/2805/2015

4th Year Section A

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CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………… 3
2. IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM…………………………………………. 4
3. WHEN DELHI BECAME THE MOST POLLUTED CITY………………………. 4
4. HOW IT ALL HAPPENED…………………………………………………………. 6
5. CAUSES OF POOR AIR QUALITY………………………………………………. 8
6. THE PROPOSED SOLUTIONS…………………………………………………... 8
7. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………… 9
8. BIBLIOGRPHY……………………………………………………………………… 10

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INTRODUCTION

According to the United Nations, the anticipated world population growth between 2000
and 2030, approximately 2 billion people, will be concentrated in urban areas (UN
2004). The 21st century will be the century of urbanization. By the year 2030 more than
60 per cent (4.9 billion) of the estimated world population (8.1 billion) will live in urban
settlements, compared to 29 per cent in 1950. In 2025, more than a dozen urban
agglomerations will have over 20 million inhabitants, and some will have over 30 million.
23 of the 25 biggest urban agglomerations on the planet will be in Africa, Asia, and Latin
America, rather than in Europe or North America. These megacities are considered
‘hotspots’ of global change. Urbanized areas cover between approximately one and six
per cent of Earth’s surface, yet they have extraordinarily large ecological ‘footprints’ and
complex, powerful, and often indirect effects on ecosystems. (Endlicher, 2007)

Home to more than 20 million people, New Delhi is a center for commerce and culture
in India. While booming industrialization and urbanization in the area is a motivator for
development and population growth, air pollution is one of the major environmental
problems, affecting health of thousands of 'urban' residents residing in the mega city of
New Delhi.

The report shall study the event of the ‘Great Smog of Delhi’ and examine the recent
far-reaching air-pollution policies in India's capital.

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IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM

Pollution is one of the major issues causing concern not only in India but across the
world. The technological advancement and speedy development since India’s
Independence has come at a great environmental cost.

According to the NAS-NRC, Waste Management and Control,

“Pollution increases not only because as people multiply the space available to each
person becomes smaller, but also because the demands per person are continually
increasing, so that each throws away more year by year. As the earth becomes more
crowded, there is no longer an “away.” One person’s trash basket is another’s living
space…. as people live increasingly in city concentrations, their residues also
concentrate there, and it is there that the problems become most acute.”

The air quality in Delhi, according to a WHO survey of 1600 world cities, is the worst of
any major city in the world. Air pollution in India is estimated to kill 1.5 million people
every year; it is the fifth largest killer in India. India has the world's highest death rate
from chronic respiratory diseases and asthma, according to the WHO. In Delhi, poor
quality air damages irreversibly the lungs of 2.2 million or 50 percent of all children.

WHEN DELHI BECAME THE MOST POLLUTED CITY

According to the global Environment Performance Index (EPI) 2018, India is ranked at
177 with an EPI of 30.57, and it is very disheartening to hear that Delhi, the national
capital of the country, is being tagged as one of the most heavily polluted capital cities
in the world. It is the world’s worst city in terms of air pollution, with an unhealthy air
quality index for the majority of the year. Thus, today, one of the biggest threats to the
welfare of the people of Delhi and the city as a whole is air pollution. (Phukan and
Phukan, 2018)

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In November 2017, in an event known as the Great smog of Delhi, the air pollution
spiked far beyond acceptable levels. Levels of PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulate matter hit
999 micrograms per cubic meter, while the safe limits for those pollutants are 60 and
100 respectively (refer following chart)

Source: Irfan, 2017, Zarracina, US State Department

United Airlines canceled its flights to India’s capital because of poor air quality. Visibility
was so bad that cars crashed in pileups on highways and trains had to be delayed and
canceled. The airborne particles and toxic chemicals that make up the smog have
choked the 19 million residents of the metropolitan area, where merely breathing the air
was, at its worst, like smoking 50 cigarettes in a day. Hospitals reported a 20 percent
surge in patients with pollution-related illnesses, and doctors have declared a public
health emergency (Irfan, 2017).

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But what is the reason behind this menace? Turns out this oppressive smog is a
pungent combination of an ancient farming technique and the residues of modern urban
living. But the Indian government has also failed to find ways to control the well-
understood sources of pollution, which has allowed the situation to grow progressively
worse over time.

HOW IT ALL HAPPENED

India’s pockets of pollution can clearly be seen in the map on the following page from
Berkeley Earth, an independent research consortium. The map shows airborne
concentrations of particles with diameters of 2.5 microns or less, also known as PM2.5.
These particles can come from different sources — diesel exhaust, natural dust,
wildfires — and can lead to heart attacks, strokes, breathing difficulties, and cancer as
they penetrate deep into lungs. The concentrations are reported as micrograms per
cubic meter. (Irfan, 2017).

According to the US Embassy’s measurements, air in New Delhi reached PM 2.5

concentrations of more than 1,200 micrograms per cubic meter, 48 times the guideline
value established by the World Health Organization.

According to Elizabeth Muller, executive director of Berkeley Earth,

“One of the things that’s so fascinating is how the pollution is not contained in the cities
and it doesn’t even seem to be coming from the cities”

In fact, much of the pollution is coming from farms in nearby states of Punjab, Haryana,
and Western Uttar Pradesh. With the rice harvest over, farmers are burning crop
stubble — specifically the remnants of the rice crop to prepare the fields to plant wheat
and return nutrients to the soil.

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This is a screenshot from November 8, 2017 which shows how Delhi became the
epicenter of hazardous air quality:

But what’s unique about Delhi’s smog is that the smoke from the burning outside the
city is mixing with pollution inside the city — from construction, vehicles, and fires the
poor use to cook and keep warm. This mix of rural and urban pollution intensifies in the
cooler winter months and this year’s air currents through the region have been
unusually slow, allowing the dirty air to linger. North India’s topography also acts as a
basin that traps pollution — making it impossible for the millions of people in the region
to escape the toxic air. It’s why there are now reports of reverse migration: People
retreating from Delhi to rural areas outside the pollution zone so they can breathe
cleaner air. (Irfan, 2017).

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CAUSES OF POOR AIR QUALITY

The root cause of the smog, which fills the corridors of Delhi without fail every winter, is
yet to be tackled. Several studies and government committees have highlighted the
following causes,

• Motor vehicle emissions are one of the causes of poor air quality. Other causes
include wood-burning fires, fires on agricultural land, exhaust from diesel
generators, dust from construction sites, and burning garbage and illegal
industrial activities in Delhi.
• The Badarpur Thermal Power Station, a coal-fired power plant built in 1973, is
another major source of air pollution in Delhi. Despite producing less than 8% of
the city's electric power, it produces 80 to 90% of the particulate matter pollution
from the electric power sector in Delhi. During the Great smog of Delhi in
November 2017, the Badarpur Power Plant was temporarily shut down to
alleviate the acute air pollution, but was allowed to restart later.
• Although Delhi is kerosene free and 90% of the households use LPG for cooking,
the remaining 10% uses wood, crop residue, cow dung, and coal for cooking.
(Census-India, 2012)
• Fire in Bhalswa landfill is a major reason for airborne particles in Delhi.
• Agricultural stubble burning also affects Delhi's air quality when crops are being
harvested.

THE PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

Of the city's 44,777 hectares, 8,422 hectares are reserved for "the Greens", of which the
Delhi Development Authority (DDA) manages more than 5050 hectares. There is a
policy for afforestation, atmospheric pollution, bio-medical waste, domestic refuse, and
water and sewage treatment. Additionally, there are action plans to encourage public
participation in environmental problems.

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Odd-Even Traffic Scheme: To tackle rising air pollution in Delhi, the Government of
Delhi came up with the odd-even traffic scheme. According to the notification issued by
the government, from 8 am to 8 pm, vehicles with odd registration numbers will be
allowed to ply on odd dates and those with even registration numbers would be plying
on even dates. There was no restriction on any vehicle on Sundays. According to Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, if the scheme is a success, then it can be replicated
every month, though no criteria of success or of failure of the scheme have ever been
decided.

Delhi Peripheral Expressway: Eastern Peripheral Expressway is expected to divert

more than 50,000 trucks away from Delhi and reduce pollution of Delhi by 27%. It was
inaugurated in May 2018. Western Peripheral Expressway will also be made functional
soon.

SC's Ban on sale of fireworks: Since air pollution spikes in Delhi during festivities for
Diwali, on 9 October 2017 the Supreme Court of India banned the sale of fireworks—a
main source of the spike—in the city.

CONCLUSION

What I found interesting as a conclusion of this report is that urban ecology is relevant
to urban policy, since any improvement to living conditions in urban areas requires a
societal and individual awareness of the problem such as the air pollution of Delhi, as
does the attempt to make cities more sustainable in terms of the natural environment.
According to Wolch J. (2007), the challenges for policy led by urban ecology are
threefold: first, the city’s ecological integrity must be reinstated, which means recreating
a green matrix in them, in order to bring plants and animals back to where the majority
of people live; second, the systems of production and consumption must be redesigned
to address the global problem of an unsustainable ‘metabolism’; third, urban citizenship
must be revived, not only to make the ecological transition acceptable and accepted in
terms of society, but also in order to pursue social and ecological justice. (Endlicher,
2007)

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BIBLIOGRPHY

• Phukan, R. and Phukan, R. (2018). Pollution in Delhi: How Can It Be Controlled?

[online] My India. Available at: https://www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/cities/delhi-
tops-in-pollution-how-can-it-be-controlled [Accessed 19 Sep. 2018].
• Kedia, S. (2018). Delhi is gasping for air - six reasons why the national capital is
becoming a ‘gas chamber’. [online] YourStory.com. Available at:
https://yourstory.com/2017/11/delhi-air-pollution-six-reasons/ [Accessed 19 Sep.
2018].
• Endlicher, Wilfried & Langner, Marcel & Hesse, M & Mieg, H.A. & Kowarik, Ingo
& Hostert, Patrick & Kulke, Elmar & Nützmann, G & Schulz, M & van der Meer,
Elke & Wessolek, Gerd & Wiegand, C. (2007). Urban Ecology - Definitions and
Concepts. 1-15.
• Irfan, U. (2018). How Delhi became the most polluted city on Earth. [online] Vox.
Available at: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-
environment/2017/11/22/16666808/india-air-pollution-new-delhi [Accessed 24
Oct. 2018].

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