NATIONAL AIR QUALITY MONITORING

PROGRAMME (N.A.M.P.)

Dr. Sindhu J Nair

Prof & Head,
Civil Engg. BIT, Durg
 The apex regulatory agency on pollution issues in
India, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is
 the sole agency that coordinates the air quality
monitoring regime through its nation-wide
programme
 known as the National Air Quality Monitoring
Programme (NAMP).
 Initiated in 1984 at Agra and Anpara with 7 stations,
the programme has since been substantially expanded
and was originally called the National Ambient Air
Quality Monitoring (NAAQM).
NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR QUALITY
MONITORING PROGRAMME – NAAQM

 Under the nation-wide ambient air quality

monitoring network (NAAQM) programme,
CPCB have entrusted to NEERI the work for
monitoring ambient air quality to develop
long-term database for urban centres, viz.
Nagpur, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and
Hyderabad.
 Air samples are collected and analysed for
minimum 8 days in a month monitoring
gaseous parameters on 4-hourly average and
particulate matter on 8-hourly average basis.
 National Air Quality Monitoring
Programme (NAMP).
 Central Pollution Control Board is
executing the nation-wide programme of
ambient air quality monitoring known as
National Air Quality Monitoring Programme
(NAMP).

 The network consists of three hundred and

forty two (342) operating stations covering
one hundred and twenty one (121)
cities/towns in twenty nine (29) states and
seven (7 Union Territories of the country.
The objectives of the N.A.M.P. are

 to determine status and trends of ambient air

quality;

 to ascertain whether the prescribed ambient air

quality standards are violated;

 to Identify Non-attainment Cities;

 to obtain the knowledge and understanding
necessary for developing preventive and
corrective measures and

 to understand the natural cleansing process

undergoing in the environment through
pollution dilution, dispersion, wind based
movement, dry deposition, precipitation and
chemical transformation of pollutants
generated.
Under N.A.M.P., four air pollutants viz .,
 Sulphur Dioxide (SO ),
2
 Oxides of Nitrogen as NO ,
2
 Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and
 Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter
(RSPM / PM10)
have been identified for regular monitoring at all
the locations.

The monitoring of meteorological parameters

such as wind speed and wind direction, relative
humidity (RH) and temperature were also
integrated with the monitoring of air quality.
 The monitoring of pollutants is carried out for 24
hours (4-hourly sampling for gaseous pollutants and
8-hourly sampling for particulate matter) with a
frequency of twice a week, to have one hundred and
four (104) observations in a year.

 The monitoring is being carried out with the help of

Central Pollution Control Board; State Pollution
Control Boards; Pollution Control Committees;
National Environmental Engineering Research
Institute (NEERI), Nagpur.
 CPCB co-ordinates with these agencies
to ensure the uniformity, consistency of
air quality data and provides technical
and financial support to them for
operating the monitoring stations.

 N.A.M.P. is being operated through

various monitoring agencies.
 Large number of personnel and
equipments are involved in the
sampling, chemical analyses, data
reporting etc.
 It increases the probability of variation
and personnel biases reflecting in the
data, hence it is pertinent to mention
that these data be treated as indicative
rather than absolute.
 four general actions
There are four general actions that local
government can take toward improving
air quality.
These include:

 1. Using less polluting equipment in city

activities, or developing programs
where city employees generate fewer
commuting emissions.
 2. Implementing congestion management
actions to make the existing roadway system
function more efficiently.

 3. Making land use decisions relative to new

development that reduce vehicle trip or vehicle
miles traveled.

 4. Becoming the focus of an educational

process that promotes a less polluting lifestyle.
 Programs to carry out these actions are
constrained by a number of obstacles. Any
program has a cost that may be economic,
social, political or technological.
 In many programs that affect lifestyle or
transportation choice, human reaction is not
predictable. It is therefore difficult to forecast
the benefit of a given action.
 An accurate cost/benefit analysis as a basis for
informed decision-making may not exist.
 Creation of a community air quality task
force is recommended and to develop an
action agenda that reinforces the City
commitment to be a clean and sustainable
community.
 Major terms are defined as
follows:
Organic Compounds.
Organic gases, or hydrocarbons, are created
when fuels or organic waste materials are
burned.
These materials are the result of incomplete
combustion and range in complexity from
methane, a simple organic gas, to much
more complex molecules containing
carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in varying
proportions.
 Organic compounds are also emitted
by consumer products such as
aerosol sprays and by paints, inks,
solvents, and gasoline when they
evaporate.
 Sulfur Oxides.
 Heating and burning "fossil fuels," like coal and oil,
release the sulfur
present in these materials.
 The largest fraction of sulfur oxides is sulfur
dioxide (SO2). This substance often further
oxidizes to form sulfur trioxide (SO3),which in the
presence of moisture can form sulfuric acid mist
(H2SO4).

 These contaminants can damage vegetation and

affect the health of both humans and animals.
 Oxides of Nitrogen. Air is comprised of
about 80% nitrogen. Whenever anything
burns at high enough temperatures, a
certain amount of nitrogen in the air burns
as well.

 Burning, also known as oxidation, occurs

when materials combine with oxygen in
such a way as to release energy in the
form of light and heat.
 The resulting compounds containing
nitrogen are nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen
dioxide (NO2).

 Mixtures of these two compounds are

known as oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and
they are involved in photochemical
reactions that produce ozone.
 Ambient Air Quality. The healthfulness of
the air we breathe outside an enclosed
structure.
Criteria Pollutants. Those air contaminants
for which a safe/unsafe exposure level has
been identified.
Fugitive Emissions. Those pollutant
emissions not amenable to collection and
discharge through a single source, such as
a smokestack or tailpipe.
 "Hot Spots." Highly localized
concentrations of pollution covering
very small distances
(often tens of feet from the source).
 Mobile Sources. Emissions deriving mainly
from the propulsion of equipment on the
ground, in water or through air. They
include additional emissions from sources
to operate power demand components such
as mechanical equipment, air
conditioning,etc.

Stationary Sources. A specific discharge

point of emissions whose location remains
fixed for a given period of time.
 Area Sources. Diffuse collections of
emissions that comprise numerous small
emissionpoints whose individual emissions
are often too small to enumerate
singularly.
Examples might be the use of consumer
care products or the emissions from all
waterheaters, stoves or furnaces
throughout the city.
 Air Pollutants
 A description of air pollution generally
distinguishes between gaseous pollutants and
small pieces of solids or liquid particulates that,
because of their small size, can remain
suspended in the air semi-indefinitely.

 Differentiation of pollutants may also be on the basis of

those pollutants or "species" for which there are clean
air standards (called"criteria" pollutants) versus those
for which no safe exposure level exists.
 6 criteria air pollutants
 Carbon Monoxide
 Lead
 Nitrogen Dioxide
 Ozone
 Particle Pollution
 Sulfur Dioxide
 Particulate Matter

Dust, mist, ash, smoke and fumes are some of the

liquid or solid particles found in the
atmosphere.
 Smoke, composed of carbon and other products of
incomplete combustion,
is the most obvious form of particulate pollution.
 Open fires, incinerators, petroleum
refining, and fuel burning in vehicles and aircraft
all produce these highly visible
particles.
 Some particulate emissions are considered
more toxic than others. It is only recently
that the potential adverse health effects of
respirable particulate matter (of 10 micron
in diameter or less, called PM-10) has been
better recognized, because PM-10 often is
a complex mixture of materials.
 PM-10 has been called "the primary
pollutant of the 21stCentury."
 Gases
 Because of their effects, some gases produced by
industries or automobiles or formed in the atmosphere
are regarded as air contaminants.

 The most important of these are reactive organic

compounds, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur
oxides, and ozone.

 All can cause discomfort and illness in persons exposed

for various time periods at varying concentrations, and
some organic compounds can impair visibility or damage
plant life.
 A distinction is typically made between those air
pollutants that have an adverse health effect
immediately upon release into the atmosphere
versus those that require a chemical
transformation into a more harmful form.
 The unreacted pollutants are called primary
pollutants. The most common primary pollutant
is carbon monoxide (CO). CO is emitted in large
amounts from vehicular combustion sources.
 Carbon Monoxide. This is an odorless,
invisible gas which affects the health
of people exposed to high
concentrations. Carbon monoxide is
especially dangerous indoors,
when ventilation is inadequate.
 Because CO attaches to hemoglobin
in the blood more firmly than
oxygen, those people with
diminished
circulatory or respiratory capacity
may suffer from chest pain or they
may become very
drowsy upon exposure.
 Ambient Air Quality Standards (AAQS)

 For some air pollutants, especially the

more common contaminants, extensive
research has been conducted to determine
the chronic ambient exposure level below
which there are no observable adverse
effects.
 These levels have been translated
into clean air standards for the
appropriate exposure period for a
given pollutant.

 These standards are the levels of air

quality considered safe, with an
adequate margin of safety, to protect
the public health and welfare.
 They are designed to protect those
people most susceptible to
respiratory distress such as
asthmatics, the elderly, very young
children,people already weakened by
other disease or illness, and persons
engaged in strenuous work or
exercise, called sensitive receptors.
 National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS) were established in 1971 for six
pollutant types, with states retaining the
option to add other pollutants, require
more stringent compliance, or to include
different exposure periods.

 The initial attainment deadline of 1977

was extended to 1987 for national AAQS
for selected pollutants.
 Since many areas of the United States still
exceeded clean air standards beyond 1987, a
new attainment schedule was adopted in the
Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

 Because California had established AAQS

several years before the federal action and
because of unique air quality problems
introduced by the restrictive dispersion
meteorology in the state, there is
considerable difference between state and
national clean air standards.
 Regulatory Framework

 The air quality regulatory process has

generally been a "top down" approach to
prevent local actions from interfering with
regional, state or national attainment
strategies.

 National standards for ambient air quality

and emissions control are enforced by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA).
 Toxic Air Contaminants
 Within the last decade, it has become increasingly
obvious that a respiratory health risk exists less
from pollutants governed by clean air standards
than from toxic air contaminants (TACs) for which
no safe exposure level exists at all.
 Considerable effort by air planning and
enforcement agencies continues to be expended
toward pollutants with established safe levels.
 The impetus to reduce TAC exposure gained
considerable
momentum in the 1980s.
 The public accepts a certain level of
risk every day.
 For example, chlorinated drinking
water is far more carcinogenic than
the air we breathe, but safer than if
the water were not treated.
 Eating foods containing
preservatives, eating peanut butter
(contains aflatoxin) or drinking some
diet soft drinks (saccharine) all
create lifetime cancer risks higher
than breathing the open air.
 TAC control programs strive to keep risks as low
as possible, but not necessarily at zero.
 A consensus has emerged over time on
acceptable levels of risk.
 Individual lifetime cancer risks in excess of 10
in one million require a warning under State
Proposition 65.
 A risk above 10 in a million has thus become a
significance threshold for airborne TACs as well.
 If an risk is less than 1 in one million, it
is generally considered an insignificant
public risk.
 In the range of 1-10 in a million, a risk
is generally considered acceptable if
there are no known methods to reduce
the risk below a less than significant
level (using toxic best available control
technology or TBACT).
 END