AIR PO CALY ASSESSMENT OF AIR POLLUTION PSE II IN INDIAN CITIES CONTENT The PM 1. Introduction 4 2. Methodology 6 OR PARTICULATE data for these cities is being made 3. Inference and Analysis 7 MATTER available here upto as late as the year 3.1 Andhra Pradesh 8 2016 and in some cases until 2015. 3.2 Assam 9 3.3 Himachal Pradesh 10 3.4 Goa 11 SUMMARY 3.5 Gujarat 12 The report now in your hands brings together and highlights data vis-à-vis air quality for 3.6 Madhya Pradesh 13 no less than 280 Indian cities spread across the country. Sadly, in many cases this is 3.7 Maharashtra 14 going from bad to worse, and without much sign of a let up in near future unless the Government and people join hands to fight this fast approaching airpocalypse. 3.8 Odisha 15 3.9 Rajasthan 16 The PMɼɻ, or particulate matter, data for these cities is available here up to the year 2016 and in some cases until 2015. The data shows 228 (more than 80% of the 3.10 Uttar Pradesh 17 cities/town where Air Quality Monitoring data was available) cities, have not been 3.11 Uttarakhand 18 complying with the annual permissible concentration of 60µg/m³ which is prescribed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) under the National Ambient Air Quality 3.12 West Bengal 19 Standards (NAAQS). And none of the cities have been found to adhere to the standard 3.13 Bihar 20 set by the World Health Organization (WHO) at 20 µg/m³. Thus, all these cities without a single exception are going beyond the permissible limit supposed to be followed 3.14 Haryana 21 internationally to stay within the safe limits for the sake of human health as well as the 3.15 Delhi 22 environment. 3.16 Karnataka 23 Even if we assume that the present number of manual air quality monitoring stations 3.17 Telangana 24 represents the air quality for the entire population in the district, the data in the report covered 280 cities with a population of 630 million, or 53% of the total population, 3.18 Tamil Nadu 25 leaving out only 20 districts where air quality was monitored under NAMP, but we could 3.19 Punjab 26 not get access to the data. 3.20 Kerala 27 Out of the 630 million Indians covered by the data, 550 million live in areas exceeding national standard for PMɼɻ, and 180 million live in areas where the air pollution levels 4. Air Pollution Monitoring 29 network and exposure are more than twice the stipulated standards. This includes 47 million children under 5 years of age, living in areas where the standard is exceeded and 17 million in areas 5. Way Forward 31 where the air pollution levels are more than twice the stipulated standards. Apart from this, 580 million Indians live in districts with no air quality data available, including 59 6. Comparison of facts on air pollution 32 million children under 5 years of age. across the world 7. Appendix-I: PMɼɻ Levels across 35 Thick smog and haze have been hovering across northern India indicating that bad air India (Annual Average 2016/2015) is not confined to big cities alone. It's not seasonal, toxic air is engulfing our spaces - urban and rural equally, the urgency on deteriorating air quality cannot be stressed Airpocalypse II: Assessment of enough. Air Pollution in Indian Cities Written by The report like its previous counterpart - released a year ago - shows once again that Harshit Sharma, Greenpeace deadly air quality due to pollution is not a problem confined to Delhi-NCR (National Lauri Myllyvirta, Greenpeace Capital Region) alone. Other metropolises too are hardly any better off, though this fact Sunil Dahiya, Greenpeace was also highlighted in the last report on air quality. Thus, it would be safe to say that pollution levels remained high in most cities with some fluctuations, increases or Acknowledgements Nandikesh Sivalingam, Abid Shah, Ruhie Kumar decreases, in the case of a few cities when compared from 2015 levels. In the absence of any measurable target-driven approach on the part of state and central government Design agencies, it is difficult to say that the improvement in air quality in a few cities is Penmi Rungsung, Greenpeace actually due to weather or behavioural changes in local sources of pollution, or due to Published by GPET, released in January 2018 action initiated under the clean air policy that the government is supposed to enforce. For more information, contact: [email protected] Fire rages on in the fields, covering the sky in a thick Printed on 100% recycled paper blanket of smoke, Panipat, Haryana. © Saagnik Paul / Greenpeace 2 CONTENT The PM 1. Introduction 4 2. Methodology 6 OR PARTICULATE data for these cities is being made 3. Inference and Analysis 7 MATTER available here upto as late as the year 3.1 Andhra Pradesh 8 2016 and in some cases until 2015. 3.2 Assam 9 3.3 Himachal Pradesh 10 3.4 Goa 11 SUMMARY 3.5 Gujarat 12 The report now in your hands brings together and highlights data vis-à-vis air quality for 3.6 Madhya Pradesh 13 no less than 280 Indian cities spread across the country. Sadly, in many cases this is 3.7 Maharashtra 14 going from bad to worse, and without much sign of a let up in near future unless the Government and people join hands to fight this fast approaching airpocalypse. 3.8 Odisha 15 3.9 Rajasthan 16 The PMɼɻ, or particulate matter, data for these cities is available here up to the year 2016 and in some cases until 2015. The data shows 228 (more than 80% of the 3.10 Uttar Pradesh 17 cities/town where Air Quality Monitoring data was available) cities, have not been 3.11 Uttarakhand 18 complying with the annual permissible concentration of 60µg/m³ which is prescribed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) under the National Ambient Air Quality 3.12 West Bengal 19 Standards (NAAQS). And none of the cities have been found to adhere to the standard 3.13 Bihar 20 set by the World Health Organization (WHO) at 20 µg/m³. Thus, all these cities without a single exception are going beyond the permissible limit supposed to be followed 3.14 Haryana 21 internationally to stay within the safe limits for the sake of human health as well as the 3.15 Delhi 22 environment. 3.16 Karnataka 23 Even if we assume that the present number of manual air quality monitoring stations 3.17 Telangana 24 represents the air quality for the entire population in the district, the data in the report covered 280 cities with a population of 630 million, or 53% of the total population, 3.18 Tamil Nadu 25 leaving out only 20 districts where air quality was monitored under NAMP, but we could 3.19 Punjab 26 not get access to the data. 3.20 Kerala 27 Out of the 630 million Indians covered by the data, 550 million live in areas exceeding national standard for PMɼɻ, and 180 million live in areas where the air pollution levels 4. Air Pollution Monitoring 29 network and exposure are more than twice the stipulated standards. This includes 47 million children under 5 years of age, living in areas where the standard is exceeded and 17 million in areas 5. Way Forward 31 where the air pollution levels are more than twice the stipulated standards. Apart from this, 580 million Indians live in districts with no air quality data available, including 59 6. Comparison of facts on air pollution 32 million children under 5 years of age. across the world 7. Appendix-I: PM10 Levels across 35 Thick smog and haze have been hovering across northern India indicating that bad air India (Annual Average 2016/2015) is not confined to big cities alone. It's not seasonal, toxic air is engulfing our spaces - urban and rural equally, the urgency on deteriorating air quality cannot be stressed Airpocalypse II: Assessment of enough. Air Pollution in Indian Cities Written by The report like its previous counterpart - released a year ago - shows once again that Harshit Sharma, Greenpeace deadly air quality due to pollution is not a problem confined to Delhi-NCR (National Lauri Myllyvirta, Greenpeace Capital Region) alone. Other metropolises too are hardly any better off, though this fact Sunil Dahiya, Greenpeace was also highlighted in the last report on air quality. Thus, it would be safe to say that pollution levels remained high in most cities with some fluctuations, increases or Acknowledgements Nandikesh Sivalingam, Abid Shah, Ruhie Kumar decreases, in the case of a few cities when compared from 2015 levels. In the absence of any measurable target-driven approach on the part of state and central government Design agencies, it is difficult to say that the improvement in air quality in a few cities is Penmi Rungsung, Greenpeace actually due to weather or behavioural changes in local sources of pollution, or due to Published by GPET, released in January 2018 action initiated under the clean air policy that the government is supposed to enforce. For more information, contact: [email protected] Fire rages on in the fields, covering the sky in a thick Printed on 100% recycled paper blanket of smoke, Panipat, Haryana. © Saagnik Paul / Greenpeace 2 INTRODUCTION Delhi still remains the top-most polluted city followed by many more towns like nearby Faridabad and Bhiwadi and far off Dehradun, Varanasi, and Patna.