Chandigarh (The Hawk): According to a study, Punjab's aerosol pollution is expected to increase by 20% in 2023 and stay in the "very sensitive" red zone for aerosol pollution.
Particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), as well as other pollutants such sea salt, dust, soot, and organic carbon, are among those found in high concentrations in aerosols. They may be unhealthy for individuals to breathe in.
Aerosol optical depth (AOD) is a measurement of the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere that can be used as a stand-in for PM2.5.
Abhijit Chatterjee Associate Professor and Monami Dutta, a PhD student at the Bose Institute in Kolkata, conducted the study "A deep insight into state-level aerosol pollution in India" which offers a national scenario of aerosol pollution with the long-term trend (2005-2019) trend, source apportionment, and future scenario (2023) for various Indian states.
Punjab is currently in the red category, a zone that is extremely vulnerable and has an AOD of > 0.5. In 2023, there will likely be a 20% increase in aerosol pollution, which will raise the AOD within the danger zone (red).
AOD values vary from 0 to 1. A value of 0 represents the clearest sky possible with maximum visibility, while a number of 1 indicates extremely cloudy circumstances. AOD levels between 0.3 and 0.4 fall into the blue zone (less vulnerable), 0.4 and 0.5 are orange (vulnerable), and beyond 0.5 is the red zone. AOD values less than 0.3 fall into the green zone (safe) (highly vulnerable).
In the past, all states in the Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP) were already in the very vulnerable zone in terms of air pollution, according to Chatterjee, the study's principal author. Punjab is expected to experience the greatest increase in AOD among all the states in the IGP (approximately 20 per cent rise in AOD with respect to 2019). Since crop residue burning was found to be the primary cause of air pollution during the previous period, restrictions are strongly advised.
The study discovered that among the main causes of aerosol pollution in Punjab between 2005 and 2009, vehicle emissions were the highest, followed by emissions from solid fuel combustion and thermal power plants.
Burning crop residue, however, rose to the position of second-largest cause of aerosol pollution between 2010 and 2014. Crop residue burning became the largest source contribution to aerosol pollution surrounding (34–35%) emissions in the follow-up years between 2015 and 2019, followed by thermal power plants (20–25%) and vehicle emissions (17-18 per cent).
The emissions from thermal power plants also significantly rose, going from 12 to 15% in Phase 1 to 20% to 25% from 2015 to 2019. According to Monami Dutta, first author of the study and Senior Research Fellow at the Bose Institute in Kolkata, "the plus side of this tale is that vehicular emissions (30-32 percent in 2005-2009 to 17-18 percent in 2015-2019) and solid fuel burning both dropped over the years.
The study's analysis revealed that Punjab has one of India's highest mean Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) levels (falling between 0.65 and 0.70).
"However, compared to the years 2005–2012, the trend of increase in AOD was lower in the years from 2013–2019 (0.005). (0.012). It may have been a result of the strict policy implementation during this time period that was concentrated especially on the IGP region, but the rise has been significant because of the rise in crop residue burning, according to Chatterjee. He added that since neither the state nor the federal governments had provided quantitative data on cross residue burning, the exact decrease was not quantified in this study.
The report offered a number of suggestions to reduce Punjab's escalating aerosol pollution.
The research recommended immediate restrictions on the construction of new thermal power plants and increased emphasis on the adoption of renewable energy sources as well as alternative energy sources like hydropower.
(Inputs from Agencies)