Noida gets its first real time automatic air quality monitor

The long awaited first Real Time Automatic Air Quality Monitoring System gets installed in Sector-125 here by Ecotech, Australia in association with Envirotech, which is funded by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB).

This unit will monitor the air quality on 12 parameters, including particulate matter, NO2, SO2 and CO2 levels, and the air quality index.

Until now, there was no facility to get real-time automatic updates on air pollution as there were only two manual systems.

It will continuously display the pollution levels which will be shared with UPPCB.

Regional officer of UPPCB, B.B Awasthi, said "Keeping in mind the rapid growth in urbanisation and increasing population, there was an urgent need to install such air quality monitoring stations in the city. Previously we had manual air quality monitoring stations which provide limited access to the data.

It will help us to access pollution levels 24 hours and enable us to develop mitigation strategies for them".

The city has around 8,000 industrial units, six sewage treatment plants and hundreds of under-construction realty projects, which are major causes of pollution.

The manifold increase in the number of vehicles is also one of the major contributors to air pollution.

The concentration of vehicular pollution is typically 5 to 10 times higher than ambient air, thus causing severe health implications.

"Urban air pollution is the 13th largest cause of deaths worldwide.

As per a new study, India's worsening air pollution caused over 1.1 million premature deaths in 2015," said experts.