Sprinklers used regularly to bring down pollution
Kolkata: The West Bengal Pollution Control Board has informed on Saturday that sprinkling water on dusty roads on a regular basis for the last few days has seen significant improvement in the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Kolkata and its adjacent areas. Significantly, the air quality at Ghusuri in Howrah that had shot up to 500 two days back has improved and was down to 300 on Saturday.
"We had asked the Howrah Municipal Corporation to have six sprinkling vehicles for watering the roads to bring down pollution. Presently, they are using two such vehicles that have been operating at Ghusuri, Mandirtala and Nabanna areas. By Monday or Tuesday, they will have four more so that sprinkling can be carried out extensively in Puddapukur, Kona Expressway and Ghusuri," a senior official of the WBPCB said adding that the improvement in bringing down the AQI is a co-ordinated effort on the part of the PCB, urban local bodies, Kolkata Police and the state Fire and Emergency Services department.
Ghusuri's AQI has come down but it is still in the "very poor" category and the PCB is determined to bring it down further.
The average reading at all the major air quality monitoring stations in Kolkata on Saturday showed the AQI at moderate level which was in the poor and even very poor category on Wednesday. The average AQI at Jadavpur was 126, at Fort William it was 185, at Rabindra Bharati 184 and at Victoria Memorial it read 123. On Wednesday, the AQI at Jadavpur was 266, at Victoria Memorial it was 250 (both in poor category), at Rabindra Bharati it read 315, Fort William 315 (both in very poor category).
Road dust consists of loose soil on broken or unpaved roads, particles that settle down on the road after emerging from the tailpipes of vehicles and construction-demolition waste that settles on the road. A preliminary report by the National Environmental Engineering and Research Institute (Neeri) has identified road dust as a major component of air pollution in Kolkata.
The sprinklers contain particulate matters gathering in air and bring down the air pollution.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is already using 15 sprinkling vehicles and has placed tenders for procuring 20 more for extensive sprinkling activities in the city. The PCB has provided Rs 6 crore to the KMC for procuring water tankers. The South Dum Dum Municipality has been provided with two dust suppressant vehicles by the PCB that is being used in Jessore Road, Dum Dum Airport, Natun Bazar and Patipukur areas. The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation has already procured four vehicles that will be used from Monday.
"The Barrackpore Police Commissionerate has arranged two vehicles which will be funded by us and will be used for water sprinkling along Belgharia Expressway from Airport to Nibedita Setu. We are also handing over
two vehicles to Fort William that will start using them
from Monday," the official added.
The state Fire department has kept one sprinkling vehicle stationed at landfill site in Dhapa where fire originates from the garbage itself because of biogas. The department will soon use two tenders for similar activities at Pramodnagar landfill site.
