New Delhi: After several initial hiccups with the Delhi government's Real-Time Source Apportionment System, the Capital will from August 1 this year be able to determine sources of air pollution in the city in real-time — likely putting an end to the yearly blame game governments in NCR states play over whose responsibility it is to curb air pollution.
Officials said that a supersite apparatus will be set up on Pandara Road in Central Delhi by the end of July for the system to monitor sources of air pollution in real-time.
Chairing a high-level meeting to review the progress of the project, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the project once finished will significantly help in taking controlling measures to effectively tackle the air pollution problem in the Nation Capital Region. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Environment Minister Gopal Rai and DDC V-C Jasmine Shah were also at the review meeting along with senior functionaries of the Delhi government.
At the meeting, teams from IIT, Kanpur, IIT, Delhi and The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) briefed the Delhi government on the status of the project. Professor Mukesh, from IIT, Kanpur, said that the supersite location has been identified on Pandara Road and that the work will begin by the end of July.
The supersite apparatus will be set up on an area of 36 square metres and will be 3 metres high. Significantly, this structure will be built around 9-14 metres above ground level. As a part of this system, a mobile app will also be developed and the entire apportionment system will be able to exactly identify sources of pollution at specific locations in real-time.
Officials also said that CM Kejriwal was briefed about the progress of procuring equipment like the real-time ambient air analyser and the online particulate matter and ion analysis system.
A global procurement process for acquiring state-of-the-art equipment is being ensured under the project, the Delhi government said in a statement to the press.
After the project is kicked off in August, the Delhi government said that teams from both IITs and the TERI along with IISER, Mohali will conduct intricate studies on it with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee as the nodal agency for the research.
And even as Delhi gets closer to becoming the first city in India to set up a real-time source apportionment system, CM Kejriwal acknowledged that data on pollution sources do not match with concurrently matched satellite data. Every year, pollution increases after October 9 and NASA photos show that stubble burning increases at this time, the CM said, adding, "Whereas, the figures every time say that only 5 per cent of Delhi's pollution can be blamed upon stubble. In such a situation it is important to ascertain the actual contribution of stubble in Delhi's pollution and how much other factors contribute to pollution."
In addition to the flagship source apportionment project, the review meeting saw officials also discuss new developments in the Air Pollution Forecasting System — which will now provide accurate hourly, daily and weekly forecast data for air pollution.