Redefine AQM as Air Quality Management: Prof PB Sharma

Our focus on Air Pollution control has largely been on Air Quality Monitoring and Modelling, popularly referred to as AQM. While monitoring, analysis, and modelling are important, even more important is Air Quality Management.

What Air Quality Management means, is that having known the problem and analyzed it year after year we, by now, should have become capable of managing air quality and mitigating its ill effects. But the sad story is that we continue to monitor Air Quality but do little to manage it. We become alert only when it becomes Very Poor, and then run for crash solutions.

Air pollution directly impacts human health as well as significantly affects the health of the environment. Climate Change is the bigger part of this impact, but the erosion of human health is an immediate effect. While lot of non-communicative diseases are caused by Air pollution. Starting with a bad throat, to Asthma and lungs disorder, air pollution goes even deeper to cripple our mental and physical health. We know its impact on asthma, but less understood but the impact of Air pollution on cardiac disorders is less understood. As per the US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, “a large body of science has shown that air pollution can exacerbate existing cardiovascular disease and contribute to the development of the disease. This evidence is particularly strong for outdoor particle pollution exposure. Fine particulate matter (particulate matter with diameters less than 2.5 µm or PM2.5) can increase the risk of cardiovascular events”. Research by EPA and others has found that exposure to increased concentrations of PM2.5 over a few hours to weeks can trigger cardiovascular disease-related heart attacks and death. Longer-term exposure can lead to increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and decreases in life expectancy.

While scientists shall continue to detail the impact, those in authority should devise implementable action plans to mitigate air pollution, by focusing on Air Quality Management. A lot can be done today to deal with air pollution. The odd-even vehicles on the road were a great idea. Besides reducing air pollution, it cuts down traffic density, eases traffic congestion, and cuts down exposure to air pollution as travel time is greatly reduced. Eight out of ten cars are plying on our roads with not more than one or two persons while carrying capacity is for up to 5. During odd-even, cars carrying four persons could be exempted from this odd-even ban to promote carpooling.

Further, as we as a society, shall continue to buy more and more cars, why not make the transition to EVs faster till we succeed in making a major dent on vehicular pollution by making Hydrogen as a green fuel for transportation? EU has decided to ban production of Petrol and Diesel Cars by 2035 and accelerate switching to EVs and clean public transportation. This will facilitate reaching the goal of zero emissions from new cars and vans by 2035. We in India need to reexamine our policy on green and clean transportation and make Net Zero Emission achievable by 2047, as a part of our developmental goals of Viksit Bharat@2047.

Knowingly, there is large construction activity in Delhi and NCR and in all major metro cities and towns around the country, why effective duct control measures are not mandated throughout the year? Do not forget that dust is a major contributor to Air Pollution and it directly impacts our health.

Farm fire is a major culprit at this time of year and as such requires major intervention and a strategic management system in place that should include scientific solutions and technology innovations to make Parali a useful resource for biofuel production and other industrial uses. It requires investment in research and supporting technology startups that the young India is coming up with in air quality solution areas.

Today when India is rising as an economic power of great eminence and capitalizing on its vast market both at home and abroad, it cannot afford the luxury of continuing to suffer from Air Quality. Do not forget that WHO standards for AIR Quality mandate AQI of 05 micrograms per cubic meters while we become alert only when the AQI crosses 300!

In summation, Air Quality Management needs to be an agenda of great national priority both for the people as well as the Government.

The Author, Prof PB Sharma is a renowned academician deeply engaged in research and innovations in the areas of Air Quality and clean energy technologies. He is a former professor of IIT Delhi, is the founder VC of DTU and RGPV, and currently is VC of Amity University Gurugram. The views expressed are the personal views of the author.