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Hands on Training in

Appropriate Instrumentation and Techniques

for Ambient Air Quality Monitoring

Presentation on

Managing Urban Air Quality

by

Dr. Dilip B. Boralkar

Former Member Secretary,

Maharashtra Pollution Control Board

www.boralkar.com

Organised by

M/s Envirotech Instruments Pvt. Ltd., New DelhiMarch 17, 2012

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Questions for

Policy Appraisal

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Asking the Right Questions

Questions posed can channel policy in

a specific direction: By limiting options for consideration from the outset By implicitly assuming a policy response as being the best

Examples:

What is the contribution of geological matter to SPM?

Control of road dust What are the surest technical options for minimizing

particulate emissions from heavy duty diesels?

Advanced exhaust control or alternative fuels

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Question 1:

Is Outdoor Air Pollution Important?Is the impact of outdoor air pollution on public healthand lost productivity considerable compared to otherthreats:

Lack of access to safe drinking water

Lack of adequate primary health care

Malnutrition

Extensive use of dirty fuels in households

Yes: pursue mitigation policies in urban air pollution

No: look for incremental policy opportunities inindividual sectors

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Incremental Opportunities

If damage from other sources (lack of clean water,etc.) far exceeds damage from urban air pollution,then:

It is not cost-effective to mount large andexpensive government programs to combat urbanair pollution

But there are many cases where, at small

incremental cost, extending sector policies canimprove urban air quality

Example: road widening in Hyderabad where theentire road width is paved (no unpaved shoulders)

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Question 2:

Which Pollutants Should We Care About? Pollutants should be ranked according to toxicity,

ambient concentrations and exposure.

Fine particulate matter is the pollutant of concern inIndia.

A common mistake is to rank on the basis ofemissions in weight based on an emissions inventory.

Emission factors are uncertain or not available. Toxicity is not taken into account.

Emissions in weight are not directly proportional toambient concentrations or exposure.

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Misuse of Emissions Inventory

CO dominates total emissions in weight.

CO is primarily from gasoline vehicles, and

transport is identified as the culprit. Once transport is identified as the main

contributor, the focus shifts to black smoke.

Diesel vehicles are targeted as the highestpolluter, although the technical basis was

CO from gasoline vehicles.

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Question 3:

What Is Causing Air Pollution? Need to identify sources contributing the most to

the general populations exposure to fineparticulate air pollution.

Large industrial plants.

Small and medium size industries, diesel generators.

Household consumption of solid fuels (biomass).

Vehicular emissions.

Leaf and informal refuse burning.

Re-suspension of road-dust.

Background and migration from other areas.

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How Much Do We Know About

Sources of Particulate Pollution?

Little information on background particulateconcentrations if background level is high,controlling human activities will be less effective.

Measured data have large uncertainties difficultto draw conclusions (e.g., correlation between NO2and PM10 to judge traffic contribution).

Essentially no carbon analysis of particles.

Very few quantitative source apportionment studies.

Not much is known about relative importance ofdifferent sources.

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Observations From Other Countries

Mexico city: three-fold PM10 variations, withfugitive dust accounting for the differences. 50%of PM10, but only 15% of PM2.5, is geological.

UK: road traffic contributes 25% of primary PM10emissions, but 60% of PM0.1. Good correlationbetween NOx and PM10.

USA: even in California, gasoline cars can emit asmuch as 1.5 g pm/km. A study in Colorado foundthat gasoline PM emissions were grossly under-estimated.

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Lessons for India

Size of particles measured and examined drives policy.

If PM10, difficult to lower if geological contribution issubstantial.

If sub-micron, efficient combustion processes such as

motor exhaust will increase in importance. Re-examine emission factors.

Poor correlation between NO2 and PM10 in Delhi inone study, but confirm data quality.

Need to quantify contributions from less studiedsources.

Chemical (especially carbon) analysis and finger-printing.

Generating emission factors more suitable to India.

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Question 4:

What Activities Do the Most Damage?For the sources identified as significantcontributors to the populations exposure to

small particles, which activities do the mostdamage?

Examples:

Which vehicle and fuel combination in the

transport sector?

Which fuel and process combination in cottageindustries?

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Question 5:

What Policy Instruments Should Be Used?Guiding principles.

Recognize economic and financial constraints and

incentives, and work with, rather than against,economic incentives as much as possible.

Better to have lax standards that are strictlyenforced, than strict standards that are not

enforced for the most part. Different sectors have objectives that are not

necessarily compatiblerecognize that there aretrade-offs.

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Considerations for Ranking Priorities

Compatibility with other sector objectives Do they go against, or reinforce, other sector

objectives?

Cost of implementation

Which measures would be the most cost-effective (Rs /population exposure reduced)?

Ease of enforcement

How difficult would it be to carry out the proposed

measures or to enforce them? Political feasibility

Are there strong vested interest groups that wouldoppose the proposed measures vigorously?

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Policy Options

Economic: (differentiated) taxes, subsidies,pricing (congestion, parking)

Administrative: emission, energy efficiencyand fuel quality standards, restrictions onoperation (factories, vehicles, parking),protection of non-polluting activities (NMT)

Technological: fuel or technologymandates, traffic management

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Linkages With Other Sectors

Transport: urban transport policy

Municipal government: municipal solid wastemanagement, policy towards slums

Welfare: employment opportunities for the urbanpoor

Urban planning: zoning, densification

Fiscal: tax policy Energy: supply and demand of oil and gas, power

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Which Pollutants Cause the Most Damage?

Yes No: Look for incremental opportunitiesin individual sector policy

Is the impact of outdoor air pollution seriouscompared to the impacts from other sources?

Fine PM

Does sector X contribute significantly to fine PM?

No: Look for incremental opportunitiesYes

Which activities contribute significantly to fine PM?

Which policy instruments will minimize distortions

and achieve results cost-effectively?