Source Apportionment of Air Pollutants in Hyderabad City
Hyderabad is the state capital of Andhra Pradesh and fifth largest metropolis of India. The increased economic activity has encouraged migration on a massive scale and expanded the horizon of the city making the erstwhile industrial areas and suburban places an integral part of the city. The population of the city is over 7 million. The increased horizon of the city needs an effective transit system to cater the transport demand of the various sections. The failure of public transport coupled with personal preference has resulted in proliferation of personalised, private and Para transit modes (3 and 6 seat autos) to a mammoth 1.7 million fleet. The ultimate result is increasing air pollution.
The increasing air pollution problems have triggered various actions by the government. The source apportionment of air pollutants in Hyderabad city is taken up by Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board along with technical assistance by US Environmental Protection Agency, US National renewable Energy Laboratory and Desert research Institute for better management of air pollution. Sampling is planned to cover the three principle seasons using low volume samplers at three places simultaneously. Size resolved aerosol mass (PM10 and PM2.5) and chemical characterisation were performed. The results presented here are concentrated in the source identification and apportion of fine and coarse mode in winter season of 2005.
The concentration of particulate matter of size less than 10mm aerodynamic diameter (PM10) is exceeding the national standards by 50% on an average for 24 hour PM10 concentration. PM2.5 is 50% of the PM10 on an average at all the three stations. The ratio between Elemental Carbon (EC) and Organic Carbon (OC) is in the range of 1.7 to 2.6 from high traffic zone to less traffic areas. The results are subjected to Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) model. Motor vehicles form the major contributors to the PM by about 50% followed by re-suspended dust from unpaved roads by 30% and biomass burning 11% respectively.