Tag: urbanization

A Study on Rising Atmospheric Pollution in Rural India

Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur have found increasing atmospheric pollution in rural India using Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) measurements from satellites. Prof. Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath and Research Scholar Mansi Pathak of Centre for Ocean, River, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL) of IIT Kharagpur analysed the significant impact of urban pollution on the air quality of rural India by differentiating the pollution in two zones – rural and urban – and assessing the extent of air pollution in rural India. The researchers found that air pollution is not typically an urban phenomenon but can also affects the environment in rural perimeter. They conducted an analysis of the rural air quality to assess the extent of air pollution by measurements of NO2 through satellite imaging. The analysis carefully delineates the rural and urban regions of India, to examine the unheeded rural air pollution. Most air pollution assessments till date, discussed only the urban air quality issues. This analysis exposes increasing trends (0.05–0.44×1015molec./cm2/yr) of NO2 in the rural regions of India.

The study titled “Air Quality Trends in Rural India: Analysis of NO2 Pollution using Satellite Measurements,” highlights that rural sources account for 41 per cent of the overall NO2 pollution in India of which 45 per cent and 40 per cent are from transportation and power sectors, respectively. As the sources of NO2 are well coupled to the industrial and economic upliftment of a nation, the analyses for the rural regions show distinct seasonal changes with the highest value (2.0 1015 molecules per cm2) in winter and the lowest in monsoon (1.5 1015 molecules per cm2) seasons.

Prof. Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath
CORAL
IIT Kharagpur

“What we observe is that there is a decline in air quality in rural India in terms of our NO2 analysis, which is not beyond the threshold levels now, except in regions such as Delhi and suburbs and eastern India. However, given the positive trend in NO2 concentration, the high rate of urbanization and relocation of industries to suburbs, growing population and development activities, other regions of India would also cross the pollution threshold to impact the health of its people, and thus, our massive rural population. This is the real concern and it is the right time to take appropriate actions to control the atmospheric pollution in rural India,” explained Prof. Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath of CORAL, IIT Kharagpur. 

Air pollution is one of the biggest problems in India’s major cities. Comparison of pollutant-wise highest health risk values show that NO2 is about 19 times more harmful than Particulate Matter (PM) and about 25 times more risky than that of Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) . The population residing in the regions of high NO2 such as in the proximity of power plants, industries, cities, and in the areas above the permissible limit, are prone to be at high risk of adverse health effects such as asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and cardiovascular diseases.

 Ms. Mansi Pathak
Research Scholar
IIT Kharagpur

Research Scholar, IIT Kharagpur and lead author of the paper, Ms. Mansi Pathak, stated, “We usually think the atmospheric pollution exists only in cities or it is just an urban threat. The air quality standards in rural regions are often neglected. However, our analysis suggests that it is high time to shift our focus to rural regions and examine the pollution levels and health issues of rural India. This is of paramount importance for a country like India, as rural areas have about 67 per cent of the country’s population (947 million) as of 2020 and public health today stands out to be the utmost priority globally.”

The indirect impact of NO2 on global climate change is not less with a net cooling effect attributed to the oxidation-fueled aerosol production.

Figure: The average concentration and long-term trends in atmospheric NO2 in India for the period 1997-2019.

High Nitrogen Oxide (NO) – which includes Nitric Oxide and Nitrogen Dioxide – levels in the troposphere can alter ozone formation, contribute to nitrate aerosol formation and acid deposition and affect regional climate.

Prof. Kuttippurath said though, other Indian rural regions are under permissible limits of CPCB, the increasing trends in NO2 would surpass the standards in future if no controlling measures are implemented, which is a serious concern.

This study suggests the need for taking action towards improving rural air quality to reduce the impact of air pollution on the large rural population of India. Although NO2 is a non-abundant gas, its indirect impact on global climate change is likely to be greater, with a net cooling effect attributed to the oxidation-fueled aerosol production. NOx levels in the troposphere can alter ozone formation, contribute to nitrate aerosol formation, and acid deposition and affect regional climate. The regions covered in this study are Indo-Gangetic plain, Central India, North-West India, Peninsular India, Hilly Region and North-East India where the authors analysed atmospheric NO2 concentration in different regions of India for the period 1997-2019.

Figure: Rural and urban atmospheric NO2 concentration in different regions of India for the period 1997–2019.

“Regulations similar to the Bharat Stage norms (for limiting vehicular emissions) need to be implemented in thermal power plants and industries located in both rural and urban regions, to restrict the overall NO2 pollution in rural India. Introducing new natural gas-fed power plants or using selective catalytic reduction (SCR) in older power plants can also reduce emissions, and thus, the NO2 pollution in rural India,” pointed out the researchers.

Publication Links: https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EM00293K

Media Coverage:

PTI UNI Indian Express
Economic Times Dainik Jagran Business Standard
The Print IBC 24 Neo Science Hub

Contact Person: Prof. Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath of CORAL, IIT Kharagpur
Email: jayan@coral.iitkgp.ac.in

Edited By : Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

Follow us on: Facebook – IIT Kharagpur; Twitter – @IITKgp;  Instagram – @iit.kgp; LinkedIn – Indian Institute of Technology
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Effective Control Technologies to Reduce Sulphur Dioxide Pollution In India

FLUE GAS DESULPHURIZATION REDUCES SO2 POLLUTION IN INDIA

A study by a team of researchers from IIT Kharagpur led by Prof. Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath from Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL) found a significant decline in SO2 trends in India in the last decade, as compared to those in the previous three decades. The decrease in trend and concentration of SO2 is due to the environmental regulation and adaptation of effective control technologies such as scrubber and Flue Gas Desulphurization that shows the positive impact of technological advance and policy decisions to improve the air quality in India. The study represents temporal changes in SO2 concentrations over India in the past four decades (1980–2020). Thermal power plants (51%), and manufacturing and construction industries (29%) are the main sources of anthropogenic SO2 in India. The temporal analyses reveal that SO2 concentrations in India increased between 1980 and 2010 due to high coal burning and lack of novel technology to contain the emissions during that period. Both economic growth and air pollution control can be performed hand-in-hand by adopting new technology to reduce SO2 and GHG emission.

Prof. Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath
Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL)
IIT Kharagpur

“SO2 is an atmospheric pollutant and can be converted to sulfate aerosols in high humid conditions. These aerosols can affect cloud reflectively, rainfall and regional climate by modifying the radiative forcing.  At high concentrations, SO2 affects adversely on human health and ecosystem as well. Therefore, continuous monitoring of its abundance in the atmosphere is highly warranted, as these kind of analyses would help making the policy decisions related to emissions. This particular study is serving that purpose,” remarked Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath, Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL), IIT Kharagpur and the lead author of the study.

Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is one of the criteria pollutants that mainly released from the coal-based thermal power plants. At higher concentrations, it has hazardous affects on public health and environs. In this study, we find a significant decline in SO2 trends in India in the last decade, as compared to those in the previous three decades. The decrease in trend and concentration of SO2 is due to the environmental regulation and adaptation of effective control technologies such as Scrubber and Flue Gas Desulphurization showing the positive impact of technological advance and policy decisions to improve the air quality in India.

“Our analysis shows Indo-Gangetic Plain and Central and Eastern India regions as the SO2 hotspots in India. Although there is a relative reduction in SO2 in the last decade, the concentration of SO2 is still very high in these regions. Therefore, we need to continue our efforts to reduce SO2 emission in India, whether it is with innovative technology or environmental regulations,” said Vikas Kumar Patel, another author of the paper.

Fig 1: The SO2 trends in the last four decades in India. A rapid economic development in the 2001-2010 periods shows the largest trends among the decades. However, the recent decades with technological advance and environment policies help to reduce atmospheric SO2 concentrations and its trends.

An improved air quality monitoring network is needed to understand the spatial and temporal changes of pollutants, which would help to make policies relevant to improve air quality and to meet targeted reduction in emissions. The measurements and emissions in this study have uncertainities and are not computed in absolute figures. However, the trends computed are statistically significant across all Indian regions. Therefore, the findings have important implications for future environmental policies on India’s SO2 emissions and for understanding the impact of SO2 on regional climate, air quality, ecosystem dynamics, and public health. This study also provides a baseline for future studies that would critically examine changes in SO2 pollution as a result of the country’s socio-economic development.

“What we have found from our analysis is that, SO2 has been increasing in India for the past few decades, consistent with our economic development, but a declining trend in SO2 is found in the last decade (2010-2020). This is a good sign. The implementation of Bharat Stage norms on vehicular emissions, regulations for power plants to employ scrubber and FGD technologies, and policies encouraging the production of renewable energy may have contributed to this reduction in SO2 emissions,” added Prof. Kuttippurath.

Fig 2: Ground-based measurements also show reduction or stabilization of SO2 emissions; as shown for different cities here.

Due to rapid industrialization and urbanization in the past decades, India’s energy demand has been increased substantially with coal consumptions. The expansion of coal-based electricity generation in India is the primary cause of the country’s high emission. Although these help economic development of the country, the air pollution also increases along with it, which poses a health concern. Currently, India is one of the world largest emitters of SO2, accounting for more than 15% of global anthropogenic emissions. The situation warrants reduction SO2 emission in our country. However, majority of coal plants in India lack the Flue-Gas Desulfurization (FGD) technology necessary to adequately remove SO2 emissions. On the other hand, India’s power sector has seen an increase in renewable energy capacity, which would help to curb the pollution in India.

Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur stated, “India relies heavily on coal-based thermal power plants to meet its energy demands. Analysis of spatial and temporal changes in SO2 using accurate and continuous observations is required to formulate mitigation strategies to curb the increasing air pollution in India. Since 2010, India’s renewable energy production has also increased substantially when India adopted a sustainable development policy. The shift in energy production from conventional coal to renewable sources, solid environmental regulation, better inventory, and effective technology would help to curb SO2 pollution in India. India’s nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement includes achieving about 40% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030. This commitment would help to reduce the dependency on the coal-based energy, and also help to curb the SO2 pollution in the future.”

Publication Links:

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21319-2

Media Coverage:

Economic Times The Hindu Business Standard
Deccan Herald Financial Express Telegraph
Jagran The Print Siasat
Khabar Dunya The Hans India Gulf Today
Mongabay    

Contact Person: Prof. Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath, Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL)
Email: jayan@coral.iitkgp.ac.in

Edited by : Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

Follow us: Facebook – IIT Kharagpur; Twitter – @IITKgp;  Instagram – @iit.kgp; LinkedIn – Indian Institute of Technology
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What’s Heating India?

Green-less Urbanization leading to India’s Heat Islands

Graphic: Suman Sutradhar

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An IIT Kharagpur study confirmed recently that the intensity of urban heat islands is positive in most cities (up to 2°C) in all seasons during day and night. The researchers from the Institute’s Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL) and Department of Architecture and Regional Planning have found that most big cities of India with population more than one million, have positive heat island intensity during daytime while simultaneously showing an increasing trend in the nighttime urban heat island intensity. The study ‘Anthropogenic forcing exacerbating the urban heat islands in India‘ has been published in the international Elsevier publication Journal of Environmental Management (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.110006) .

The increase in global surface temperature or global warming is a great concern, especially the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomena which is among the major consequences of the alteration of the earth’s surface due to human activities. The relatively warmer temperatures in urban areas compared to their suburban areas has potential health hazards, such as mortality due to high temperatures and heatwaves, and pollution in urban areas, opine the researchers Sarath Raj, Prof. Saikat Kumar Paul, Prof. Arun Chakraborty and Prof. Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath.

The key finding in the study is the role of anthropogenic activities in increasing the urban temperature in India. As per a World Bank report, approximately a third of the total population in India (~7% of the total world population) lived in cities in 2018. The trend shows an increase of urbanization by almost 4% in the last decade, meaning people have moved away from rural areas to find work and make a living in the cities. To accommodate the additional needs of this increasing population the cities have witnessed some of the major human activities pertaining to changes in land use and land cover through a decrease in green cover, increase in impervious surface area and infrastructural development. In addition, the UHI situation demands more energy (e.g. fans and air-conditioners) that would trigger greenhouse gas emissions. These have led to modify the temperature of a city, remarks said lead author of the paper Sarath Raj.

“Our study is a detailed and careful analysis of urban heat islands of India which is the difference between urban and surrounding rural land surface temperatures, across all seasons in 44 major cities of India, for the period 2001-2017. For the first time we have found evidence of mean daytime Surface UHI Intensity (SUHII) going up to 2 °C for most cities, as analysed from satellite temperature measurements in monsoon and post-monsoon periods,” said Prof. Arun Chakraborty.

These data are also supported by the analysis of aerosols, night lights, precipitation and vegetation in the study regions. In areas like Kolkata, Pune, Guwahati etc where the urban areas are surrounded by large vegetated areas in suburban regions there is an enhanced cooling effect on surface in suburban areas during day as against cities like Delhi, Jaipur and cities in arid regions.

“Evidence from our study suggests that more green spaces within the city and its boundary could reduce the temperature in the city and its neighbourhood. Conservation and expansion of vegetated areas, and preserving water bodies in and around cities could be an effective strategy to curb the effects of urban heat islands. The construction of green buildings and selection of materials for buildings and other infrastructure such as eco-friendly materials could also prove to be crucial to mitigate the effects of heat islands,” said co-author Prof. Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath.

An earlier study published in Scientific Reports journal in 2017 had pointed out the correlation in UHI and the location of the smart cities proposed to be developed. In a global warming context, because the temperature is increasing across the latitudes, the background warming could add even more heat in the urban areas. Therefore, anthropogenic activities that augment the greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric pollution should also be controlled to counter the adverse effects of urban heat islands. Keeping in mind India’s strong commitment towards the Climate Action, despite focus towards urbanization, such studies shall aid the planning and management of urban areas by giving insights about the effects of nature and intensity of development, land cover and land use mix and the structure of future smart city projects.

Urbanizing the Brownfields of India

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is geared up to bolster Professional Partnerships, expand Study Abroad Programs and initiate Research Collaborations with select Global universities.  In line with this, the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning has come up with its second collaborative research programme with the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology USA. The topic of research is “Integrating Brownfield Sites of India into the Urban Fabric”.

Brownfield redevelopment is relatively new within the Indian context. Given that remediation projects wherever applicable are long-term commitments; careful ex-ante planning is required to ensure the resulting projects are economic and effective. As yet, no standard definition or guideline for brownfield redevelopment is available in India. There is a scarcity of planning instruments, which are needed to manage complex spatial information and to provide planners with actionable results. US being one of the pioneer countries to have adopted a successful Urban Brown Development (UBD) Policy, this study would compare urban brownfield sites in different contexts in the US and document planning options for the range of stakeholders involved in redevelopment procedures.

As part of this project a team of students led by Prof. Subrata Chattopadhyay and Prof. Haimanti Banerji along with Prof. Brent D. Ryan from MIT visited many brownfield sites in the US in June 2019 and has done exhaustive documentation of the successful models and planning policies. UBD in the United States is handled by various acts, legislations and development protocols at the federal, state and local levels. To have a holistic understanding of the process, the team visited 8 towns in three states viz: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Various models of brownfield development were observed.

The town of Flint had adopted a community participation approach and has developed public green space popularly known as Chevy Commons on the site where the Chevrolet factory was earlier located. Detroit has a well-established Brownfield Redevelopment Authority which approves and manages re-development of all brownfield sites in the town and encourages the involvement of private developers in the process within some established development protocols and zoning regulations. Bethlehem, a steel manufacturing town, north of Philadelphia, once known for supplying steel to Golden Gate Bridge was taken over by Leigh Valley Planning Commission who has developed revenue-generating facilities like hotels, warehouse for Walmart, visitors’ centre and a Cassino by integrating the massive original machinery and the structures. This can be considered as an ideal example of Industrial Heritage. Philadelphia, on the other hand, has developed the unused piers on the river Delaware into vibrant public places and has integrated the same into the city master plan. The towns of Lawrence and Lowell in northern parts of Massachusetts have ventured into developing affordable housing in place of closed down mills. The interiors have been meticulously worked out so that the residential spaces can be best fitted into the huge factory bays.

This exposure will help the IIT team to further develop planning instruments in India that would combine environmental, economic and social concerns.

The team from MIT led by Prof. Brent D. Ryan will visit India in January 2019 for an assessment of urban brownfields in the country. The objective would be to generate and analyze pragmatic urban brownfield development scenarios within the contexts of environmental contamination, community preferences, regulatory constraints and economic viabilities for the study area, proposing the best fit solution. These preliminary findings could be translated to state-level policies or guidelines which would act as a road-map for other Indian cities for prioritizing, planning, redeveloping, and financing Brownfield sites integrating the same to the urban fabric.

This collaboration will facilitate interaction between a bi-national team of scholars, practitioners, policy-makers, faculty and graduate students from both MIT and IIT. Ideas generated during proposed workshops and seminars will suggest road maps for Indian planners and policymakers. US faculty and students will learn about emerging challenges in socio-economic, policy, and urban design that confront the study areas in particular and India in general and can transfer lessons back to the US context.