GAW Report No. 205 - IGAC Project

CHAPTER 3 - ASIAFigure 12 - Graphical representation o the National Capital Region and the travel demand from the satellite citiesAir pollution in DelhiDelhi is a rapidly expanding city; transportation, energy generation, construction, domesticburning, and industrial activity are contributing to increasing air pollution and its resulting health andrespiratory impacts. Figure 13 presents the summary of measured daily averages for the period of2004-07 for PM 10 and NO X concentrations from the four monitoring stations in Delhi. The collectionefficiency at each of the stations is ~25 percent [CPCB, 2010].A summary of the PM and ozone pollution observed at one of the continuous air monitoringstations in Delhi (located at the Income Tax Office - ITO) is presented in Figure 14. Data is collectedfrom the period of 2006-09 for the ITO station covering a range of pollutants and meteorology[CPCB, 2010]. On an average, the PM pollution exceeded 2-3 times the daily ambient standard of100 µg/m 3 for PM 10 and 60 µg/m 3 for PM 2.5 and ozone remained lower than the daily standard of 80µg/m 3 but exceeds the 8-hr standard (plotted as thick blue line).Over the past decade, the government has introduced some green initiatives to address theair pollution problem in the city. In 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that the city of Delhi should takeconcrete steps to address air pollution in the transport and industrial sectors. The timeline ofimplementation (in the transport and industrial sector) and the experience for instituting change hasbecome a model for other Indian cities and is described in detail in Narain et al. [2005].For the transport sector, this ruling led to the largest recorded compressed natural gas (CNG)switch in the world for public vehicles. This resulted in a dramatic decrease in the reduction of theair pollution. Since 2000, Delhi has enforced Euro II emission standards (five years ahead ofschedule), Euro III standards in 2005 for all passenger vehicles, and Euro IV fuel standards in April,2010 (in Delhi and 11 other cities).74