Air Quality Is No Longer An Urban Problem, As Per New WHO Norms Almost Entire India Is Polluted

When we talk about air pollution in India, it was mostly centered around the biggest cities in the country.

Cities including Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad have regularly featured in the most polluted cities list, not just in India, but globally.

Several factors including emissions from vehicles, factories etc have been blamed for this.

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But, India may have to relook into how it monitors air quality, the WHO has said.

New WHO norms

The World Health Organization on September 22, announced that it is tightening its recommended limits for almost every pollutant. The new global air quality guidelines reflect an overwhelming scientific consensus that countries need to more aggressively limit air pollution and protect everyone's health.

PM 10, ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and carbon monoxide (CO).

The 2021 guideline stipulates that PM 10 should not exceed 15 ?g/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre of air) annual mean, or 45 ?g/m3 24-hour mean. As per the 2005 guideline, the limit was 20 ?g/m3 annual mean or 50 ?g/m3 24-hour mean for PM 10.

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It recommends that PM 2.5 should not exceed 5 ?g/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre of air) annual mean, or 15 ?g/m3 24-hour mean. As per the 2005 guideline, the limit was 10 ?g/m3 annual mean or 25 ?g/m3 24-hour mean for PM 2.5.

As per the 2005 guideline, the AQG level of another pollutant Nitrogen Dioxide was 40 ?g/m3 annual mean which has now been changed by the WHO to 10 ?g/m3.

Not looking good for the world

This means that nearly entire India would be considered a polluted zone for most of the year.

And India is not alone when it comes to poor air quality. More than 90 per cent of the world¡¯s population lived in areas that did not meet its 2005 pollution standards.

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What India should do

IIT-Kanpur professor S N Tripathi, who is also a member of the Steering Committee of National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), said air pollution is a severe health crisis and the World Health Organization's revised guidelines bring the issue under focus.

"There is a body of scientific evidence to prove that air pollution is leading to severe health impacts and 90 per cent of the entire global population is breathing polluted air," he said.

"There are no two ways about the need for revising India's air quality standards to make them more stringent," he said.

Ravindra Khaiwal, Professor, Environment Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, said these stringent WHO standards for key air pollutants are important and swift action is needed to improve the air quality.

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"The WHO has recommended more stringent standards for key air pollutants, e.g., PM2.5 norms for 24 hrs average will be 15 ?g/m3 instead of 25 ?g/m3. This is important and would bring the focus on strict & swift action for better air quality. Air pollution has become a major risk factor for premature mortality and morbidity.

Meeting the new WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines seems a challenge, but under National Clean Air Program (NCAP), India is committed to minimise 20-30 per cent of cities' air pollution, he said.

"Collective efforts are needed to mitigate the air pollution and gain in terms of better human health and climate.¡±