Airpocalypse

Five years back itself, in 2019, air pollution was alone responsible for about 16.5 lakh deaths in India. This was disclosed by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), published by some very credible organizations—the Lancet Planet Health and the Indian Council of Medical Research. Their stat is believable as 24 out of 50 most polluted cities in the world are already in India, which we know from nothing but the World Health Organization’s data released in May 2023.

With every passing year since 2019, the air quality worsened such that, currently, it has become one of the biggest reasons for child mortality in India. To let you know, child mortality is the total number of children dying out of every 1,000 kids annually in the age group of 0–5 years. In simple words, air pollution is among the biggest health risks to babies in India. Just grab the latest Down To Earth which reports how the newborn are its most innocent victim. Delhi kids, anyway, experience a peculiar vacation annually apart from the traditional summer and winter break. Do you know what’s it called? ‘Pollution vacation’!!!

Choking to Death

Air pollution is a slow, silent, and an inconspicuous poison. Initially, it triggers chronic coughing and, eye and nose irritation which makes breathing difficult. In the long term, it causes lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, bronchial allergies, and other respiratory ailments.

Agents of Breathlessness

NO_x, SO_x, CO, O₃, PM_2.5, and PM₁₀ are the most problematic pollutants. From your Chemistry classes, you’d know that NO_x and SO_x are oxides of nitrogen and sulphur. About CO and O₃, try finding out yourself. And regarding ‘PM,’ begin by noting that it is the devil amongst these all.

‘PM’ stands for Particulate Matter. It refers to a mixture of teeny-tiny particles, usually made up of some solids and liquids, suspended in the air. For example, dust, dirt, soot, or smoke can be seen hanging as minute particles in the air. But most of the times, PM is invisible to us, measuring far smaller than even the diameter of our hair! Two important types of PM are PM₁₀ and PM_2.5.

PM₁₀ is called so as its particles have a diameter of <= 10 micrometers. A micrometer, is essentially 1000th part of a millimeter. In easy terms, PM₁₀ is 1/7th of the diameter of your hair! Similarly, PM_2.5 has a diameter of <= 2.5 micrometers, which is much, much smaller. What’s concerning is that PM₁₀ can enter our lungs and PM_2.5 can even get into our blood cells, thus messing up with our whole body. The International Agency for Research on Cancer identifies PM_2.5 as one of the most lethal cancer-causing agents. In India, it exceeds the safety standards of air quality by a huge margin, usually followed by the levels of PM₁₀, NO₂, O₃ and CO. The only pollutant that is within our standards is SO₂, however, it does give rise to more PM.

No Smoke without… a Source

The starting points of bad air are well-identified and the roaster is common to most Indian cities. Overall speaking, vehicular, industrial, waste-related, and household emissions are among the nastiest across the country. These sources release pollutants while burning fossil fuels or any other materials. In a city like Kolkata, the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research estimated that such combustion sources are responsible for roughly 90 per cent of the bad air. Other non-combustible sources include dust generated from construction sites, road traffic, sea salt, etc.

Polluted air makes breaking news especially during winters. In the ongoing season, the Air Quality Index for Delhi has already scored 468 out of 500, with 500 being the severest, on the pollution scale. During winters, pollution happens because the smoke originating from various heating sources doesn’t rise too high from the ground level as the air becomes denser and heavier in cold temperatures. Thus, the dispersion of pollutants is very slow in this season. This scenario is applicable, especially in North India.

Vehicular emissions: Automobile exhaust is the villain of pure air. It mainly consists of CO, NO_x, PM_2.5 and other toxins. These emissions are deadly because we are directly exposed to them on the roads so they come within our breathing zone. You must’ve already observed people feeling sick and nauseous from the black smoke that old rickety vehicles belch out.

In Mumbai, about 28 per cent of the NO_x is released solely by road transport. This figure is given by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Industrial emissions: If you’ve ever visited Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Kanpur, or any other industrial hub in the early morning hours, you would’ve noticed a thick layer of haze on their skyline. It is clearly discernible as a white sheet of smog daunting the whole region.

Waste-related emissions: Lighting fire to any kind of waste outdoors releases a flux of obnoxious gases, be it a bonfire of dry leaves during winters or torching waste paper effigies. These activities emit a cocktail of NO_x, SO₂, CO, PM, and even carcinogenic toxins if the garbage contains plastic. Vapours released from open waste burning anywhere in a locality or landfill site subjects the nearby people to a high intensity exposure of intoxicants. Such burning of waste is rampant in several cities.

Other emissions: Domestic work within households—like burning fuel for cooking and heating, and running diesel generators for supplying power—dirty the air substantially. Open coal grills of restaurants and eateries waft thick smoke and, waste incinerators in hospitals and crematoria are other point sources of pollution.

Unpaved roads, construction and demolition areas, and numerous activities emit coarse PM. In a desert city like Jaipur, dust is prominent as on the one hand, there is constant road traffic and, on the other, there is hardly any greenery, or alternate source of moisture, to sediment it. Though this naturally-occurring dust is not a health risk by itself, it can hamper our respiration if it combines with automobile fumes and form PM_2.5. This issue is already creating panic in Rajasthan as it has the highest share of pollution patients in our country—approx. 21 per cent reports the GBD.

In recent years, episodic event, like stubble burning, is another hazard hitting the headlines. In Punjab and Haryana, the cold weather coincides with the maturity of the agricultural cycle which requires the farmers to clear their fields for the next sowing season. Most of the farmers dispose the leftover stalks in their farms by burning them openly. And since the winds influencing the region drive smoke towards other parts of North India, this stubble burning has become a major menace. Thankfully, administrative measures are curbing these emissions.

Natural factors exacerbating pollution include dust storms, forest fires, and sea salts. These vary geographically and seasonally, and are highly impactful. Mumbai and Chennai are coastal cities which makes their air much lighter in comparison to Delhi’s. The high amounts of sea salt present in these cities sticks to the available dust particles and clarifies their air. A prominent coastline also helps in easily dispersing the impurities, unlike in Delhi which is landlocked. However, one remains affected as long as they are within the breathing zone of pollution.

Losing Steam

Not only does air pollution result into an enormous public health damage, it also incurs a staggering financial loss to our country, estimated up to 2.6 lakhs crores says the GBD. Thus, as it dooms our future, let us urgently prevent this airpocalypse.

(This was first published in the 1-31 December 2023 edition of the Gobar Times.)