Original Source: KATY DAIGLE, AP Environment Writer
Updated 10:40 am, Wednesday, November 26, 2014
NEW DELHI (AP) — The three-wheeled rickshaw lurched through New Delhi's commuter-clogged streets with an American scientist and several air pollution monitors in the back seat. Car horns blared. A scrappy scooter buzzed by belching black smoke from its tailpipe. One of the monitors spiked.
Joshua Apte has alarming findings for anyone who spends time on or near the roads in this city of 25 million. The numbers are far worse than the ones that have already led the World Health Organization to rank New Delhi as the world's most polluted city.
Average pollution levels, depending on the pollutant, were up to eight times higher on the road than urban background readings, according to research by Apte and his partners at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.
"And you have to keep in mind that the concentrations at urban background sites, where these official monitors are, are already very high," he said. The measures "are actually some of the highest levels in air pollution made inside vehicles anywhere in the world."
Outdoor air pollution kills millions worldwide every year, according to the WHO, including more than 627,000 in India. One of the biggest culprits in fast-growing India is vehicular traffic: Car ownership in the country of 1.2 billion grew from 20 million in 1991 to 140 million in 2011, and is expected to reach 400 million by 2030.
The entire article can be found here: http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Rickshaw-research-reveals-extreme-Delhi-pollution-5918596.php
Updated 10:40 am, Wednesday, November 26, 2014
NEW DELHI (AP) — The three-wheeled rickshaw lurched through New Delhi's commuter-clogged streets with an American scientist and several air pollution monitors in the back seat. Car horns blared. A scrappy scooter buzzed by belching black smoke from its tailpipe. One of the monitors spiked.
Joshua Apte has alarming findings for anyone who spends time on or near the roads in this city of 25 million. The numbers are far worse than the ones that have already led the World Health Organization to rank New Delhi as the world's most polluted city.
Average pollution levels, depending on the pollutant, were up to eight times higher on the road than urban background readings, according to research by Apte and his partners at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.
"And you have to keep in mind that the concentrations at urban background sites, where these official monitors are, are already very high," he said. The measures "are actually some of the highest levels in air pollution made inside vehicles anywhere in the world."
The
point is particularly important for New Delhi residents, about half of
whom live within 300 meters (330 yards) of a major road. New Delhi, like
most cities, places their air monitors far from primary pollution
sources like highways or industrial plants so that no single source can
affect ambient readings, which are meant to represent an average
pollution exposure from all sources.
"Official
air quality monitors tend to be located away from roads, on top of
buildings, and that's not where most people spend most of their time,"
Apte said as The Associated Press
joined him on a pollution-monitoring ride-along. "In fact, most people
spend a lot of time in traffic in India. Sometimes one, two, three hours
a day."Outdoor air pollution kills millions worldwide every year, according to the WHO, including more than 627,000 in India. One of the biggest culprits in fast-growing India is vehicular traffic: Car ownership in the country of 1.2 billion grew from 20 million in 1991 to 140 million in 2011, and is expected to reach 400 million by 2030.
The entire article can be found here: http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Rickshaw-research-reveals-extreme-Delhi-pollution-5918596.php
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