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Delhi Roads Spew Toxic Dust: Study Reveals Shocking Levels
19 Mar
Summary
- Road dust re-suspension significantly pollutes an 82.5km Delhi corridor.
- 66% of the monitored road stretch is in moderate to poor condition.
- Specific road sections show alarmingly high PM10 and PM2.5 emissions daily.
A recent study highlights significant air pollution from re-suspended road dust along an 82.5km corridor in New Delhi. This stretch, spanning key routes like NH-44 and NH-9, was found to be 66% in moderate to poor condition, contributing to substantial dust accumulation.
The research, conducted by CSIR-NEERI and CRRI for CAQM, estimated daily emissions of 33.8 tonnes of PM10 and 8.2 tonnes of PM2.5 from vehicle movement. Field surveys indicated higher dust deposition near road edges and medians compared to middle lanes.
Notably, the Ghevra to Punjabi Bagh West Road section recorded exceptionally high PM10 and PM2.5 emissions, exceeding typical urban road levels. Dust particle analysis revealed that nearly 50% of collected samples were small enough to become easily airborne, particularly silt mass particles below 76 micrometres.
Based on these findings, CAQM has implemented a standard framework to control road and open area dust pollution in Delhi-NCR. Recommendations include paving road shoulders, improving road maintenance, mechanical sweeping, and roadside plantation to mitigate dust re-suspension.
