Ambient air quality in Hyderabad in 2023 was within the permissible limits prescribed for the country, yet far worse when compared with the standards advocated by the World Health Organisation.
A report published by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir, the city in 2023 had on an average 39.9 µg (microgram) of particulate matter with diameter equal to or less than 2.5 micrometres (referred to as PM 2.5) every cubic metre (m³), almost touching the upper limit of 40 µg/m³. It is, however, an improvement from the previous year, when the PM2.5 was recorded at 42.4 µg/m³.
PM2.5 describes fine inhalable particles that pose great danger to human health by entering the blood stream. The Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standards has set the maximum permissible limit of the annual mean concentration of PM2.5 at 40 µg/m³. The standards are not constant; they change based on the technological stature achieved by the country.
As per the WHO standards, Hyderabad falls in the ‘purple zone’ on a colour coded map with the pollution levels ranked by the hues of blue, green, yellow, orange, red, purple and maroon, with blue signifying the least polluted regions and maroon the most polluted.
As per the map, the city is at least eight times more polluted compared with the WHO limit of 5 µg/m³ of PM2.5.
New Delhi, with 102 µg/m³ of PM2.5, is the world’s most polluted city. While Kolkata (47.8 µg/m³) and Mumbai (43.8 µg/m³) are worse than Hyderabad, Bengaluru (28.6 µg/m³) and Chennai (28 µg/m³) fared better.
‘PM10 pollution drops in Hyderabad’
The Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) claimed that the pollution in terms of PM10 (particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less) has fallen in the city from what it was five years ago.
As per the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the standard for PM10 for 24 hours is 100 µg/m³, and for for annual average, it is 60 µg/m³. Based on the PM10 concentrations, the Central Pollution Control Board had identified four non-attainment cities in Telangana, Hyderabad, Patancheru, Nalgonda and Sangareddy, exceeding the PM10 standards for five years.
The TSPCB, however, claims that the pollution in Hyderabad has consistently gone down from 101 µg/m³ in 2019-20 to 83 µg/m³ as recorded in the current year. Patancheru has improved from 86 µg/m³ to 80 µg/m³ for the same period while Nalgonda remained the same. Sangareddy, on the other hand, improved from 85 µg/m³ in 2019-20 to 78 µg/m³ currently. The data is obtained from 12 Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations set up across the city and the 16 locations were the data are manually collected.
Measures taken to improve air quality include end-to-end paving of the roads with black top; maintaining pothole free roads; mechanical road sweeping; green belt development; and effective construction and demolition waste management
As per a study by IIT-Kanpur, major sources of air pollution in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area are road dust (32%), vehicles (18%), secondary inorganic aerosols (16%), bio-mass burning (11%), C&D waste (8%), garbage burning (7%) and industrial (5%). Others constitute 9%.
