INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 6, No 1, Copyright by the authors - Licensee IPA- Under Creative Commons license 3.

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1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 6, No 1, 2015 Copyright by the authors - Licensee IPA- Under Creative Commons license 3.0 Research article ISSN Ambient air quality of Katra town (J&K): A study with reference to SO2 and NO2 contents Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Jammu, Jammu anilkraina@yahoo.com doi: /ijes.6006 ABSTRACT The monitoring of ambient air quality has been taken up for Katra which is an important town of Jammu and Kashmir state from economic as well as religious point of view. The data collected from selected locations of residential areas, commercial areas and traffic crossings with respect to SO2 and NO2 for a period of two s i.e. July 2010 June 2012, revealed variations in ambient SO2 and NO2 concentrations throughout the study period. Traffic crossings and commercial areas recorded the higher concentrations of SO2 and NO2 in comparison to residential areas. Higher concentrations of both the selected pollutants have been recorded in the as compared to at all the sites except two traffic crossings. Keywords: Ambient air quality, Katra town, Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen dioxide. 1. Introduction In India, the ambient atmospheric conditions have progressively deteriorated due to urbanization, industrial development, poor maintenance of motor vehicles and poor road conditions (Chauhan et al., 2010) as it has been taken as the most obvious sink for various pollutants like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulates released during various activities. Urban atmospheric condition has deteriorated more and at a faster rate as compared to rural condition and sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are considered as major gaseous pollutants in a city. SO2 is a colourless gas with a pungent irritating odour. It has been recognized as a major pollutant emitted from anthropogenic sources e.g. burning of fuels, smelting of metal sulphides and other industrial facilities. SO2 is one of a group of highly reactive gases known as oxides of sulphur. NO2 is an ubiquitous urban air pollutant whose major source is exhausts of both petrol and diesel fuelled engines, stationary combustion in boilers fired by coal, oil or gas and industrial processes. Ambient SO2 and NO2 are possible factor causing chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases in humans, contribute to the formation of acid rain and deteriorate air quality. The toxic SO2 and NO2 come under the category of criteria air pollutants and therefore frequent monitoring is required. Like other parts of our country, air pollution in Jammu and Kashmir state is also increasing with the increase in the number of vehicles. Vehicular traffic is the main source of air pollution in Jammu city as every number of vehicles goes on increasing (Sharma and Raina, 2012). Number of vehicular registered in Jammu city only, from to has been presented in Table 1 which indicate that rate of Received on January 2015 Published on August

2 their registration is increasing every. At least 9 lakh vehicles are plying on the roads in J&K, making it one of the most vehicle populated state in the country. As per the official figures, around 1.5 lakh vehicles have been registered with various Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) across the states in Table 1: Vehicular growth in Jammu city from to Source: RTO Office, Jammu Continuous emission of pollutants from vehicular traffic is a matter of concern because of their adverse effects on ambient air quality as well as on the health of human beings. Several studies have been carried out in India to highlight the existing air quality status in relation to SO2 and NO2 (Bindu et al., 1997; Reddy and Suneela, 2001; Samal and Santra, 2002; Asrari et al., 2006; Sehra, 2007 and Hosamane and Desai, 2013) and few in Jammu city also (Raina and Sharma, 2006; Raina and Bala, 2011 and Sharma and Raina, 2012). However, no such studies have been carried out for smaller towns, particularly hilly regions, like Katra town which is a famous pilgrimage area and act as the base camp of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine. 2. Material and methods 2.1 Study Site Katra (latitude N, longitude E and average altitude 2840 feet above the mean sea level) is the most important town of the state from economic as well as religious point of view. It is situated at the foothills of the Trikuta mountains (a part of the Sub-Himalayan Shivalik range), in the Reasi district of J&K state about 48 km away from Jammu city and has a thriving tourism industry that offers plenty of hotels, guest houses, restaurants, dhabas, fast-food joints etc. The town witnesses the influx of thousands of pilgrims everyday to the tune of ten million people annually. The number of pilgrims visiting the Shrine has risen from 1.4 million in 1986 to 10 million in 2012 that has added more number of shops, hotels, restaurants etc. to the buzzing market of Katra. The town is also experiencing the increase in the number of vehicular traffic as large number of vehicles, tourist traffic, security forces movement, load carriers for materials (food, petrol, LPG, building and construction material etc.), are entering the town per day. 47

3 2.2 Sample collection and parameters analyzed To record the observations for ambient air quality of Katra Town, after a thorough survey, different areas - residential, commercial and traffic crossings have been demarcated. To make the study more precise for sampling of air, three sampling sites in each area have been identified. Thus, nine sampling sites representing three residential (Paharganj, Gopal Nagar and Keshav Nagar, three commercial (Main Bazaar, Chintamani and Hospital Road) and three traffic crossings (Bus Stand, Railway Road and Serli) have been selected from different regions of the study area for recording the data as displayed in Figure 1. Figure 1: Location map of the study area The air sampling has been carried out for duration of 8 hours at each site on monthly basis for a period of two s i.e. July 2010 to June Envirotech High Volume Respirable Dust Sampler APM 460 BL along with a gaseous sampling attachment (APM 411) has been used for sampling. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) in the ambient air has been analysed by using Modified West and Gaeke Method IS 5182, part II and Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has been analysed by Jacob and Hochheiser method IS 5182, part VI. 3. Results and discussion The summarized data of average concentration of SO2 and NO2 of residential areas, commercial areas and traffic crossings for the study period has been depicted in Table 2 and graphically represented in Figures 2 to 4. Table 2: Monthly SO2 and NO2 (µg/m³) contents in the ambient air of Katra town from July 2010 to June 2011 (1 st ) and July 2011 to June 2012 (2 nd ) Sites Pollutant Avg. Min. Max. S.D. 1 st 2 nd 1 st 2 nd 1 st 2 nd 1 st 2 nd A. Residential Areas 1.Paharganj SO NO

4 2.Gopal SO Nagar NO Keshav SO Nagar NO B. Commercial Areas 4. Main SO Bazaar NO SO Chintamani NO Hospital SO Road NO C. Traffic Crossings 7. Bus Stand SO NO Railway SO Road NO Serli SO NO In the residential areas, the average concentration of SO2 and NO2 during the first of study period (July 2010 to June 2011) varied between 2.79 µg/m³ to 3.42 µg/m³ and 7.19 µg/m³ to µg/m³, respectively whereas during the second (July 2011 to June 2012), their values varied between 2.99 µg/m³ to 3.53 µg/m³ and 8.56 µg/m³ to 9.89 µg/m³, respectively. Figure 2: Average SO2 and NO2 (µg/m³) contents in residential areas of Katra town during the study period 49

5 In the commercial areas, the average concentration of SO2 and NO2 varied between 4.00 µg/m³ to 5.56 µg/m³ and µg/m³ to µg/m³, respectively, during the first and between 4.01 µg/m³ to 5.58 µg/m³ and µg/m³ to µg/m³, respectively, during the second. At traffic crossings, the average concentration of SO2 and NO2 during the first of study period varied between 4.10 µg/m³ to 5.44 µg/m³ and µg/m³ to µg/m³, respectively and between 4.08 µg/m³ to 6.06 µg/m³ and µg/m³ to µg/m³, respectively during the second. Figure 3: Average SO2 and NO2 (µg/m³) contents in commercial areas Figure 4: Average SO2 and NO2 (µg/m³) contents at traffic crossings of Katra town during the study period The concentration of SO2 and NO2 has been observed to be always higher in traffic crossings and commercial areas in comparison to residential areas. However at traffic crossings, the 50

6 maximum concentration of SO2 and NO2 has been recorded at site VII (Bus Stand). In commercial areas, the maximum concentration of SO2 and NO2 has been observed at site IV (Main Bazaar) whereas in residential areas, the minimum concentration has been observed at site II (Gopal Nagar). Presence of the only bus stand catering to the needs of most of the passengers, auto-rickshaw stand and taxi stand near the site VII (Bus stand), contributes towards the comparatively higher concentrations of SO2 and NO2. Traffic congestion and slow speed of vehicles due to frequent boarding and de-boarding of the passengers and undesirable and unnecessary idling time of vehicles on the roads in turn aggravate the problem as the emission rates are higher during stop and go, congested traffic conditions than at free flow conditions operating at the same average speed because fuel consumption is high for low speeds. The fact that low speed, congested driving conditions, sharp acceleration and deceleration etc. results in higher emissions has also been pointed out by Nesamani, 2009 and Sood, Also, the vehicles plying on the road are not specially designed for this part of the city as these are required to move at slow speed with low gear and frequent use of clutch and break due to hilly terrain, as has also been pointed out by Sharma, Emission rate is very high at steep gradients, as the vehicle needs to put in more efforts to maintain its speed and produce more exhaust. In commercial areas, higher concentration of SO2 and NO2 has been observed at Site IV (Main Bazaar). At this site, number of restaurants, dhabas, bakery shops, food vendor outlets, prominent shopping complexes for tourists as well as for locals and continuous lines of street level shops are present. Use of diesel-powered generator sets during frequent electric cuts is also very common at this site. Moreover, this site repeatedly suffered from prolonged episodes of traffic congestion/stoppage throughout the day as the roads are narrow and congested. In addition, lack of sufficient parking space leads to parking of vehicles in almost every street by tourists as well as shopkeepers that reduced the actual street width and obstruct traffic flow therein. All these factors contribute for the higher concentration of both the gases i.e. SO2 and NO2 at this site. Ambient SO2 and NO2 concentrations has been recorded lowest in residential areas as compared to other study sites; however in this category lowest concentrations have been recorded in Gopal Nagar. This site has comparatively lower number of inhabitants, fewer construction activities; lesser number of vehicles, good road condition and also sufficient vegetation is present along roadsides which clearly show the role played by foliage in absorbing the pollutants. This area has not been commercialized as compared to other sites. Various studies have revealed that meteorological factors such as wind speed, relative humidity, precipitation and ambient temperature play very important role in the dispersion of air pollutants (Ravindra et al., 2003; Sharma and Pervez, 2003; Asrari et al., 2006; Karar et al., 2006), (Chauhan et al., 2010). Meteorological factors vary in different part of the and also from place to place. Analysis of the data on seasonal basis for SO2 and NO2 revealed lowest values mostly in monsoon season at most of the sites during both the s except for two traffic sites where low values of NO2 has been observed during winter season in the second of the study period. Analysis of data also revealed that in residential areas, higher concentrations of the studied pollutants have been recorded during winter while in commercial areas during post-monsoon and winter season. At traffic crossings, higher values have been recorded during post-monsoon season followed by winter season as shown in Table 3. 51

7 Table 3: Seasonal average of SO2 and NO2 (µg/m 3 ) at different sites during the study period Monsoon (October December) Summer (March May); Winter (January, February); Monsoon (June September); Post- Monsoon Lower values of pollutants in the monsoon season at most of the sites may be attributed to heavy rainfall during this season. Large amount of precipitation and changes in general wind direction during monsoon season are responsible for low concentration of pollutants. Gases and solid particles absorbed by clouds and/or raindrops get washed down during rainfall (Ravindra et al., 2003) which contributes to the cleaning of atmosphere. Higher relative humidity during this period also results in the settling down of gases present in the atmosphere. Therefore, monsoon season has been observed to be the cleaner period as far as air pollutants are concerned. Low values of SO2 and NO2 during the monsoon period at the Katra town are also in line with the findings of Ravindra et al., 2003 and Mamta and Bassin, During post-monsoon season, the concentration of SO2 and NO2 has been found to be highest during both the s of study period at most of the sites. Heavy to very heavy flow of tourists and vehicles during Navratras and vacations/holidays period, festival activities like Dusshera and Diwali and influence of other meteorological factors has been observed to be responsible for the increase in concentration of pollutants. On these auspicious days, people from every nook and corner of the country throng the Trikuta hills of Katra. Higher concentration of gaseous pollutants (SO2 and NO2) in winter can be safely attributed to calm meteorological conditions which facilitate more stability to the atmosphere and results in slow dispersion. Removal of pollutants by wet scavenging is much reduced in winter season. Winter season received lesser rainfall as compared to other seasons. Reddy et al. (2004) has pointed out high concentration of SO2 and NO2 during winter, in hilly areas due to low ventilation as compared to other seasons. Moreover, winter season witness enhanced combustion of fossil fuel and biomass burning for cooking and heating. 52

8 The concentration of these pollutants has increased significantly in as compared to in commercial and residential areas while at two of the traffic crossings, their concentrations has shown a decrease in as compared to , though concentration of both the gaseous pollutants (SO2 and NO2) has been observed to be well within the NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards) limits as stipulated by CPCB displayed in Table 4. Table 4: National ambient air quality standards, CPCB Location Type Permissible limits in µg/m³ SO2 NO2 Industrial Residential and other areas Ecologically sensitive areas The decrease in concentration of gaseous pollutants especially NO2 at two of the selected traffic crossings has resulted due to the diversion of routes of inter-state buses during this period of heavy rush. The decreased concentration of NO2 due to decrease in vehicle traffic on the roads clearly indicates the role played by vehicles in influencing the pollutant s concentration. Further, it has also been observed from the recorded data that pollutants exhibit higher values during weekends as compared to weekdays. Higher number of vehicles enters the town during Saturdays and Sundays in comparison to other week days because of the comparatively higher inflow of tourists especially local, during weekends contributes for the rise of pollutants during this period. Normally higher traffic volume is observed on weekdays and hence higher concentrations have been observed on weekdays as compared to weekends as has also been pointed out by Barman et al. (2008). In the present study, the measured concentrations reflect the basic influence of traffic emissions which increase towards the weekend as more number of people visits Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine. This result finds support from the findings of Gallero et al., (2006). 4. Conclusion The study reveals that the contents of both SO2 and NO2 in the ambient air of Katra town, reflect the impact of increasing vehicular growth with the increase in the number of tourists and burning of fossil fuels in hotels, restaurants, dhabas etc. which requires immediate attention of the researchers and concerned authorities. The concentration of these gases has increased in the second (July 2011-June 2012) of study period as compared to first (July 2010-June 2011) at all the sites except two traffic crossings. Seasonally, the studied pollutants exhibited higher concentrations during post monsoon and winter and lowest during monsoon season at almost all the sites. Higher concentrations of the pollutants have also been recorded during peak tourist activities and weekends as compared to weekdays. 5. References 1. Asrari, E., Ghole, V.S. and Sen, P.N., (2006), Study on the status of SO2 in the Tehran- Iran, Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management, 10(2), pp

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