INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 1, No 5, Copyright 2010 All rights reserved Integrated Publishing Association

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1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 1, No 5, 2011 Copyright 2010 All rights reserved Integrated Publishing Association Research article ISSN A comparative assessment of Status of indoor air pollution of few selected families of rural and urban area of Mondal.N.K 1, Konar.S 2, Banerjee.A 2, Datta, J. K 3 1 Lecturer, Department of Environmental Science, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, India, WB 2 Research scholar, Department of Environmental Science, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, India, WB 3 Professor, Department of Environmental Science, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, India, WB nabakumar_mondal@indiatimes.com ABSTRACT Present investigation was undertaken to asses the status of indoor air quality of urban and rural area of s. The study revealed that different types of fuels were used by rural people including wood, straw, dung, charcoal, kerosene, gas and electricity. The use of gas and electricity was prevalent in urban area. It was found that kerosene was used by 70% of rural and only 41% by urban people. The use of lantern inside the room was (100%) in rural area in comparison to urban pupil consumption of about 55.56%. The present investigation revealed that educational level directly relate with the use of fuel. The results indicate that 43% of the people used wood, straw, and dung who do not have any formal education but the same type of fuel used by the tertiary level educated people was only 3% and 25% by primary and secondary level educated peoples. The higher percentage of less polluting fuel was used by tertiary level educated people in urban area. A positive regression line was extrapolated between diseases and factors responsible for indoor pollution. Key words: Indoor air pollution, rural, fuel, kerosene. 1. Introduction Indoor air pollution mediates the release of gases or particles into the air which are the primary cause of indoor air quality problems in homes. Inadequate ventilation can increase indoor pollutant levels by not bringing in enough outdoor air to dilute emission from indoor sources and by not carrying indoor air pollutants out of the home. In our country air pollution studies particularly in rural households has so far been neglected. It is recently estimated that 82% of sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), 38% of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), 88% of volatile organic compounds and 96% particulate matter emissions in the country come from the household sector (Parikh, 1999). About three billion people still rely on solid fuels, 2.4 billion on biomass and the rest on coal, mostly in china (EPA, 2004 and Smith et al., 2004). Biomass is predominantly, though not exclusively a rural fuel indeed, in many poor African countries; biomass is the main fuel for close to 1005 of rural homes. Marked socioeconomic differences (indicated by women s education) exist in both urban and rural areas. During the 1990s use of traditional fuels (biomass) in sub Saharan Africa increased as a percentage of total energy use; although in most other parts of world the trend has generally been reverse (World Bank, 2002). Received on December, 2010 Published on January

2 The concentration of indoor air pollutants coming out from combustion of biofuels such as wood, agriculture crops and dung cake used by rural households in developing countries causes several health problems especially to women and children below five years (Sarkar, 2004). It was observed that a major percent of rural households in developing countries still rely on biomass fuels (WHO, 1999) and about 75% of Indian households use biofuels for cooking purposes. Biomass and coal smoke emits many health damaging pollutants including particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, aldehydes, benzenes, and polyaromatic hydrocarbon compounds (Smith, 1987). These pollutants mainly affect the lungs by causing inflammation, reduce ciliary s clearance and impaired immune response (Bruce et al., 2000). Thompson and Smith (Saksena et al., 2004) have recently compiled data on several of the main pollutants associated with various household fuels from studies of homes in a wide range of developing countries. Concentration of PM 10 averaged over 24 hour periods were in the range 300 to 3000 (or more) microorganisms per cubic meter (µg/m 3 ). Environmental Protection Agency s annual air pollution standard for PM 10 is 50 µg/m 3 one to two orders of magnitude lower than levels seen in many homes in developing countries. During cooking when women and very young children spend most time in the kitchen and near the fire, much higher levels of PM 10 have been recorded up to 30,000 µg/m 3 or more (Bruce et al., 2002). Under these circumstances the present investigation was carried out in order to establish a relationship between level of education, types of fuel use and associated indoor air quality of rural and urban areas of Burdwan town and adjoining areas. 2. Materials and Methods For the present investigation, s was considered 2.1 Selection of municipal area and villages Fifty homes from each location were randomly selected both from adjoining villages of Burdwan town and Burdwan municipality of Burdwan town. 2.2 Selection of respondents For presents study 50 homes from rural and 50 homes from urban areas were considered purely on random basis. A well structured detailed interviewed schedule was developed in accordance with the methodology procedure keeping in view the objectives of the investigation. The data were collected with the help of interview schedule by paying repeated monitoring to the study areas. Initially a general instruction was given both rural area and municipality area pupils. 2.3 Statistical analysis of data The data were analyzed with the help of percentage, bar diagram, regression equation (Gomez et al., 1984). 3. Results and Discussions The results obtained from the present investigation are presented below. 737

3 3.1 Nature of fuel The types of biofuel used by both rural and urban pupils are wood, straw, dung, charcoal, kerosene, gas and electricity. About 71% rural pupils used wood, straw and dung where as only 2% of urban pupil used the same biofuel (Figure 4). These types of solid fuels remain the principal household fuel for around 3 billion people and since there use is closed linked to poverty, this is also a population with generally poor access to health care (Dherani et al., 2008). These biomass and coal smoke emit many health damaging Table 1: Correlation between fuel used and respiratory symptoms Fuel type Biofuel Kerosene LPG Time spend in cooking (hours) Time spend near stove(as per total time) 37% 26% 24% Source: Dutta, D et al.,1996. Women with respiratory problems(as percentase of total) 23% 13% 8% Table 2: Comparison of exposure to various pollutants in chulla and cigarette smoke Pollutant as a result of combustion of wood in case of chulla and tobacco in case of cigarette per kg.combustion of wood /tobacco CO mg/kg Effect Village cook Active smoker Passive smoker Reduced oxygen to body tissues Particulates(TSP) g/kg Benzo(a)Pyrene mg/kg Formaldehyde g/kg Source: Smith, (1987). Decreased visibility irritation and toxicity Precursor to cancer Irritant of eyes, nose, upper respiratory tract, possible cancer precursor

4 pollutants including particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, aldehydes, benzene and polyaromatic compounds (Smith, 1987). Another very important bad indoor habit is the smoking inside the room. In this particular habit both rural (63.64%) and urban (50%) shows similar practice. Therefore, both rural and urban pupil exposed by the toxic smoke inside the room. Cigarette smoke discharges different noxious gases like carbon monoxide, particulates, Benzo(a)pyrine and formaldehyde (Table 2).Again use of stove inside the room is highest in rural (27.48%) compared to the urban (9.09%) (Figure 2) The less polluting fuel like gas (LPG) and electricity was highest in urban compare to the rural. The same is endorsed by Dutta et al., (1996) (Table 1). Primary household fuel used in urban and rural areas Indoor habit in rural and urban area Fuel gas and electric kerosine charcoal URB RUR Indoor habit hariken phenyl liquid mosquito coil addicted in side sm oke URB RUR w ood, staw, and dung Percentage Figure 1: Primary household fuel used in urban and rural areas stove Percentage Figure 2: Indoor habit in rural and urban areas electric electric Fuel gas kerosine charcoal TERTIARY SECONDAR PRIMARY Fuel gas kerosine charcoal TERTIARY SECONDARY PRIMARY w ood, staw, dung w ood, staw, dung Percentage Figure 3: Use of different fuel by the pupil having no formal education or primary, secondary and tertiary education.in urban Percentage Figure 4: Use of different fuel by the pupil having no formal education or primary, secondary and tertiary education.in rural. 739

5 From the result it is clear that the pupil who lined in the urban area user more greener fuel than rural area. This is quite possible because the use of fuel is related with their socioeconomic status (Smith et al., 1994) (Figure 5).Indoor habit of both rural and urban are presented in Figure 2 100% rural pupil uses hurricane for lightning their home where as only 55.56% were used by urban pupil (Figure 2). It is a great concern that education level is a very important determinant to use particular types of fuel inside the room (Figure 4). The study shows that the pupil having no formal or primary education and secondary level education in rural area shows a tendency to use maximum percentage of solid fuels (Figure 4). Tertiary level educated pupil uses less polluting biofuels like gas (LPG) and electricity. Similarly in case of urban area the less polluting fuel was used by tertiary level educated pupil only 35% and 70% respectively (Figure 3). Figure 5: Use of fuel related with socioeconomic status. The important consequences of indoor pollution is the different disease faced by the family members specially women those are involved in daily cooking system and children under age five. The toxic effects of indoor air pollution were clearly under stood from Table

6 Table 3: Annual health impacts of indoor air pollution Health impact Premature deaths Hospital admissions and emergency room visits Restricted activity days Lower respiratory infection in children Asthma attacks Respiratory symptoms Chronic bronchitis Annual incidence rates(based on total exposure assessment looking at PM 10 only) (million) , , Source: Saxsena and Dayal, (1997) Regression line for rural clearly indicates that there is a direct relationship between disease faced by the rural pupil and solid/liquid fuel used (Figure 6). But such positive extrapolation was not found in case of urban area (Figure 7). This indicate that the disease faced by the urban pupil not only caused by indoor air pollution, but some other factors may responsible for such disease. Finally it may be concluded that level in term of fuel use that pupil should use the less polluting fuel like LPG and electricity to combat indoor air pollution and its associated health hazards. It was found that percentage of respiratory problems faced by the women would less if they used LPG in place of kerosene. (Table 4). Although there are other factors which accelerate the indoor air pollution status like ventilation, attached garbage, use of carpet and dampness inside the room which need to be properly designed and regulated. 6 5 y = x R 2 = Char t Title y = 0.744x R 2 = Figure 7: Regression line for number of person affected by disease and possible number of factor responsible in urban. Figure 6: Regression line for number of person affected by disease and possible number of factor responsible in rural. These factors play a vital role for different diseases because dampness and poor ventilation lead to growth of microbes such as mould, fungi & bacteria that emits spores, cells and volatile organic compounds that pollutes indoor air (Chatterjee, 2009). Moreover study reports shows that the family having no proper ventilation has some specific diseases like 741

7 Asthma and respiratory troubles and few family members express their skin diseases due to poor ventilation. The study report of this investigation also shows about % families uses pet in their home. This also make indoor environment unhygienic (Royal and Goel, 2009).The disease status also very alarming (26.92%) in mostly rural children specially the girls who typically stay with their mother while the father and sons go outdoor to work are also at great risk of acute respiratory infections. Unhealthy cooking methods and use of biomass fuels not only contribute to chronic bronchitis in women but also put children below the age of 5 at great risk. The study also reveals that the common chemical substances used inside the room are mosquito killer s room fresheners, phenyl, harpic, shampoo, body spray and any other chemical substances (Figure 2). All these chemicals discharge air pollutant because it consists of mainly trichloroethylene, benzene and formaldehyde. Apart from the above mentioned chemicals there are other items including gasoline, ink, oils, paints, plastics and rubbers where benzene is used extensively. 4. Conclusions From the entire study it has been found that maximum families especially in rural area having improper ventilation and used of solid biomass are suffering from different diseases like Asthma, respiratory troubles. More alarming condition was observed for rural girls/women those are involved in cooking purpose. Moreover, unhealthy cooking methods and use of biomass fuels not only contribute to chronic bronchitis in woman but also put children below the age of five at grave risk. Finally, it is strongly recommended that the people should not addicted in smoking inside the room and the common people should be aware about indoor air pollution through mass awareness program. 5. References 1. Parikh, K.S., (Ed.) India development report, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development, Oxford University Press, pp EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) Partnership for Clean Indoor Air,Washington, DC:EPA Smith, K. R., Mehta, S. and Feuz, M.., Chapter 18: Indoor Smoke from Household Use of Solid Fuels. In Comparative Quantification of Health Risks: The Global Burden of Disease Due to Selected Risk Factors. Ezzati, M.., Lopez, A. D., 4. Rodgers, A. and Murray, C. J. L. World Health Organization. 2, pp Geneva. 5. World Bank Energy Efficiency and Emissions. In World Development Indicators. Washington, DC: World Bank.Doctoral Project Report. Funded by University Grants Commission, India. 6. World Resource Institute, WHO, Guidelines for air quality, Geneva. 7. Smith, K.R., Biofuels, Air Pollution and Health: A Global Review, Plenum Press, New York. 742

8 8. Bruce, N. G., Perez Padilla, R. and Albalak, R., Indoor Air Pollution in Developing Countries: A Major Environmental and Public Health Challenge. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 78 (9), pp Saxsena, S., Thompson, L. and Smith. K. R., Indoor Air Pollution and Exposure Database: Household Measurements in Developing Countries Bruce, N. G., Boy, E., and H. Delgado., Birthweight and Exposure to Kitchen Wood Smoke during Pregnancy. Environmental Health Perspectives, 110 (1), pp Gomez, K.A. and Gomez, A.A., Statistical Procedures for Agril. Res. (2 nd ed).john Willey and Sons, New York. 12. Dherani, M., Pope, D., Mascarenhas, M., Smith, K.R., Weber, M. and Bruce, N., Indoor air pollution from unprocessed solid fuel use and pneumonia risk in children aged under five years: a systematic review and meta analysis. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 86(5), pp Dutta, D. et al., Effect of Indoor Air Pollution on the respiratory system of women Using Different Fuels for cooking in an Urban Slum of Pondicherry, National Medical Journal of India, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, 9 (3), pp Smith, K.R., Apte, M.G., Yoqing, M., Wongsekiarttirat, W. and Kulkarni, A., Air pollution and the energy ladder in Asian cities. Energy, 19 (5), pp Prianka, C., WHO guide on clean indoor air. Down To Earth, August Roy R.K. & Goel A.K., Indoor plants to combat indoor pollution. Science Reporter, pp Saxena, S and Dayal, V Energy Environment Monitor, 13 (2), New Delhi. 743