Srinagar, Aug 27: The first automatic real-time air quality monitoring system set up in the summer capital Srinagar in July this year is helping round-the-clock monitoring of air pollution levels. Two more similar systems for the Valley are on the anvil.
A senior official of the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Board said that the automatic system installed at its Raj Bagh office has been helpful in providing “accurate data of the air quality” in Kashmir.
“Ever since the online automated air quality monitoring system was installed, the accuracy of air quality monitoring has seen a vast improvement,” the official said.
With the ambient air pollution mostly comprising of vehicular fumes on rise, “it was quite important to have an automatic system in place,” the official said.
He said the air quality data of Srinagar sent to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed that “pollution levels had become moderate” during the Covid lockdown. “The reduction in public transport due to pandemic kept a check on air pollution levels,” he said.
It may be mentioned that 11 manual air quality monitoring stations are presently functional in each J&K district while there is a proposal for installation of two more automatic air quality monitoring systems for Kashmir and one for Jammu as well.
“Earlier with manual system we were able to monitor only 2 parameters of air quality which is PM 10 and PM 2.5 but with the sophisticated automatic air quality monitoring we are able to monitor six to eight different parameters,” the official said.
It may be mentioned that the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System CAAQMS, which was put on trial run for two months before its inauguration, is highly sophisticated equipment that gives real-time (/topic/real-time) air quality data of a particular area especially the key parameters like PM10, PM 2.5, NOX, SOX, Ozone which determine the air quality of that area.
The installation of CAAQMS (/topic/caaqms) has been mandated in all the non-attainment cities across the country, including Jammu and Srinagar (/topic/Srinagar).
As per officials the air quality monitoring network will be established and later extended to all district headquarters of Jammu and Kashmir in due course of time.
The air quality data generated by CAAQMS (/topic/caaqms) has been linked with the CPCB portal and the Air Quality Index (AQI) has been made public enabling any person sitting in any corner of the world to access the Air Quality of Srinagar city.