Ahmedabad gets real-time pollution tracking lab on wheels

Ahmedabad: A new, smart facility on wheels could help the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) clear the air on causes of pollution. The Mobile Real-Time Source Apportionment Laboratory, part of the Smart Sensing and Digital Intelligence for Integrated Air Quality Management project, is a solution that AMC and IIT-Kanpur have collaborated on. The mobile lab will carry out a scientific and real-time identification of major air pollution sources. The data derived will help civic authorities, urban planners and air quality experts chalk out a more effective and data-driven pollution control system. Chief minister Bhupendra Patel flagged off the laboratory on Friday, which was also the World Environment Day.

According to AMC officials, the vehicle, mounted with advanced sensors, will pinpoint exact causes of urban air pollution. Its first 15-day deployment will be at the Sabarmati Riverfront Sports Complex (CWGS-3) on the western bank. It will be stationed at the spot again for 15 days each during monsoon and winter. Teams will then study the data gathered over these 45 days spread over the three seasons to uncover the factors causing air pollution in the area. This exercise will be repeated at the other nine locations chosen.

The officials said the lab instruments are undergoing calibration after which data collection necessary for source apportionment (determining the origin of pollutants) will start. Over the course of a year, AMC will cover several 10 different areas of which four are Commonwealth Games sports complexes. The locations were chosen after factoring in activity, population exposure, diversity of emissions and local meteorology.

Since PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels typically rise during winters, AMC, under the central govt‘s National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) and with the technical assistance of ICLEI South Asia, is making efforts to control major sources of pollution. This includes technical analysis, new pilot projects, a practice policy and an urban greening policy.

Other measures include end-to-end pavements, parks and gardens, setting up urban forests and oxygen parks, deploying misting machines, installing solar panels, setting up CNG furnaces in crematoriums, implementing automated traffic regulation systems and procuring CNG and electric buses, officials said. Due to these measures, approximately 40% improvement was recorded in the city’s air quality compared to 2018-19, an AMC official said.

The Smart Sensing and Digital Intelligence Project, which started in April this year will run till Dec 2030. IIT-Kanpur will execute this project in three phases, with the first continuing till Dec 2027 for an estimated Rs 10.60 crore. This phase covers baseline mapping using the Real-Time Source Apportionment Laboratory. Machine learning models will be developed for low-cost sensor-based hyper-local source apportionment, said officials. Additionally, the existing low-cost sensor network will undergo a technical evaluation for revival, strategic planning for scaling up hyper-local monitoring will be designed and interventions will be formulated in coordination with AMC and state departments concerned.

Under this project, an AI-based 72-hour air quality forecasting model will also be developed. This will provide warnings about potential spikes in pollution, enabling the timely execution of preventive measures such as water sprinkling, traffic management and regulating construction activity.

Since the entire system will be integrated with the Smart City Integrated Command and Control Centre, real-time alerts, SOP-based actions and task tracking across various departments will become far more effective, experts believe.