What caused Delhi air pollution this year
The CSE analysis found that Delhi’s local sources caused around 32.9 per cent of the pollution in the city from October 21 to 26. Here are the causes and culprits it found.
What were CSE’s findings?
CSE’s analysis of data from October 21 to 26 found that of the local sources of pollution, vehicular emissions may have contributed around 51 per cent to the PM2.5 levels in Delhi. Local sources refer to the sources within the city. Among these, local sources, the next largest contribution was 13 per cent from residential sources, and 11 per cent from industries.
Construction activities contributed around 7 per cent to PM2.5, followed by 5 per cent each from the burning of waste and the energy sector. Road dust contributed around 4 per cent to PM2.5 levels.
The analysis also found that Delhi’s local sources caused around 32.9 per cent of the pollution in the city. The remaining share came from NCR districts (32.8 per cent), other districts (25.8 per cent) and biomass burning in the neighbouring states (9.5 per cent).
The analysis also used data from Google Maps to look at hourly traffic speed on 15 arterial roads in the city over the week. “High level of congestion” was noted on all of these roads with average speed ranging from 27 kmph to 32 kmph, speed being used as an indicator for congestion. The traffic build-up was found to be highest on October 21 and 22.
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