Measurement of PM10, PM2.5 and black carbon and assessment of their health effects in Agra, A Semiarid Region of India

Abstract

The present study highlights the annual and seasonal concentration of PM10, PM2.5 and Black Carbon (BC) and estimation of health risk assessment in Agra, a semiarid region in India during March 2016-February 2017. The average mass concentrations of PM10, PM2.5 and BC are found to be 157 µ g m-3, 87 µ g m-3 and 6 µ g m-3, respectively. The mean mass concentrations of PM10 is highest in winter (195 µ g m-3), followed by post-monsoon (168 µ g m-3), summer (186 µ g m-3) and monsoon (80 µ g m-3) while for the PM2.5 and BC the highest mean mass concentrations is in winter (116 µ g m-3) followed by post-monsoon (115 µ g m-3), summer (103 µ g m-3) and monsoon (31 µ g m-3). The variation in the concentration may be due to the combined effect of atmospheric conditions, local emissions as well as long-range transport. The mean ratio of PM2.5/PM10 was 0.37 and ranged from 0.13 to 0.78. It signifies the fact that the coarse mode particle dominates over fine mode particles in this region. The percentage contribution of BC in PM2.5 is 8%. The exceedance factor is found to be more than 1.5 for PM10 and PM2.5, which indicates the critical level of the pollution load in the Agra region. The population-weighted concentration of PM10, PM2.5, and BC is 3.2 µ g m-3, 1.7 µ g m-3 and 1.4 µ g m-3, respectively. Health risk analysis has been performed using AirQ+ v.1.2 model developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The relative risk factor analysis representing within the study site indicates the particulate matter from local combustion sources as the cause of mortality. The attributed mortality rate of PM2.5 due to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), lung cancer, and stroke in adult (30 years and above) is 1033, 2068, and 3717, respectively. The attributed mortality rate from PM10 due to chronic bronchitis in adult and bronchitis in children is 872 and 168, respectively.