Study of particulate matters, heavy metals and gaseous pollutants at Gopalpur (23°29ʹ52.67ʺ N, 87°23ʹ46.08ʺE), a tropical industrial site in eastern India

Abstract

Air pollution has become an environmental problem of public concern worldwide. In the present study, the concentration of Particulate Matter (PM10), Oxides of Sulphur (SOx), Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) and Ozone(O3) have been monitored from February 2013 to May 2013 over Gopalpur village in Durgapur situated at 23°29ʹ52.67ʺ N and 87°23ʹ46.08ʺE. Meteorological parameters like temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction were also simultaneously recorded over the chosen site.Various statistical tools have been used for the analysis of the obtained result. The data obtained from the field work have been compared with the secondary data obtained from Durgapur Station of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The temporal variations of the concentrations of PM10, SOX, NOX and O3 have been explored and their relationships with different meteorological parameters have been identified. Concentration of PM10 ranged from 53.803 to 271.325µg/m3, with a mean value of 136.689± 54.873 µg/m3,80% of the monitored data exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM10 in the ambient atmosphere. The concentration of SOX over the site is found to lie between 14.219µg/m3 to 390.041µg/m3, with a mean value of 104.601±103.860 µg/m3 and 45 % of the total data exceeded the NAAQS for the concentration of SOX in the ambient air. The recorded concentration of NOX lies between 32.50 µg/m3- 112.79 µg/m3, with a mean value of 66.99± 21.63 µg/m3 and 20% of the monitored data is found to exceed the NAAQS for NOX in the atmosphere. Record of eight hour (08:00:00 – 16:00:00 h, Indian Standard Time) ground level ozone concentration shows that O3 concentration gradually increases after sunrise (08:00:00 h) and reaches a high value during the noon (14:00:00 h – 15:00:00h). Detailed study shows that ozone has high positive correlation with temperature and high negative correlation with humidity. Atmospheric concentration of selected heavy metals including Lead (Pb), Copper (Cu), Manganese(Mn) and Cadmium (Cd) were also measured followed by the analysis of their probable sources. Wind rose has been constructed using WindRose PRO (Version 3.1.x). Industrial emission (Sponge Iron industries, Steel industries etc.), vehicular exhausts, open biomass burning, mining etc have been identified as the probable sources of the pollutants in the ambient atmosphere of Gopalpur.