This story is from January 13, 2020

Bihar: Two more air monitoring stations to become functional today

The Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) has installed two more continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations at Patna and Hajipur, which would be operational from Monday (January 13).
Bihar: Two more air monitoring stations to become functional today
A view of air quality monitoring stations at Rajdhani Vatika[Eco Park] in Patna (File photo)
PATNA: The Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) has installed two more continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations at Patna and Hajipur, which would be operational from Monday (January 13). A proposal in this regard has been sent to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The new stations will be linked to the national grid soon, an official at the board said.
Track the pollution level in your city
The new stations have been set up at DRM office in Khagaul and government office in Hajipur town area.
One more air monitoring station will be operational by this month at Government Boy’s High School in Patna City. The installation work is underway.
The stations would provide information regarding the ambient air quality along with individual readings of seven parameters, including PM 2.5 (particulate matters less than 2.5 microns), PM 10 (particulate matters less than 10 microns), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Sulfur Dioxide (SO2), Ozone and Ammonia (NH3). It will also show the temperature, humidity, wind speed and other climatic conditions of the day.

The new air monitoring boards are procured from a US-based company, which cost around Rs1.15 crore each.
The state capital presently has four monitoring stations at Eco Park, Planetarium, Birla Institute of Technology-Mesra at Patna and SK Memorial Hall.
BSPCB chairman Ashok Ghosh told this newspaper that the installation work of monitoring stations have been done and it will be soon connected with the CPCB server. “The city’s overall air quality index (AQI) would now be calculated on inputs from five monitoring stations. It will give the clear picture of air pollution in the city,” he said.
“At least 10 monitoring stations are needed in a city like Patna to get a broader scenario with regard to air pollution. With four stations in city, we have covered only 70% area of the city,” he added.
Ghosh said two more stations have been proposed at Kankarbagh and Digha.
Besides Patna and Hajipur, a monitoring station each will also come up at Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Gaya and Muzaffarpur by December-end. The state government is also planning to set up 42 monitoring stations in different cities of Bihar.
The BSPCB, in association with other organizations that works for environment, had prepared a comprehensive action plan. It also conducted a source appointment study to help it prepare data to quantify proportion of various elements to the overall level of air pollution in Patna. The source appointment study is now taking place at other two districts, including Gaya and Muzaffarpur.
author
About the Author
Faryal Rumi

She is working with the Times of India as a Senior Digital Content Creator on the Patna desk.

End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA