Know about air quality of any place at a click of a mouse -Governance Now

Know about air quality of any place at a click of a mouse

Air quality forecasting system installed for CWG, now extended to entire Delhi

PTI | October 26, 2010

There is good news for all those scared of allergies and wanting to know about the air quality of a particular area before visiting it.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) with technical support from French Government has developed an air quality forecasting system which will provide details about quality of air on a 48-hour basis in entire Delhi.

The system has been developed on the lines of those existing in many other top world cities like London, Paris and Beijing.

The programme "Clean Air for Delhi 2010 and Beyond" was launched ahead of the Commonwealth Games and provided 48-hour forecast about air quality in and around all the Games venues.

"Now it is being expanded to the entire city," said CPCB chairman S P Gautam. He said currently forecast for air quality is being provided for 37 locations in the city and the date is available on the CPCB website www.cpcb.nic.in.

Speaking on the occasion French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont said the system was "very successful" during the Games and his government was ready to support similar programme in other cities.

"We would like to extend our support for similar initiatives in other Indian cities as well," he said adding the pilot project for the Games was financed by the French Government.

The technical support for the state-of-the-art system has been provided by two French firms -- Aria Technologies and Leosphere.

An official from Aria Technologies said the company had previously developed a similar system for Beijing during the 2008 Olympics and are also developing one for Rio de Janeiro in Brazil as part of preparations for Olympics in the city in 2016.

"The forecast system is available for every nook and corner of Delhi including special points of interest," he said, adding it took almost a year to develop the system.

"While the system is based on a model combining the atmospheric physics of weather forecasting and atmospheric chemistry, the inputs include emission intensities from multiple sources contributing to the growing air pollution problem in Delhi like vehicle dust, industrial emissions, residential fuel use generator sets and garbage burning," he said.

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