Air Pollution Emissions Inventory, Source Apportionment and Atmospheric Carrying Capacity Study of Kolkata in West Bengal

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Air pollution in India is a major environmental issue vis-à-vis public issue, with over 70% of cities violating the statutory national atmospheric PM10 concentration. This pollution affects health, buildings, agriculture, and climate change, causing 2 million premature deaths and reportedly costing the country $95 billion annually. The Government of India launched the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) in 2019 with an interim target of 40% reduction in atmospheric PM10 in the non-attainment cities by 2026 w.r.t. 2017. “The city of Joy”, Kolkata, along with five other cities from West Bengal, are listed in the catalogue of non-attainment cities together with another 124 cities across the nation under the NCAP based on atmospheric PM10 concentrations in five consecutive years. Comprehensive air quality action plans for Kolkata city were developed in 2018 following an order of the honourable NGT, involving detailed source apportionment and inventory studies. Following this, the CSIR-NEERI conducted source apportionment study on ambient PM10 and PM2.5 in Kolkata, identifying vehicle, road dust, and coal combustion as major sources. They suggested periodic evaluation of source apportionment, however, could not apportion the share of sources outside the Kolkata Municipal Corporation boundaries. In 2022, the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) commissioned The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi to conduct an updated Air Pollution Source Apportionment and Atmospheric Carrying Capacity Study in Kolkata Municipal Corporation areas to assess the impact of ongoing air pollution management activities. The scope of the study was to assess Ground Level Concentration (GLC) of air pollutants, prepare a gridded inventory of pollutants from various sources, conduct source apportionment studies, assess atmospheric carrying capacity, and develop a roadmap for sectors to reduce atmospheric PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in the KMC area.