Assessment of the Ambient Air Quality at the Industrial Area using the Air Quality Index Method (AQI)

Air quality Index (AQI) is a tool for identify the current status of air quality, as in the last few years, global issues have been brought up about the health impacts caused by deteriorating air quality mainly due to large-scale industrialization and urbanization. In order to estimate the AQI, five pollutants synergistic effect viz., PM₁₀, PM_2.5, NO₂, SO₂ and NH₃ were used to assess the prevailing ambient air quality in the industrial area, the ambient air quality was continuously monitored from Jan 2014 to Dec 2016, at five different locations with sampling time of 24 hrs and AQI was calculated using ORNAQI procedure. The results put forward suggests that pollutants were found beyond the permissible limit and the relative AQI was found in severe air pollution range, as the ORNAQI value observed during months of January and December for the investigative period of 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively, were above 100 rating scale indicating dangerous/severe air pollution during that period in the area and ambient air quality standards were not attained.

Five pollutants synergistic effect were used to assess the prevailing ambient air quality in the industrial area.

ORNAQI value observed for the investigative period of 2014, 2015 and 2016 (3 consecutive years).