Air Quality Index for Environmental Impact Assessmentof the Port Development at Beypore

The concept of an air quality index (AQI) that transforms weighted values of individual air pollution related parameters (e.g. SO₂, CO, visibility, etc.) into a single number or set of numbers is widely used for air quality communication and decision making in many countries. The objective of an AQI is to quickly disseminate air quality information (almost in real-time) that entails the system to account for pollutants which have short-term impacts. Eight parameters (PM₁₀, PM_2.5 NO₂, SO₂, CO, O₃, NH₃, and Pb) having short-term standards have been considered for near real-time dissemination of AQI. It is recognized that air concentrations of Pb are not known in real-time and cannot contribute to AQI. The major air pollutants involved in this particular construction project are suspended particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. An air quality monitoring was done for the development of Beypore harbour construction. In this study, the air quality parameters of PM₁₀, PM_2.5, SO₂ and NO₂ were monitored for the regular interval period for four different locations and the corresponding AQI was calculated. As per the AQI classifications, all the locations are coming under minimal impact category which also requires rigid control measures to reduce the particulate matters in the air. The obtained air quality index can be used in environmental quality performance indexing for future developments in that spatial region.