A preliminary assessment of air quality index (AQI) along a busy road in Faisalabad metropolitan, Pakistan

Ambient air quality status along a busy road in the residential area of Faisalabad metropolitan was determined and air quality index (AQI) values were calculated regarding the selected air pollutants during a month (May, 2012). Overall deteriorated ambient air quality in terms of airborne particulate matter (PM), ambient smoke and noise levels was observed along the selected road as most of the sites have very poor to hazardous AQI categories. Air quality is worsen at traffic congested locations and sites proximal to industries where pollutant levels highly exceeding the standard values proposed by US-EPA. Heavy duty diesel vehicles i.e. trucks and buses along with two stroke auto rickshaws were found most polluting vehicles. It can be concluded that the atmospheric environment along the road under study is considered as highly polluted that can imply potential health threat to residents and immediate measures should be taken to reduce the concentrations of pollutants and thus improving the air quality.