Wash-out of air pollutants by the southwest monsoon rain over visakhapatnam

The wash-out of air pollutants by rain, which is of considerable relevance to a monsoonal country like India, was studied. Rain water samples were collected from ten selected stations in Visakhapatnam city during South West monsoon of 2014. The natural scavenging effects of rain and the wash-out factor with respect to ambient sulphur dioxide pollution were also estimated. The wash-out effects were found to be dependent upon the intensity of the rain, the interval between two spells of rain and the amount of pollutants present in the atmosphere.