Rapid comparison studies on estimation of some hazardous air pollutant levels in ambient air in and around Tirupati, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India

Nowadays one of the most important issues is air pollution. Rapid growth of industrialization, vehicular emissions, and other manmade sources the air pollution rate is growing rapidly.Today the air quality is quite different in urban areas and cities as compared to the air quality of few decades ago. As per United States Environmental Pollution Agency - Clean Air Act 1970, it has identified 188 compounds are Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs). These HAPs are generally emitted into the air from various industrial activities, burning of fossil fuels, vehicular emissions, and other manmade activities. In this study, we attempted to study comparison of thirteen HAPs levels— arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, selenium, benzene and benzo (a) Pyrene levels in ambient air particulate matter (PM₁₀) of in and around the Tirupati. For this study, 10 different sampling locations in Tirupati are selected. Sampling was carried out 24 hourly and twice a week for PM₁₀ in the years of February 2011 and February 2012. The levels of these 13 pollutants are summarized and the pollution rates of these pollutants are compared in years of 2011 and 2012.