Temporal and spatial impact of lockdown during COVID-19 on air quality index in Haryana, India

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-1595823/v1

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Temporal and spatial impact of lockdown during COVID-19 on air quality index in Haryana, India

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1595823/v1

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This paper presents the evaluation of air quality in different districts of Haryana. Geo-spatial techniques were used to estimate gaseous and particulate pollutant's spatial and temporal variation during complete nationwide lockdown period and same month of previous year 2019 (March to May). Data of six fixed pollutants were collected from Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). In this context, the data of air pollutants (PM 10, PM 2.5, O₃, NOx, SO₂, and CO) were analyzed for 2019 and 2020. The Spatio-temporal distribution of the Air Quality Index (AQI) clearly depicts difference in lockdown and unlock period. The result was showed that the air quality was very poor to satisfactory in 2019 and a improvement was observed from satisfactory to good in 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdown. The study suggests that air quality will be improved by the best utilization of straw burning, automobiles and reduce major pollutant sources.

Air Quality Index

lockdown

COVID-19

Air pollution has become a critical threat to the environment as well as caused serious threats to health. The government of India issued an advisory for travelers from china in early January and also started screening the travelers from China. On the basis of increased cases of COVID-19, the Indian Prime Minister announced the Janata curfew on 22 March 2020 from 7 am until 9 pm (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politicsand-nation/after-janata-curfew-india-gets-ready-for-longhaul/articleshow/74765039.cms). After two days government of India announced a complete nationwide lockdown, from 24 March to 14 April 2020, all the domestic and international flights, trains, and vehicular transport except for non-essential purposes were stopped and banned (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52024239). The month of April every year is the peak time of winter crop harvesting (wheat) and planting of vegetables in India, so the Government relaxed the movement of farmers from lockdown in the second phase from 15 April–to 3 May 2020. Sharma et al. (2020) considered the Central Pollution Control Board dataset and studied the impact of lockdown on air quality for the period 15 March to 14 April 2020. The real-time observation of various air pollutants asserts that the different gas emission rates drastically fall during the month of April and May 2020 caused by COVID-19 lockdown. The other countrywide research shows the major air pollutants have drastically fallen during the COVID-19 lockdown improving the air quality (Mahato et al., 2020; Sharma et al., 2020; Yunus et al., 2020). The aim of this paper is to study the impact of complete lockdown in Haryana on air quality during COVID-19 by comparing air quality parameters from March to April 2019 and 20

2.1 STUDY AREA

The present study was conducted in Haryana state located between 27°39' to 30°35' N latitude and between 74°28' and 77°36' E longitude as shown in Fig. 1. Haryana is a landlocked state in northern India. The study area includes 22 districts of the state with a total area of 44,212 km² i.e. 1.3% of the total area of the country. The Eastern zone includes the district of Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal, Panipat, Sonipat, Faridabad, and parts of districts of Jind, Rohtak, Jhajjar, and Gurgaon. It covers about 49 percent area of the State which comprises the Gurgaon tract, Rohtak tract, Central plain, and Hill tract. The Western Zone includes the districts of Sirsa, Hisar, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, Mahendragarh, Rewari, and some parts of Jind, Rohtak, Jhajjar, and Gurgaon. There have been rapid developments in the industry, transportation, and the economy. However, the air pollution that comes from development has become a serious matter. The air quality of the state varies from good to severe in a different month of year and seasons. The present investigation and analysis of the temporal and spatial characteristics of air pollutants are therefore important for improving the air quality in Haryana.

Data Sources:

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available in the Central Pollution Control Board repository, https://app.cpcbccr.com/AQI_India_Iframe/ and included six air, pollutants, namely, coarse particulate matter (PM₁₀), fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), ozone (O₃), nitrous oxide (NO_X), sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and carbon monoxide (CO). Data are retrieved every 1 hr, which are calculated as the average of the measurements taken every 24 hr. One or two district data were not available i.e Charkhi Daderi (2019), Mewat (2019 &2020), Kaithal.

The AQI is a dimensionless index that quantitatively describes air quality. According to the Central Control Pollution Board, Air Quality Standards implemented by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change and AQI was calculated by the AQI calculator given by the CPCB site by using the various factor (PM10, PM2.5, O3, NOx, SO2, and CO).

When AQI greater than 50 represents the major pollutant concentration has increased. There are six AQI categories and their range are 0–50, 51–100, 101–200, 201–300,301–400, and 401–500. The corresponding pollution levels are good, satisfactory, moderate, poor, very poor, and severe respectively. The higher AQI, the air quality becomes worse.

Data Processing:

The data were analyzed in MS-Excel by putting daily data of different pollutants. The average of daily data was converted into monthly individual pollutants to calculate the air quality index. Statistical analysis and Arc GIS were used to explore the temporal and spatial quantity of air pollution. For spatial analysis, spatial characterization is conducted through the use of the spatial analysis method with the support of Arc GIS software (published by the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), Redlands, California, USA).

Statues of AQI in 2019 during March to May:

Figure 2 shows that from March to May, the AQI was found very poor in Yamuna Nagar, Poor in Faridabad and Palwal, Satisfactory in Panchkula and Ambala and the remaining districts showed moderate-quality except for Mewat and CharkhiDadari due to data was not available.

Status of AQI in 2020 during lockdown:

Figure 3 shows that from March to May, the AQI was found very poor in Yamuna Nagar, Moderate in Hisar, Jind, Panipat, Sonipat, CharkhiDaderi, Gurugram, Palwal, good in Mahendergarh and the remaining districts showed satisfactory quality except for Mewat due to data was not available during complete lockdown period.

Deviation of air quality index in lockdown period:

Table: 1. Depict the shiftation of air quality index

Percentage deviation category (%)	Districts	AQI (Shift)
0-10	Panipat, CharkhiDaderi, Mewat, Yamuna Nagar	No change
11-20	Ambala, Sonipat	No change
21-30	Kurushetra, Kaithal, Sirsa, BhiwaniJajjar,Jind	Moderate to Satisfactory (Except Jind)
31-40	Panchkula, Hissar,	No change
41-50	Fatehabad, Gurugarm, Rewari	Moderate to Satifactroy (Except Gurugram)
51-60	Karnal, Rohtak, Palwal	Moderate to Satifactory Palwal(Poor to Moderate)
61-70	Faridabad	Poor to Satisfactory
71-80	Mahedergarh	Moderate to Good
81-90	Nil	Nil
91-100	Nil	Nil

The table 1 represents the percentage deviation from 21 and above showed shift in air quality index category. In 2020 during lockdown, the air quality index was improved one step from moderate to satisfactory, poor to moderate category.

Figure 4 was shown that percentage deviation in air quality in 2020 as reference year 2019. Which showed that air quality was improved in 2020 during lockdown period as compared to unlock period 2019.

Spatial variation in AQI in Haryana:

In 2019, the Air quality index in the eastern agroclimatic zone was showed moderated to poor quality of air in which Yamunanagar showed very poor and Faridabad and Palwal showed poor quality due to stable environmental conditions for pollutant containment float in the air and industrial, construction producing a large amount of pollutant in NCR cities and turbulence activity more during March to May period.

In 2020, the air quality index laid from satisfactory to good quality due to the lockdown period in which industry, automobile, and other construction work were not done, cyclonic activity, heat convection maximum, and unstable environment conditions from March to May. Percentage deviation was found maximum in which areas, where the air quality was so poor due to pollution sources, are automobiles, industry, constructions.

The result showed that the air quality improved during the lockdown period. The air quality was more severe in 2019 as compared to 2020 during the complete lock period. The result found that the air quality index improved in all district of Haryana in which involves most industrial area. As per study, highly developed NCR district i.e. Gurugram, Faridabad, Palwal, Karnal and Mahedergarh showed higest percentage deviation as compared to other districts. The study provides critical insights into future urban development and pollution control. Furthermore, air quality is affected by various factors, such as weather and human activities, and there is a lack of quantitative analysis on air quality. There is a need for future work to combine remote-sensed data and ground-monitored data to control extrapolation error and to explore relationships between other driving factors and air pollutants for more urban sites.

FUNDING DECLARATION:

No funding provided by any agencies and NGO, Govt. etc.

DATA AVAILABILITY:

Data collected from Central Control Pollution Board on daily basis on free of cost.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

No conflict of interest.

ETHICAL APPROVAL AND CONSENT TO PARTICIPANT:

No ethical committee approval required.

CONSENT OF PUBLICATION:

Not publish data anywhere.

Acknowledgment:

I especially thankful to Central Pollution Control Board for provided data on site https://app.cpcbccr.com/AQI_India_Iframe/. I thankful to Dr. Anurag and Department of Agricultural Meteorology for their guidance, constant encouragement and fruitful suggestion at all stages of research work.

Mahato S, Pal S, Ghosh KG (2020) Effect of lockdown amid COVID-19 pandemic on air quality of the megacity Delhi, India. Science of the Total Environment:139086
Sharma, S., Zhang, M., Gao, J., Zhang, H. and Kota, S.H., 2020. Effect of restricted emissions during COVID-19 on air quality in India. Science of the Total Environment, 728: 138878: 1–8.
WHO, (2016).WHO global urban ambient air pollution Database.
Yunus AP, Masago Y, Hijioka Y (2020) COVID-19 and surface water quality: Improved lake water quality during the lockdown. Science of the Total Environment: 139012.

No competing interests reported.

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You are reading this latest preprint version

Temporal and spatial impact of lockdown during COVID-19 on air quality index in Haryana, India

Status:

Version 1

Abstract

Figures

Introduction:

Material And Methods:

2.1 STUDY AREA

Data Sources:

Data Processing:

Results:

Discussion:

Spatial variation in AQI in Haryana:

Conclusion:

Declarations:

References:

Additional Declarations

Supplementary Files

Status:

Version 1