Expert Explains: Why quick fixes like smog towers, cloud seeding won’t save us from air pollution

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), which issues orders to combat aerial contamination successful NCR nether the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), said it was watching the situation.

Nature of the problem

As the southwest monsoon play officially ends this month, India’s already unsafe aerial contamination is acceptable to worsen. The post-monsoon months volition bring stagnant aerial and a upwind signifier called somesthesia inversion — which occurs erstwhile a furniture of lukewarm aerial traps cooler aerial adjacent the ground.

This prevents pollutants from rising and dispersing, causing levels of good particulate substance (PM 2.5) and different aerial pollutants to scope highly hazardous levels. Although smog becomes much disposable and terrible successful winter, mediocre aerial prime is simply a year-round, nationwide contented that demands sustained and broad action.

A deepening economical inequality worsens this crisis. While wealthier citizens tin spend aerial purifiers and adjacent determination to cleaner places (perhaps by the sea), poorer communities stay exposed to the afloat brunt of toxic air. Indeed, the question of who gets to respire cleanable aerial — and who is near to carnivore the load of contamination — is an contented of equity and justice.

India’s aerial contamination situation stems from multiple, overlapping sources. Year-round contributors specified arsenic biomass burning for cooking, trash-burning, vehicular emissions, and concern enactment harvester with episodic events specified arsenic workplace stubble burning and festival firecrackers.

Meteorological conditions specified arsenic somesthesia inversion and debased upwind speeds during the post-monsoon and wintertime months effect successful pollutants getting trapped adjacent to the surface, exacerbating the problem, peculiarly successful the Indo-Gangetic plain.

The standard of the occupation demands semipermanent solutions, but the effect has often been characterised by short-term, optics-driven measures.

Chasing shadows of ideas

Among the superficial solutions specified arsenic smog towers, h2o guns, and odd-even roadworthy sharing, unreality seeding has emerged arsenic the latest “silver bullet”. This technique, which involves dispersing chemicals to induce rainfall, has garnered attraction arsenic a mode to temporarily wide the air.

But unreality seeding is much astir appearing to bash thing spectacular than astir getting to the basal of the problem. It offers a fleeting reprieve astatine best, portion diverting attraction from systemic changes that are genuinely needed.

Besides its constricted impact, unreality seeding raises superior biology and ethical concerns. The h2o vapour utilized successful the process would person people precipitated elsewhere, and it perchance deprives different regions of rainfall. This artificial manipulation of upwind patterns could adjacent pb to droughts successful areas which would person received this rainfall otherwise.

In a state similar India, wherever h2o resources are already strained, aggravating determination disparities is simply a unsafe gamble. Additionally, the chemicals utilized — specified arsenic metallic iodide — airs imaginable semipermanent risks. While deemed harmless successful tiny quantities, their accumulation successful ungraded and h2o could interaction agriculture and ecosystems successful ways that are not yet afloat understood.

Smog towers, which are expected to enactment arsenic elephantine aerial purifiers that would cleanable the surrounding air, is different flawed solution being pursued. While these structures supply a disposable awesome of action, their effectiveness is constricted to the contiguous vicinity, leaving the broader cityscape unaffected. Moreover, the vigor required to run these towers tin lend to emissions, perchance rendering them counterproductive.

Concrete steps that matter

Both unreality seeding and smog towers distract from the real, science-based solutions that are needed to tackle aerial contamination astatine its source. These are immoderate of the things that we should beryllium doing instead.

Coordination among assorted agencies: Air contamination is simply a complex, multi-sectoral occupation that requires coordinated enactment crossed authorities bodies. Effective collaboration betwixt agencies liable for transport, industry, agriculture, and municipality readying is important to guarantee that policies are aligned, and efforts are not duplicated.

For instance, addressing harvest stubble-burning successful agrarian areas requires practice betwixt farmers, cultivation policymakers, and biology regulators. No azygous bureau oregon assemblage tin tackle this occupation successful isolation; a unified, multi-sectoral approach, transcending metropolis and authorities boundaries, is essential.

Also, recognising that aerial contamination is not constricted to circumstantial seasons oregon regions, it is imperative that solutions beryllium designed to code this contented year-round and nationwide.

Capacity gathering and captious thinking: A cardinal request is to physique capableness and foster captious reasoning among each stakeholders. This includes researchers, policymakers, regulators, manufacture leaders, and divers national groups, who indispensable enactment unneurotic to guarantee that decisions are genuinely successful the nationalist interest.

Strengthening organization frameworks and investing successful probe are indispensable steps toward semipermanent progress. Solutions indispensable beryllium data-driven, informed by a wide knowing of contamination sources and wellness impacts, and adaptable to India’s divers determination contexts.

Air prime monitoring plays a captious relation successful this effort. While large cities similar Delhi often person important attention, it is important to admit that aerial contamination is simply a pervasive contented affecting communities crossed India, encompassing urban, rural, and concern hubs.

A robust and broad aerial prime monitoring system, integrating assorted technologies specified arsenic regulatory monitoring stations, precocious instrumentation, satellite-based monitoring, and low-cost sensor networks tin assistance way contamination trends, providing the information needed for targeted interventions to tackle some section and determination sources.

Beyond techno-centric solutions: While technological approaches whitethorn help, they are insufficient. There is nary metallic slug for aerial pollution, and galore of the alleged speedy fixes — similar unreality seeding and smog towers — are designed much to show enactment than to present meaningful results. These projects often service vested interests, offering lucrative contracts to backstage firms portion failing to code the basal causes of pollution. Wealthier citizens tin spend aerial purifiers, creating a semblance of protection, portion poorer communities stay exposed to toxic air.

Ultimately, the combat for cleanable aerial is not conscionable a method challenge; it is simply a profoundly governmental one. Chasing speedy fixes risks perpetuating these inequalities alternatively of addressing the structural issues astatine the bosom of the crisis.

To face its aerial contamination problem, India indispensable determination beyond the illusion of short-term solutions. What is needed is simply a multi-decadal, multi-sectoral effort grounded successful technological reasoning and committed to sustained, collaborative action.

(Aerosol idiosyncratic Shahzad Gani is an Assistant Professor astatine the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, IIT Delhi)