Air Pollution in New Delhi
New Delhi is one of the most populated areas in India, as New Delhi is the capital of India. It carries a population of over 16 million people. With a population so large, problems begin to arise, which is the case for New Delhi. The people, city, and environment are all suffering from air pollution.
Air pollution is the spreading of toxic material in the air. Air pollution is a big issue that creates problems in Delhi. This issue has become so severe that they advised people to stay inside to prevent respiratory diseases. They even shut down schools due to these same fears. Air pollution can lead to many health problems, most of which are respiratory. These problems can become fatal and lead to about 2 million deaths each year.
The government must work to begin to quell its air pollution issues. It first must start by preventing any more air pollution from being created. Which leads to the question: what is causing the air pollution?
Many factors are contributing to air pollution. Crop burning is one action causing issues. After a harvest, farmers burn crop waste to prepare their fields for the next harvest. It is a convenient way to remove any waste leftover from their harvest and prepare them for the next planting season. Crop burning happens most often in the winter when Delhi’s air pollution levels are at their highest, showing a correlation. This practice has been banned, but still done by farmers, meaning that air pollution will continue to grow through this practice.
Another thing contributing to this issue is Delhi’s large population. The size of its population creates a plethora of complications for the state. First off, the large population leads to many people driving at once. These vehicles burning petrol and diesel lead to air pollution for the atmosphere and are responsible for about 67% of Delhi’s air pollution.
Another thing this population need is housing. Construction workers build new residential areas for this growing population. Construction leads to dust flying into the air, which also contributes to air pollution.
Construction also needs space to build. The construction workers cut down trees to create room for construction, hurting the environment in two ways. Without trees, they can not absorb carbon dioxide in the air. The areas which were once helping with air pollution are also now causing more harm to the environment.
This large population also leads to large amounts of garbage and waste that are then burned to create more room. This burning of trash is horrible for the environment, and it contributes to the massive amount of air pollutants in the air of Delhi. Factories and industrial areas also release toxins into the air. These two air pollutants are very harmful to the environment.
In Delhi, the air quality index(AQI) tends to be in the hundreds, with its current AQI at the time of writing being 165, which is 8x higher than the WHO average standard. The main pollutant in Delhi is PM2.5, with a concentration of 59.2 µg/m³. PM2.5 pollutants are particulate matter with a diameter of fewer than 2.5 micrometers that come from power plants, vehicles, and many other places. These particles are more dangerous than particles like PM10. They can bypass the nose and throat and enter the lungs and the circulatory system.
Delhi and its people suffer as its air pollution worsens every day. It is estimated that 3000 metric tons of air pollutants are released daily. Every day Delhi wastes not working to solve the issue, the more air pollution there will be and the more health problems for people. The government must work to ban practices more efficiently, plant more trees, and find a way to limit traffic, and find a way to put fewer vehicles on the road.