Mumbai to get five new permanent air quality monitoring stations

Mumbai’s deteriorating air quality has become a major cause for concern. PIC/ASHISH RAJE

Mumbai is set to get five additional permanent air quality monitoring stations, at CD Deshmukh Park in Mulund West, Pramod Mahajan Park in Dadar West, Chhota Kashmir in Aarey-Goregaon East, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar recreation ground in Dahisar East, and at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) K West ward office in Andheri West.

These new stations, called Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS), will be installed by the civic body, taking the total number of monitoring stations in the city to 33. Additionally, the BMC is set to procure four more mobile vans to monitor air quality. At present, the civic body has only one mobile van.

How will this help?

Locations for the new monitoring stations have been chosen as per the guidelines of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), and in areas where the air quality monitoring is inadequate.

At present, Mumbai's monitoring stations are located at Borivli East, Byculla, Chakala-Andheri East, Chembur, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (T2), Colaba, Deonar, Ghatkopar, Kandivli East, Kandivli West, Kherwadi in Bandra East, Khindipada-Bhandup West, Mazagaon, Malad West, Mulund West, Navy Nagar-Colaba, Powai, Sewri, Shivaji Nagar in Govandi, Siddharth Nagar in Sion, and Vile Parle West.

Dependence issues

A senior civic official said, "The new monitoring stations are being installed to reduce BMC's dependence on data from monitors owned by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)."

At present, Mumbai has 15 monitoring stations belonging to the CPCB, and only six belonging to the BMC. The remaining monitoring stations are operated by the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay. "We have also noticed a problem with accessibility to address any problems. If there are missing numbers or erratic readings, we have no way to immediately reach out to the agencies concerned for action," the official said.

At least three monitoring stations are currently not operational on a daily basis, and provide insufficient data.