Air Pollution Monitoring

Urban planning failures are a distinct risk factor as inadequately planned and managed cities create new risks that threaten to erode developmental gains achieved. Poor urban planning and lack of adequate Infrastructure can turn natural hazards such as floods into a disaster for cities. The CapaCITIES project is supporting Indian cities to mainstream climate actions into Urban Planning and Service Delivery of local governments:

In Phase 1, the project supported development of Climate Resilient City Action Plans (CRCAPs) for 4 Indian cities that enabled the local governments to plan and implement climate mitigation and adaptation actions and also to incorporate them in the overarching city developmental plans.
In Phase 2, the project is focusing on demonstrating that integrated urban planning, including climate change mitigation/adaptation aspects, will have co-benefits of wellbeing, improved service delivery and financial savings.
Also, the project is providing support to 2 Indian states, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, in institutionalizing processes that lead to a state level mandate for urban climate action planning and implementation monitoring.

Implementation Projects

Quick-win / Co-financing Projects

Coimbatore

Four Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations and a digital display board that would continuously report data from all the 4 sensors were installed at the Town hall of Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation.

The 4 stations located at CCMC Town Hall, East Zone office, West Zone office and Master Service Reservoir Office on Sathy Road, have been providing critical information for transport planning, assessing health impacts, building awareness and for urban planning.

Rajkot

The city had deployed 20 environmental sensors across the city for temperature, humidity and air quality with respect to GHG emissions, however, they lacked PM sensors.

Given PM are the reference pollutants for assessing transport emission impacts on air quality, CapaCITIES supported the city by installing 2 AAQMS stations at Trikon Baug and RMC East Zone Office that can also monitor particulate Matter (PM2.5, PM10) which provide critical information for a better mobility plan and effective traffic management.

Siliguri

CapaCITIES project helped the city in installing four sensor based AAQMS in Siliguri’s Municipal Corporation main administrative building, Primary Health Center (PHC) at ward 36, Bhakti Nagar Police Station, and Mallaguri Police Outpost.

The AAQMS have been serving as a monitoring infrastructure providing vital information for better transport and traffic planning in the City and its potential impacts on improving air quality in the city. The AAQMS have been serving as a monitoring infrastructure providing vital information for better transport and traffic planning in the City and its potential impacts on improving air quality in the city.

Udaipur

Four locations in Udaipur were identified and 4 sensor based AAQMS were installed to improve the availability of air quality data from multiple locations and also for regular monitoring.

The city corporation staff were also trained on monitoring AAQMS and air quality data. The city initially only had one continuous ambient air quality monitoring station. The deployment of four additional sensor based AAQMS improved the availability of air quality data from multiple locations, which helped prepare relevant policies to improve air quality.

Technical Assistance

Analysis, Measures for Reduction of Emissions, Improvement of Operation Prolongation of Lifetime

Siliguri: Through this study recommendations on optimal use of the existing (and rapidly filling up) dumpsite have been provided. Once implemented, these steps will help in better management of the existing dumpsite.