‘RS’ and ‘GIS’ based air quality atlas with integrated land use and land cover change analysis in India

Abstract

In this paper, effect of Land use and Land cover, impact of urbanization on Respirable particulate matter (RSPM), SOx and NOx of the Hubli-Dharwad a tier-II city is correlated based on the trends in air quality observed from 2006 to 2013, population from 1990 to 2010, number of vehicles between the period 2004 and 2013 and urbanization between the period 1975 and 2009. It has been studied that urbanization has increased threefold from 92 km² in 1975 to 271 km² in 2009 and the corresponding decrease in agriculture area from 368.22 km² to 123.43 km². The RSPM in the study region is increasing at a rate of 8.9 % per year as per. The study depicts that vehicular pollutants are the major cause of air pollution followed by industries by the highest RSPM value of 128 µg/m³ at traffic junctions in Hubli-Dharwad region in 2013. Based on the trend analysis, air quality atlas predicted for 2030, shows that RSPM level in the air reaches 150 µg/m³ well above the National ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) and have serious consequences on the health of the humans if proper strategies are not undertaken. Owing to a unique geographical setting, future urbanization in Hubli-Dharwad will be in the narrow area which may lead to severe air pollution problem and needs immediate attention to provide a safe environment.