India to redefine the air quality standards in 2022
India is likely to re-establish the the fresh national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) in 2022. The new standards would factor in more pollutants including ultra-fine constituents of particulate matter which falls below PM2.5.
The current national standards were revised 12 years ago. A team led by IIT Kanpur including experts from National Physical Laboratory (NPL), NEERI, AIIMS and IIT Delhi have been awarded the task of updating NAAQS by the Central Pollution Control Board (CBCP). The team would refresh and update the pollutants’ base.
NAAQS was adopted in 1982 for the first time by the country and following that was revised in 1994 and 2009 making mentions of eight prime pollutants namely- particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10), nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, benzene and ammonia.
