Issue

Vol. 34 No. 12 (2022): Vol 34 Issue 12, 2022

Copyright (c) 2022 AJC

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Significant Changes in Urban Air Quality during Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown in Rohtak City, India

https://doi.org/10.14233/ajchem.2022.23950
Sashi Yadav
Department of Applied Science, University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak-124001, India
Rajesh Dhankhar
Department of Environmental Sciences, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak-124001, India
Sunil Kumar Chhikara
Department of Applied Science, University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak-124001, India

Corresponding Author(s) : Sunil Kumar Chhikara

sunilchhikara.uiet@mdurohtak.ac.in

Asian Journal of Chemistry, Vol. 34 No. 12 (2022): Vol 34 Issue 12, 2022

Abstract

The global spread of Covid-19 brought a dramatic decrease in vehicular activities, industrial activities and tourism for a limited period of time during the lockdown phase (Year 2020). The variations in ambient air quality were studied in Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak city (Haryana state, India) during the lockdown period and pollutants data were gathered from Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB). The study was conducted for 186 days in three periods; first pre-lockdown, second during the lockdown and third during post-lockdown phase (62 days each). The results showed a significantly decreased the levels of air pollutants through the lockdown season in comparison to pre and post-lockdown concentrations of air pollutants. Mean PM2.5 concentration was found to be higher than their standard limit for the episode of pre and post-lockdown and the mean value of PM2.5 was 2.3 and 2.8 times higher in pre and post-lockdown compared to during the lockdown period. The average air quality index (AQI) during lockdown has shown a 64.1% decrease as compared to pre-lockdown data and a 69.3% reduction from post-lockdown period. Based on one way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results show ozone accepts the null hypothesis that lockdown had no effect on the atmospheric pollutant concentration due to the increasing pattern of ozone concentration because of a decrease in the concentration of NOx, which breakdown ozone.

Keywords

Pollution Pollution COVID-19 COVID-19 Lockdown Lockdown Haryana State Pollution Control Board Haryana State Pollution Control Board Atmosphere Atmosphere Air pollutants Air pollutants
Yadav, S., Dhankhar, R., & Kumar Chhikara, S. (2022). Significant Changes in Urban Air Quality during Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown in Rohtak City, India. Asian Journal of Chemistry, 34(12), 3189–3196. https://doi.org/10.14233/ajchem.2022.23950
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX
References
  1. M.A. Shereen, S. Khan, A. Kazmi, N. Bashir and R. Siddique, J. Adv. Res., 24, 91 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jare.2020.03.005
  2. S. Lokhandwala and P. Gautam, Environ. Res., 188, 109807 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109807
  3. R. Muttineni, R.N. Binitha, K. Putty, K. Marapakala, K.P. Sandra, J. Panyam, A. Vemula, S.M. Singh, S. Balachandran, S.T. Viroji Rao and A.K. Kondapi, Transbound Emerg. Dis., 69, e1721 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1111/tbed.14508
  4. I. Chakraborty and P. Maity, Sci. Total Environ., 728, 138882 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138882
  5. M. Jayaweera, H. Perera, B. Gunawardana and J. Manatunge, Environ. Res., 188, 109819 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109819
  6. S. Gautam and L. Hens, Develop. Sustain., 22, 3867 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-020-00739-5
  7. R. Tosepu, J. Gunawan, D.S. Effendy, L.O.A.I. Ahmad, H. Lestari, H. Bahar and P. Asfian, Sci. Total Environ., 725, 138436 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138436
  8. A. Atalan, Ann. Med. Surg., 56, 38 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2020.06.010
  9. S. Saadat, D. Rawtani and C.M. Hussain, Sci. Total Environ., 728, 138870 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138870
  10. M.A. Zambrano-Monserrate, M.A. Ruano and A. Sanchez-Alcalde, Sci. Total Environ., 728, 138813 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138813
  11. www.who.int/news-room/detail/02-05-2018-9-out-of-10-peopleworldwide-breathe-polluted-air-but-morecountries-are-taking-action; Assessed on 25 April 2021.
  12. M. Nair, H. Bherwani, S. Mirza, S. Anjum and R. Kumar, Sci. Rep., 11, 22771 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02232-z
  13. V. Singh, S. Singh, A. Biswal, A.P. Kesarkar, S. Mor and K. Ravindra, Environ. Pollut., 266, 115368 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115368
  14. H.K. Gupta, V.B. Gupta, C.V.C. Rao, D.G. Gajghate and M.Z. Hasan, Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 3, 68 (2002); https://doi.org/10.1007/s001280260
  15. Y. Ma, Y. Zhao, J. Liu, X. He, B. Wang, S. Fu, J. Yan, J. Niu, J. Zhou and B. Luo, Sci. Total Environ., 724, 138226 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138226
  16. B. Pirouz, S.S. Haghshenas, B. Pirouz, S.S. Haghshenas and P. Piro, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 17, 2801 (2020); https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082801
  17. M. Sahin, Sci. Total Environ., 728, 138810 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138810
  18. M.F.F. Sobral, G.B. Duarte, A.I.G. daPenha Sobral, M.L.M. Marinho and A. de Souza Melo, Sci. Total Environ., 729, 138997 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138997
  19. Y. Zhu, J. Xie, F. Huang and L. Cao, Sci. Total Environ., 727, 138704 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020
  20. S. Kumari, A. Lakhani and K.M. Kumari, Aerosol Air Qual. Res., 20, 2592 (2020); https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2020.05.0262
  21. P. Wang, K. Chen, S. Zhu, P. Wang and H. Zhang, Resour. Conserv. Recycl., 158, 104814 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104814
  22. N.F. Suhaimi, J. Jalaludin and M.T. Latif, Aerosol Air Qual. Res., 20, 1520 (2020); https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2020.05.0218
  23. http://hspcb.gov.in/AAQD; Assessed on 23 April 2021.
  24. https://app.cpcbccr.com/ccr/#/caaqm-dashboard-all/caaqm-landing/data; Assessed date 24 April 2021.
  25. S. Mor, S. Kumar, T. Singh, S. Dogra, V. Pandey and K. Ravindra, Chemosphere, 263, 127978 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.127978
  26. J. Li and F. Tartarini, Aerosol Air Qual. Res., 20, 1748 (2020); https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2020.06.0303
  27. K. Ravindra, T. Singh, A. Biswal, V. Singh and S. Mor, Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int., 28, 21621 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11808-7
  28. S. Gulia, N. Goyal, S. Mendiratta, T. Biswas, S.K. Goyal and R. Kumar, Aerosol Air Qual. Res., 21, 200308 (2021); https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.200308
  29. S. Tallapragada and R. Lather, Vandana and G. Singh, Int. J. Curr. Microbiol. App. Sci., 10, 1863 (2021); https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2021.1002.221
  30. P. Kumari and D. Toshniwal, Urban Clim., 34, 100719 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2020.100719
  31. K. Ravindra, L. Bencs, E. Wauters, J. De Hoog, F. Deutsch, E. Roekens N. Bleux, P. Berghmans and R. Van Grieken, Atmos. Environ., 40, 771 (2006); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2005.10.011
  32. K. Ravindra, T. Singh, S. Mor, V. Singh, T.K. Mandal, M.S. Bhatti, S.K. Gahlawat, R. Dhankhar, S. Mor and G. Beig, Sci. Total Environ., 690, 717 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.216
  33. C. Lou, H. Liu, Y. Li, Y. Peng, J. Wang and L. Dai, Environ. Monit. Assess., 189, 582 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6281-z
  34. S. Munir, T.M. Habeebullah, A.M. Mohammed, A.E. Morsy, M. Rehan and K. Ali, Aerosol Air Qual. Res., 17, 453 (2016); https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2016.03.0117
  35. Q. Liu, P. Shahpoury, J. Liggio, T. Harner, K. Li, P. Lee and S.-M. Li, Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett., 7, 7 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.9b00700
  36. G. He, Y. Pan and T. Tanaka, Nat. Sustain., 3, 1005 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0581-y
  37. R.P. Kumar, A.K. Pandey, R. Kumar, P. Kashyap and K. Kumar, Curr. World Environ., 12, 326 (2017); https://doi.org/10.12944/CWE.12.2.16
  38. M.P. Fraser, Z.W. Yue and B. Buzcu, Atmos. Environ., 37, 2117 (2003); https://doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(03)00075-X
  39. M. Wang, M. Shao, S.H. Lu, Y.D. Yang and W.T. Chen, Chin. Chem. Lett., 9, 829 (2013).
  40. H. Sembhi, M. Wooster, T. Zhang, S. Sharma, N. Singh, S. Agarwal and R. Khaiwal, Environ. Res. Lett., 10, 104067 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aba714
  41. A.I. Partanen, J.S. Landry and H.D. Matthews, Environ. Res. Lett., 13, 044011 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aab1b2
Read More
Author biographies is not available.
Download
PDF
Statistic
Read Counter : 1 Download : 1