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Ambient Air Quality Status in Chittagong City

Kazi Mohammed Masum
Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Division, BFRI Campus, Sholashahar, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Mohammed Shaful Alam
Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

This paper entails a year long study on assessing the ambient air quality status in Chittagong city. Nine sites under 3 major zones (industrial, commercial and residential) were selected purposively to spotlight an overview of the air quality of the city. The air quality was assessed on three air pollutants namely suspended particulate matter (SPM), oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) and oxides of sulphur (SO_x). The average concentrations of all three parameters were found the highest and also above the prescribed limit for the commercial zone (SPM- 490.77µg/m³, SO_x- 170. 18µg/m³, NO_x- 184.68µg/m³) which is followed by the industrial and residential zones. However, the average concentrations of all three parameters for industrial zone (SPM- 479.85µg/m³, SOx-91.78µg/m³, NO_x- 96.78µg/m³) were found below the prescribed limit. Uncontrolled emission of pollutants by motorized traffic with heavy traffic jam is the main source of pollution in the city. Significant (p<0.05) variation was found among the concentrations of the parameters for each of the month and also among the major zones.

Keywords: Ambient air, Air quality, Pollutant.

Location: Chittagong City

Start Date: 00-04-2004

End Date: 00-03-2005

Program Area: Resource Development and Management

Non-commodity: Performance

Objectives:

To asses the air quality and also to suggest possible control and reduction approach to air pollution in Chittagong city.

Methodology:

Chittagong City is the second largest city of Bangladesh. It is situated on the right bank of the river Karnafuli and lies within 22°-14'N to 22°-24'-30'' N Latitude and between 91°-46' E to 91°- 53' E Longitude. Chittagong is very different in terms of topography, being a p.art of the hilly regions that branch off from the Himalayas. Field study for the present work was carried out over a period of 12 months from April 2004 to March 2005 in Chittagong City. The city area was divided into 3 different zones viz. industrial, commercial, residential and from each zone 3 different locations were selected purposively to get representative air quality samples. The concentration of SPM, SO_x and NO_x were thus measured at 9 locations of the city by using High Volume Sampler (HVS) 415. Three highly busiest locations of the city namely Agrabad, Khatungang and New Market were selected to represent the commercial zone and Khulsi, Chandgao and Agrabad Residential areas were selected under residential zone. The industrial locations namely Nasirabad, Sagarika and Kalurghat industrial areas were carefully selected for the instances of several types of heavy and medium industries. The collected data were then compared with respect to the Ambient Air Quality Standard set by the Department of Environment (DOE) in 1995 and also with "Exceedence factor" to determine the level of pollution. Later significance of variations among the concentration of parameter and among the major zones was tested on monthly basis.

Source of Information: JOURNAL OF FORESTRY & ENVIRONMENT 3:85 - 91, 2005

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Actions should be taken to halt and maintain the level of standards where necessary. Moreover it was found that the concentration of all three parameter was much higher in Dhaka city in comparison with Chittagong city. This is usually agreed that ambient air pollution of Chittagong city is still less severe than Dhaka city.

Knowledge Management: Journal