Detailed Report on Strategies for Improving Air Quality Monitoring

The existing air quality monitoring networks have been assessed in relation to CPCB guidelines over four Indian cities (Kanpur, Lucknow, Pune and Nashik) under the CAP India project. The analysis is based on existing monitoring measurements, secondary literature, available satellite data, and site visits conducted for all four CAP-India cities. Each monitoring station in the existing network was evaluated and metadata has been created for each station to identify its monitoring objective (associated with evaluating population exposure, compliance with the national standards, and source characterization)for each of the stations. Gaps were identified with respect to the number and location of monitoring sites required to meet each monitoring objective in the guidelines, and new locations for monitoring sites are proposed. Finally, as CPCB guidelines have been drafted by closely following Western (WHO and US) guidelines, some aspects that that should be revised in future years to be more suitable for the style of urban development in India are proposed.