Air Quality in Rawalpindi/Islamabad

1. Air Quality in Rawalpindi/Islamabad By Dr. Irshad Ahmad National Consultant

2. NAME OF THE CITY: Rawalpindi / Islamabad • FACT FILE OF THE CITY • Location • Islamabad, Pakistan's federal capital, is a new city standing back to back with an old one Rawalpindi which is the northern most division of Punjab. The twin cities with contrasting charms.

3. NAME OF THE CITY: Rawalpindi / Islamabad • Location • Islamabad is divided into well planned squares and rectangles contrasting sharply with Rawalpindi which sprawls across the map with the accidental irregularities of ancient human settlements.

4. NAME OF THE CITY: Rawalpindi / Islamabad • Islamabad boasts of the only Lok Virsa or the Folk Art museum in the country, besides Faisal Mosque, which is one of the biggest mosques in the world. • It also has a Natural History museum, along with some of the most eye catching hill resorts such as Daman-e-koh, Margalla hills, Sanduri and many others. • Islamabad being the federal capital is also the custodian of the Parliament House, Presidency, and all the foreign Embassies.

5. NAME OF THE CITY: Rawalpindi / Islamabad • Rawalpindi presents a sharp and total contrast to Islamabad's brave new world. • It is at the end of the famous Salt Range and is the gateway to the Silk Route. • It is also the base camp of thrill seekers from the over the world, who buckle-up here, to meet the most deadly and treacherous peaks in the world - the Karakorums. • Rawalpindi is famous for being a strong military cantonment, standing square on the ancient Grand Trunk Road, almost between Lahore and Peshawar.

6. NAME OF THE CITY: Rawalpindi / Islamabad • The town's bazaars - Saddar, Raja, Sarafa and Murree Road - offer an absorbing pot pourri of the workmanship of the neighboring regions. • All these things, reminiscent of a cross section of places and people beckon a traveler to visit the twin cities.   

7. NAME OF THE CITY Rawalpindi / Islamabad • Brief history of the city • Rawalpindi was originally called Fatchpur Boari: • The history of Rawalpindi dates back to antiquity. • The Aryans could, perhaps, be described as the pioneer invaders of this area: for they started it all in the 15th century B.c.

8. NAME OF THE CITY Rawalpindi / Islamabad • Brief history of the city • In 1008 A.D., Mahmood of Ghazna crossed the Indus, conquered this part of the country and gave it to the Chief of Gakkhar tribe to rule. • The site where the city stands today was then known as Rawalpindi, after the name of a small village where the Rawals, a wandering tribe, had settled.

9. NAME OF THE CITY Rawalpindi / Islamabad • Cultural and architectural highlights • On the basis of archaeological discoveries, archaeologists believe that a distinct culture flourished on this plateau as far back as 3,000 years.

10. FACT FILE OF THE CITY • Weather / seasons / wind • Climate is subhumid to subtropical continental, receiving rainfall from both monsoon and western disturbances. • Four seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer and Autmn • Wind direction is evenly distributed throughout the year. In the late afternoons, winds are mainly from southwest, except in July and August when southeastern winds dominate.

11. FACT FILE OF THE CITY • rain/ temperature • The maximum rainfall occurs during the monsoon season from July to September. The average rainfall is about 1,044 millimeters per year, with more than 50% occurring in monsoon season. • The mean maximum temperature ranges from 25.6oC to 39.4oC (78.1oF to 103oF) in June and the mean minimum temperature ranges from 3.2oC to 16.7oC (37.8oF to 62oF) in January.

13. NAME OF THE CITY Rawalpindi / Islamabad • FACT FILE OF THE CITY • Population • Rawalpindi = 1700,000 approx (2003) • Islamabad = 1000,000 approx (2003)

14. FIVE MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS OF THE CITY • 1. High Particulate Matter (PM): • 2. High NOx_ • 3. High content of lead • 4. SOx Concentration • 5. CO Concentration

15. FIVE SAMPLING SITES

16. FIVE MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS OF THE CITY • Among the air pollutants, extremely high value is shown for SPM and the secondary high value is for NOx data. • Rest of the parameters such as SO2, CO and O3 generally do not exceed the AQS values. • Among the 2 cities investigated, Islamabad shows lower concentration. The reason considered in case of high concentration of CO at Aabpara Chowk, IS the parking of the mobile station in the middle of slope on the road.

17. FIVE MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS OF THE CITY • Aabpara cross have traffic signals at each corner and the vehicles after changing the signal crosses at the same time emit higher concentration of NOx while passing to the ascending slopes. • The high concentration of NOx data also depends on the proportional increased rate by the number of vehicles.

18. FIVE MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS OF THE CITY • 1. High Particulate Matter (PM): • PM in twin cities is largely derived from: • vehicular and industrial emissions, • burning of solid waste, • brick kilns and • natural dusts. • A recently conducted ambient air quality study to examine the pollution levels in traffic congested areas in Rawalpindi, Islamabad revealed that the average suspended particulate matter in twin cities was 6.4 times higher than WHO guidelines and 3.8 times higher than Japanese guidelines. • Japanese Standard at 200 µg/m3 (1 hr.) or WHO guideline at 120 µg/m3 (24 hrs.)

19. SPM Data in Rawalpindi/Islamabad

20. * Study by SUPARCO

21. FIVE MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS OF THE CITY • 2. High NOx: • It is a harmful gas among the air pollutants, therefore, the AQS value is 110 ppb for 1 hour and 40 ~ 60 ppb for 24 hours by WHO and Japanese standard. • This investigation shows that 80% of the obtained data exceed Japanese standard and 30% of the data exceeded the WHO guideline. • NO and NO2 occur mainly due to the combustion of fossil fuels. The sources of these gases in the atmosphere are the mobile emission and stationary sources, such as the boilers and furnaces of industrial activities.

22. NO Data

23. NOx Data

24. Location N

25. FIVE MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS OF THE CITY • 3. High Lead: • High level of lead was found at Murree Road and Abpara Chowk • Murree Road = 10.23 ug/M3 • Abpara = 10.93 ug/M3 • WHO = 0.5-1.0 ug/M3

26. FIVE MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS OF THE CITY • 4. SOx Concentration: • the concentration of SO2 was found lower than that of Japanese EAQS and WHO guidelines at all five points.

27. SO2 Data

28. Comparison of SO2 Data

29. Comparison of SO2 Methods

30. FIVE MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS OF THE CITY • 5. CO Concentration: • It is one of the emission gases from gasoline motor vehicles, therefore, it was expected higher concentration of CO on the roadside of sampling sites. On the contrary, the results of CO investigation were very low, that means the number of vehicles passing nearby the sampling points were in small numbers compared with other foreign cities.

31. CO Data

32. Comparison of CO Data

33. Hourly data at Murree Road

34. AIR POLLUTION IN THE CITY • sources of air pollution • vehicular emissions • industrial emissions, • burning of solid waste, • brick kilns

35. EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION • Smog: Large conc. Of PM in he atmosphere produce some general effects. • Smoke and fumes tend to increase atmospheric turbidity reducing visibility • Lung Diseases due to PM

36. CITY’S RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM OF AIR POLLUTION • City government level • Civil Society/ NGOs level • Litigation ( public interest) • Federal Level support • International support

37. PROBLEMS & WEAKNESSES • Administrative/policing structure of the city government • Financial resource • Technical support • Participatory support ( NGOs/ Civil Society

38. National Cleaner Production Center for Fuels Thank you for your attention