Air quality in Kerala

How bad are pollution levels in Kerala?

Kerala is a state in India located on the southwestern coastline. It is bordered by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, with the region having been a prominent spice producer and exporter going back thousands of years. Nowadays Kerala still finds itself as a large producer of goods, with items such as coconuts, tea, coffee and spices still being exported, making its economy the 10^th largest in India.

As with all cities, states and countries that see large volumes of movement involving goods, there are always bound to be pollution related issues arising from the large use of cars, lorries and trucks to move these items, as well as for day to day commuting for people living in the state of Kerala.

Observing the data registry in years past, Kerala currently only has the city of Thiruvanthapuram on record with its pollution levels, thus as it is the capital city of the region, its pollution levels will be used to gauge how the air quality of Kerala state is overall, with many more cities to be added post 2020. Thiruvanthapuram, commonly called by its former name of Trivandrum, came in with PM2.5 readings of 27.9 μg/m³ in the year of 2019. These readings are enough to put it into the higher end of the ‘moderate’ pollution bracket, a rating which requires a reading anywhere between 12.1 to 35.4 μg/m³ to be classified as such.

There were a few months of the year which saw some drastic spikes of pollution, showing that Trivandrum and therefore Kerala state have some pollutive issues, as many of the cities besides the capital have the same infrastructure or a similar economy. Trivandrum's reading of 27.9 μg/m³ put it into 496^th place out of all the most polluted cities worldwide.

Whilst there are cities in India that fare considerably worse, with many of them taking the top spots over 2019 for worst polluted cities in the world, Trivandrum and Kerala are seeing somewhat lower levels of pollution, although they are still far away from being considered safe year-round and still have a long way to go before reaching the target goal set by the World Health Organization (WHO) of 0 to 10 μg/m³.

What are the main causes of pollution in Kerala?

Kerala is home to a large number of factories, many of which are located not far from the coast. These factories would be major contributors to the ambient year-round pollution levels, due to them running off large amounts of fossil fuels such as diesel or coal to provide energy, as well as creating secondary pollutants as a result of their industrial processes, with chemical plants, food processing and packaging factories as well other industrial item related production lines such as cement or metal factories being found in high numbers statewide, giving off large amounts of fumes related to whatever they may be producing.

Other sources of pollution include the aforementioned vehicle emissions, with large amounts of cars, lorries and motorbikes taking up space on the roads. With a heavy export-based industry, Kerala would see large amounts of trucks taking goods to other parts of the country, as well as many cargo ships doing the same for local or global export. Ships alone give off large amounts of pollution, usually of a more dangerous nature due to a difference in fuel regulation regarding what ships can use in their engines, often containing higher contents of sulfur which ends up making its way into the atmosphere after combustion.

Cars and trucks, particularly ones that run on diesel, would give off large amounts of chemical compounds as well as fine particulate matter, with a whole host of ill health effects on those exposed, as well as having knock on effects to the environment.

Other sources would include pollution from construction sites, with its constant road repairs and building work taking place, large amounts of dust from the rubble and dirt is released, in the form of PM2.5 and PM10. Open burn fires are present as well, being a persistent problem in many parts of India, with a variety of materials being burnt that should instead be disposed of in a much safer manner. As a result, plastic fumes as well as burnt organic waste smoke can end up in the atmosphere, tarnishing pollution readings and having prominent effects on people’s health.

What are the main pollutants found in the air in Kerala?

Regarding the construction sites and road repairs, these alone would give off a huge amount of dangerous particles. When material such as various forms of rock or concrete are broken down, they can release fine silica dust, dirt particles and other particulate matter that can make its way deep into the lungs, due to its tiny size, therefore making it past the bodies natural filtration systems present in the nose or throat.

Construction materials, besides concrete, that can release this silica dust are mortar, sandstone and abrasives used for sandblasting. Silica dust is known as having carcinogenic properties, and when there are hundreds, if not thousands of construction or repair sites taking place across the state, then these particles can easily find their way into the atmosphere if not properly tended to, which is often the case with many construction sites improperly maintained and thus prone to massive runoff of these fine materials.

Besides the particulate matter, other pollutants would include nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and sulfur dioxide (S0₂), both of which are found released from vehicles as well as factories, with nitrogen dioxide having particular prominence in release from cars and trucks, with high volumes of it being detected via satellite or ground level readings in areas that see a larger density of traffic.

Other pollutants of note are ones such as black carbon and volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), both of which are formed from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels (as well as organic material); thus, they find their origins in factories, cars as well as open burning of refuse. Some VOC’s include dangerous chemicals such as benzene and formaldehyde. Others would include carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O₃) and dioxins, with many more being released, even from the burning of plastics alone.

When is the air quality at its best in Kerala?

Kerala sees its best air quality during the monsoon seasons, with large amounts of rain and faster winds present to wash particulate matter out of the air as well as blow it out of the cities and state, instead of accumulating in the absence of wind. However due to being a coastal state, many of the cities in Kerala would have the good fortune of being subject to stronger coastal winds year-round, thus reducing their pollution levels. This is a very helpful topographical feature, but despite this assistance the elevated levels of pollution in Kerala and its main cities still goes to show that a lot more must be done in order to permanently reduce pollution levels even further.

The monsoon season arrives between June and November, and this is reflected in the numbers recorded in the capital city. To use them once again to gauge Kerala's pollution levels, the cleanest months in Trivandrum were June, July, August, September and October just as stated, with PM2.5 readings of 13.5, 12.9, 13.3, 14.2 and 15.2 μg/m³ respectively, making July the cleanest month out of the entire year.

This would hold true to the rest of the state as well, with the increased rainfall having a powerful impact on improving air quality levels. Once again looking at the capital, with the mid to end months of the year being the best pollution wise, November saw a sudden leap in pollution levels, going from 15.2 μg/m³ in October to 22.4 μg/m³ in November, and then up again to 32.1 μg/m³ in December. January came in with a sizeable reading of 77 μg/m³, followed by February with 63.8 μg/m³, before the numbers started to drop again and return to less deadly levels.

A reading of 77 μg/m³ present in the capital city is a sign that pollution in the whole state at this time of the year, and indeed many cities throughout India have serious problems. 77 μg/m³ puts the capital city into the ‘unhealthy’ category for the month, which requires a PM2.5 reading of 55.5 to 150.4 μg/m³ to be classed as such, and as the name suggests, the air quality would be highly detrimental to human health as well as the environment during this time of the year.

What can Kerala do to improve its pollution levels?

Some initiatives that could be taken to see a marked improvement in pollution levels would be to find a way to reduce vehicle movement, as the state and many others throughout India saw marked improvements with the movement control orders that took place in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Realistic ways of getting this done without causing problems would be the introduction of low emission zones, as well as incentives to get people to use their cars less, investment into public transport infrastructure as well as the issuing of fines and charges to vehicles that exceed unsafe pollution levels, with this initiative eventually being a step in the right direction to getting diesel-based engines as well as ancient or outdated vehicles off the road.

Others would be to impose similar sanctions and fines on factories that cause pollution in the surrounding air to exceed a certain level, which would lead to a better structure of industrial management by individual companies and business owners. These are all steps that Kerala could take if it wants to see sustainable and long-term reductions in its pollution levels.