Preamble

Deterioration of air quality in the metropolitan and larger cities in India has been of growing concern to the regulatory agencies, research communities and  also  to the general public living in these areas. Impacts are significant on human health as the exposure is very high for especially slum dwellers and poor. In order to gauge the extent of the impacts that deteriorated air quality is having on the human health, and further to evaluate the efficiency of the pollution control measures adopted the past or being proposed, it is essential to have proper quantification of the direct health impacts of air pollutants and their economic implications.

 Urban air pollution has been a problem for city dwellers for centuries. The earliest manifestations of it as an area-wide urban problem were smoke produced by burning of poor coal. The Industrial Revolution introduced point source of large emissions from various processes. The traffic source has expanded very rapidly over the last three decades. The concentration of population, industry and traffic in cities is high, and increasing. Mumbai, India’s financial and commercial capital is one of the mega cities in India.  Greater Mumbai is densely populated urban metropolis on the west coast of India, occupying an area of 603 sq.km and is smallest administrative district in Maharashtra State. As per 2001 census, Mumbai’s population is 16.4 million.

As per the report ‘Particulate Matter Reduction Action Plan for Greater Mumbai’. There are about 182 air polluting industry, 32 stone-crushers and one thermal power plant. Industries in the air-polluting category include textile mills, chemical, pharmaceutical, and engineering and foundry units. About 1199416 vehicles are registered in Mumbai as per Transport Commissioners Office Maharashtra, Mumbai in the year  2004.  

Mumbai is the only Indian city to have good environmental pollution data for more than last 25 years. In 1978, the annual level of NO₂ was around 13 µg/m³, which was less than the WHO guideline value of 40 µg/m³ but from 1978 onwards up to 1982 there was a steep growth in the levels of NO₂ reaching 50 µg/m³ in 1991, well over the WHO guideline value. This increase in the levels of NO₂ was probably due to the tremendous growth in the number of petrol and diesel vehicles in the city. Of greater concern were the levels of suspended particulate matter (SPM) as annual concentrations always exceeded the WHO guideline range (60-90 µg/m³) reaching a peak of 385 µg/m³ in 1987. After 1987, the annual average came down to 285 µg/m³ by 1991 and it more or less maintained the same level until 1999. However, SPM emissions have increased significantly in recent years and are projected to rise further. 

Respiratory infections account for 10.9% of the total burden of diseases in India, which may be due to both the presence of communicable diseases and high air pollution levels. Several epidemiological studies to correlate the prevailing air pollution levels in Mumbai with health morbidity have been carried out since 1977 by Environment Pollution Research Cell, KEM Hospital, Mumbai. The study carried out in 3 urban communities, with moderately raised pollution levels (SO₂, NO₂, SPM) showed that there was a greater morbidity for symptoms of dyspnoea, chronic and intermittent cough, frequent colds, chronic bronchitis and cardiac disease (mainly cough, high B.P. and I.H.D.), and deaths due to nontuberculous respiratory and ischaemic heart disease.

A WHO/UNEP study (1992) compared prevalence of respiratory diseases in different areas of Mumbai, classified according to ambient average concentrations of SO₂. The World Bank (1997) Greater Mumbai study estimated the costs that could be attributed to the impacts on health and mortality due to high levels of PM10 in Mumbai. The total costs in 1991 due to the effect of PM10 alone were approximately Rs. 18.2 billion. The study also showed that about 97 per cent of the Mumbai population was exposed to annual average TSP concentrations exceeding the WHO (1979) air quality guideline. The medical impacts of air pollution were documented in a recent (2002) local study by Shankar and Rao (2002) for Mumbai region. This study showed that health effects were significantly greater in highly polluted areas compared with low or less-polluted areas of Mumbai.  In an another study of Kumar and Srivastava 2002, Air pollution leads to serious negative impacts on health. The physical evidence is compelling. An attempt has been made in this study to establish dose-response relationship of Ambient Air Quality Index and human health, based on time spent by an individual in different microenvironments during one day. Economic valuation of morbidity and mortality has been attempted through lost salary approach. The results show that the avoidance cost is 29% of the total health damage cost.

Air pollution though showing decline for some attributes, overall increasing rapidly to impact is human health in Mumbai city. Air quality management to the problem is a crucial step towards abatement. Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCBM) and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute carry out air quality monitoring in Mumbai city.  Besides three agencies, some industries also monitor air quality.

Though Mumbai city had pioneered the initial work of air pollution and health studies, efforts were not pursued in similar way. This led to multitude of studies in the city, carried out by various institutions, individuals, NGOs etc. The movement of better knowledge generation could not be continued with focused goal for correlation of air quality monitoring results with health status of urban population. Also, these results were not used for better planning linked with improved goals of better air quality. 

The first step, therefore, before one can start better planning for improved air quality, will be to known what all have been done in the Mumbai city and how much information we already have. Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), initiated this study with the objective of completing the first step and take it further by using USEPA developed tool ‘BenMap’ for the city to understand how planning tools and understanding can be derived from the existing information.  It also planned through this study to understand gaps which need to be filled by way of collecting more information about air quality and health through new studies. MPCB teamed up with NEERI to understand this study

Objectives of the Study

	Information collation on air quality and health status of population in last 25-30 years.
	Possible interventions over last 25 years after the Air Act, 1981 and its implications on air quality
	Use of air quality and health information in BENMAP simulation model with a view to assess impacts of actions
	Web enabled information package for its dissemination through MPCB website

	Extensive literature survey of the reports, web, books, newspapers, etc. to appraise the availability of database available for Mumbai city
	Site visits to the various organizations, institutions, private agencies, medical care centers, industries, and any other such areas where individuals or organizations are known to be working in the filed of air quality and/or health. These institutions may include IIT, MCGM, RCF, industrial associations, NGO’s, etc
	Detailed survey of the demographic pattern for the last two decades
	Collection and analysis of the socio-economic data from various  studies in Mumbai
	The health data with a view to look for the information from hospital records, data gathering from Municipal health departments, etc
	Identify the missing links and data gaps in the available information

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