Maharashtra to enter highly vulnerable red zone for aerosol pollution in 2023

Aerosol pollution in Maharashtra is likely to move to 'highly vulnerable' red zone from the current vulnerable orange zone in 2023, which may lead to drop in visibility levels and pose a host of health problems for its citizens, a study revealed.

As per a release issued by Asar, an organisation working for environmental causes, high aerosol amounts include particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) comprising sea salt, dust, sulphate, black and organic carbon. If inhaled, these substances can be harmful to people's health, it said.

Maharashtra currently falls under the orange vulnerable zone with AOD between 0.4 nm and 0.5 nm. However, rising aerosol pollution is expected to push the AOD above 0.5 nm, which is the red zone (highly vulnerable), Dr Chatterjee, the study's principal author said.

Air pollution in Maharashtra has mostly been influenced by coal-based thermal power plants (TPP). Their capacity is increasing with the rise in demand for electricity. However, if the state continues to install TPPs as observed in the past, it would enter the highly vulnerable zone, which could result in an increase in morbidity rate, drop in life expectancy and a host of health issues for people of the state, Dr Chatterjee further stated.