Our Terms & Conditions | Our Privacy Policy
New Delhi: There are no standards defined to monitor the level of heavy metals in ambient air quality. This was highlighted in a report submitted to the National Green Tribunal by the Central Pollution Control Board.
This lack of standards makes it difficult to reach conclusions about the findings from a 2024 study of the air in east Delhi.
On Sept 29 last, TOI, in a report titled ‘New study reveals air quality concerns in east Delhi’, highlighted the presence of heavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic, chromium, copper, zinc, molybdenum and lead in the ambient air.
The study also noted the presence of similar heavy metals in cities like Jaisalmer, Patiala, Ludhiana, Visakhapatnam and Panchkula.
When NGT sought an explanation, CPCB explained that monitoring of heavy metals was not conducted due to the absence of defined standards for their presence in the air.
It also stated that no countries or eco agencies monitored air for heavy metals except a province in Canada.
“It is submitted that countries/agencies such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the European Union, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan and the World Health Organization (WHO) have not proposed standards/guideline levels for chromium, copper, zinc and molybdenum,” CPCB told the tribunal.
It also pointed out that the mean values for zinc, copper, molybdenum and chromium reported in the study in east Delhi last year ranged, respectively from 119.9 to 1,364.5 microgram per cubic metre, 112.8 to 1,614.5 mg/m3, 40.6 to 376.3 mg/m3 and 68.7 to 244.4 mg/m3. The reported values exhibited high variation, CPCB said.
The pollution board added that the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, had monitoring on 12 parameters, including arsenic and nickel, but there were no parameters for chromium, copper, zinc and molybdenum.
- Published On May 17, 2025 at 02:45 PM IST
Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals
Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis.
Download ETHealthworld App
- Get Realtime updates
- Save your favourite articles
Scan to download App
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
Aggregated From –
Comments are closed.