Assessment of Urban Air Quality around a Heritage Site Using AERMOD: A Case Study of Amritsar City, India

Air quality models (AQMs) play an important role in prediction and forecasting of air pollutant concentrations which are essential components for urban air quality management. Applicability of advanced AQM like AERMOD is well established in developed world where sufficient input data are available. However, it is limited in developing countries due to lack of adequate and reliable data. The present study is focused to assess the urban air quality around a heritage site in Amritsar city in India using AERMOD. The performance of AERMOD is evaluated for prediction of oxide of nitrogen (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter, having the diameter <= 10 mu m (PM10). It is observed from the results that predicted pollutant concentrations are in satisfactory limits. The index of agreement (d) values estimated for NOx, SO2 and PM10 are 0.57, 0.51 and 0.50, respectively, indicating satisfactory performance of AERMOD. Similarly, other statistical descriptors also indicate its satisfactory performance in predicting the pollutant concentrations. Further, source apportionment of urban air pollutants has also been carried out using AERMOD. Besides, air quality management practices are also evaluated based on three what-if scenarios viz. (i) Introduction of battery-operated vehicles within the walled city, (ii) change in traffic movement and (iii) installation of air pollution control equipment in the free kitchen. It has been observed that after implementing the scenarios all together, PM10, NOx and SO2 concentrations reduce by 2.7, 9.8 and 7.0 %, respectively.