Assessment of ambient air quality of Lucknow city during post-monsoon, 2015

The study was carried out during the months of September-October, 2015 to assess the status of air quality of Lucknow city by monitoring and assessment of some selected air pollutants namely Respirable Particulate Matter (RSPM or PM10), Fine particles (PM2.5), Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) and trace metals-Lead (Pb) and Nickel (Ni) and noise levels at 9 representative locations, categorized as residential (four), commercial (four) and industrial (one) areas in Lucknow city. The results revealed the 24 hours concentration of PM10 to be in the range of 132.2 to 349.8 μg/m3 with an average of 218.9 μg/m3. The 24 hours concentration of PM2.5 was found to be in the range of 63.3 to 159.7μg/m3 with an average of 108.2 μg/m3.The average values of PM10 and PM2.5 irrespective of locations were found to be above the permissible limit (100 μg/m3 for PM10 and 60 μg/m3 for PM2.5 prescribed by MoEF).