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Building an effective clean air action plan for a city's air pollution problem requires an extensive network of monitoring stations to represent spatial and temporal patterns and an understanding of the sources contributing to the problem. In India, the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was launched in 2019 to develop clean air action plans for 131 non-attainment cities, which includes conducting source apportionment studies and establishing emission baselines. As of February 2023, only 39 cities have completed the apportionment studies. In this paper, we present the essential resources needed to strengthen the ambient air monitoring networks, for designing a representative airshed size, sampling size, and sampling frequency, to effectively track the progress made in the cities for better air quality. The NCAP cities were grouped into 104 airsheds (5.3% of the national area), collectively representing a total of 164 cities and a total population of 295 million (21% of the national total). Of these airsheds, 73 contain only one city; 18 contain two cities, and nine contain three cities. Four airsheds – Delhi, Mumbai, Indore, and Chandigarh contain 10, 8, 5, and 5 cities respectively. To measure and analyse particulate matter pollution, a total of 2118 sampling sites are recommended for the 104 airsheds. Cities could consider hybrid monitoring networks by complementing existing regulatory monitoring network with a high-density network of low-cost/sensor-grade monitors. An airshed level air quality management plan, an enhanced monitoring network, and consolidation of information on emission sources, are crucial for optimizing the clean air efforts under NCAP. [Display omitted] • Defined 104 airsheds to represent 131 non-attainment cities under NCAP. • Defined the minimum number of monitors required in the airsheds. • Conducted high-resolution meteorological modelling to determine minimum filter sampling frequency per airshed. • Examples of hybrid networks to reduce monitoring costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has more than 100,000 brick kilns producing around 250 billion bricks annually. Indian brick industry is often a small scale industry and third largest consumer of coal in the country. With the growing demand for building materials and characterised by lack of pollution control measures the brick industry has a potential to cause adverse effects on the environment. This paper presents assessment of five brick making technologies based on the measurements carried out at seventeen individual brick kilns. Emissions of PM, SO 2 , CO and CO 2 were measured and these emissions were used to estimate the emission factors for comparing the emissions across different fuel or operating conditions. Estimated emission from brick kilns in South Asia are about 0.94 million tonnes of PM; 3.9 million tonnes of CO and 127 million tonnes of CO 2 per year. Among various technologies that are widely used in India, Zig zag and vertical shaft brick kilns showed better performance in terms of emissions over the traditional fixed chimney Bull's trench kilns. This suggests that the replacement of traditional technologies with Zig zag, vertical shaft brick kilns or other cleaner kiln technologies will contribute towards improvements in the environmental performance of brick kiln industry in the country. Zig zag kilns appear to be the logical replacement because of low capital investment, easy integration with the existing production process, and the possibility of retrofitting fixed chimney Bull's trench kilns into Zig zag firing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global burden of disease study estimated 695,000 premature deaths in 2010 due to continued exposure to outdoor particulate matter and ozone pollution for India. By 2030, the expected growth in many of the sectors (industries, residential, transportation, power generation, and construction) will result in an increase in pollution related health impacts for most cities. The available information on urban air pollution, their sources, and the potential of various interventions to control pollution, should help us propose a cleaner path to 2030. In this paper, we present an overview of the emission sources and control options for better air quality in Indian cities, with a particular focus on interventions like urban public transportation facilities; travel demand management; emission regulations for power plants; clean technology for brick kilns; management of road dust; and waste management to control open waste burning. Also included is a broader discussion on key institutional measures, like public awareness and scientific studies, necessary for building an effective air quality management plan in Indian cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]