Officials say if need be, they will revamp the entire system to achieve the targets set
On October 1 this year, the Delhi government, citing preliminary reports, said that a smog tower can clean 80% of polluted air. However, two months later, according to six readings between November 30 and December 1, the percentage of pollution has decreased by only 34%-43 per cent. Hindu,
The Smog Tower in Connaught Place, a pilot project set up at a cost of Rs 20 crore, was inaugurated on August 23 by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who said similar towers would be built in other parts of the city if the results were satisfactory.
A few weeks later, Environment Minister Gopal Rai’s office issued a statement that read: “Preliminary report of the Smog Tower installed by the Kejriwal government was released today (October 1). It has been revealed in the report that the smog tower is cleaning up to 80 percent of the air.
This statement is challenged by a reading on the same tower on 1 December where, at 10 a.m., the level of PM2.5 – a main pollutant – was 460.06 ug/m3 at the inlet of the tower and the value at the outlet after purification. was 299.22 ug/m3 – a decrease of only 34.9%. The reduction in the level of pollutants will be even less at some distance from the tower.
At 9 a.m. on 30 November, the PM2.5 level at the inlet of the tower was 314.62 ug/m3 and at the outlet of the tower was 179.1 ug/m3, a decrease of 43.07%. This is the biggest reduction in pollution levels in six readings between November 30 and December 1.
IIT Study Project
When contacted, a Delhi government spokesperson said, “Studies at all levels are being conducted by IIT-Bombay. This is a pilot project and the final conclusion of efficiency is yet to come. If need be, we will improve the entire system to achieve our goals.
A smog tower is a 24 meter high structure fitted with fans and air filters that draw polluted air from above and release the purified air near the ground through fans mounted on the sides. The tower has 40 big fans and 5,000 filters to clean the air.
Asked if the tower’s efficiency is “only half” what the government announced in October, Karthik Ganesan, a fellow The Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a think-tank, said, “This could be because the tower’s filters are clogged with pollutants and need to be replaced. In addition, the tower is now operating at a higher pollution load than in October.”
“The Smog Tower is a terrible idea. yoYou can’t vacuum clean air. You just can’t. It has to focus on suitable technologies at the source of pollution,” he said. The government has not yet made these readings public.
A team from IIT-Bombay is currently studying the impact of the tower at different distances from Connaught Place and is expected to submit a report to the Delhi government.
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