Abstract

The study aims at characterizing human exposure to air pollution in an urban setting in India. Integrated daily exposure to respirable suspended particulates (RSP) and carbon monoxide (CO) was assessed by personal and area sampling of air of six major microenvironments defined with respect to space and time. The selected micro-environments included those for which data did not exist in India prior to this study, for example: traveling, schools and offices. Time budget survey was conducted to determine how much time six population groups spend in these micro-environments. A sample of 1100 households (4311 individuals) was chosen randomly from 32 localities in Delhi for an activity patterns survey.

Mean levels of RSP during traveling ranged between 370 - 2860 µg m ^-3 depending on the mode of travel. CO levels during traveling ranged from 8 - 19 ppm. The weighted average of RSP daily exposure due to all micro-environments was found to be 12.7 mg h m^-3 , with housewives and female workers being the most exposed groups. The mean CO exposure was found to be 30 ppm h; workers being the most exposed category. We estimated that the assumption that people are exposed only to outdoor levels of RSP for all the 24 hours caused the true exposure to be underestimated by a factor of 1.7 – 2.7. Indoor background RSP levels were found to be higher than expected. Determining the sources of particulate matter within these micro-environments is an important and urgent area of research.

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