Abstract

Dhaka is one of the more crowded city on earth. It has a population of about 8.5 million. City roads are choked with manual rickshaws, rickshaw vans, three wheeler baby taxies and tempoes (2-stroke engine), buses, trucks, cars, microbus, minibus and even push carts. The only oil refinery at Chittagong still produces leaded gasoline and high sulfur diesel. A High Volume Air Sampler was used for air pollution measurement in Dhaka at ten different locations. SPM, SO2, NO2 and lead were determined. Sampling was done for eight hours. Lead and SPM values were found to be very high. NO2 values were found high at some points. Measures have been suggested for reduction of air pollution in Dhaka.