National Ambient Air Quality Standards:

• Recently World Health Organisation (WHO) updated its 2005 global air pollution standards.
• The overall objective of the updated global guidelines is to offer quantitative health-based recommendations for air quality management, expressed as long or short-term concentrations for a number of key air pollutants.
• In India, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) initiated National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (NAAQM) programme in the year 1984 with 7 stations at Agra and Anpara for pollution measurement.
• Subsequently the programme was renamed as National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP). The network currently consists of 804 operating stations covering 344 cities/towns in 28 states and 6 Union Territories of the country.
• The monitoring is being carried out with the help of Central Pollution Control Board; State Pollution Control Boards; Pollution Control Committees; National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur.
• CPCB co-ordinates with these agencies to ensure the uniformity, consistency of air quality data and provides technical and financial support to them for operating the monitoring stations.
• CPCB air quality standards in form of NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards) have notified for 12 parameters.
• These include carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter (PM) of less than 2.5 microns size (PM2.5), PM of less than 10 microns size (PM10), Ozone (O3), Lead (Pb), Ammonia (NH3), Benzo(a)Pyrene (BaP), Benzene (C6H6), Arsenic (As), and Nickel (Ni).

Source: ForumIAS