An Integrated Study of Air Pollutant Sources in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR)

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The key impact from ASAP-Delhi will be to deliver a step-change in understanding of the sources and processes forming of air pollutants in Delhi, providing science insight for policymakers to use in developing air pollution control measures. In conjunction with other projects within the Indian Megacity programme, this will lead to improved health and wellbeing for millions of people in Delhi - the ultimate beneficiaries.

We have identified three tiers of non-academic beneficiaries from the project, alongside the scientific / research community:

Tier 1: Stakeholders who will be direct beneficiaries of this project, with sustained engagement, e.g. the DPCC (Delhi Pollution Control Committee).

Tier 2: Wider stakeholders who have clear interests in the outcome of this project and the wider programme, and who may be directly engaged in the work, e.g. governmental departments such as the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board).

Tier 3: Stakeholders who have a broader interest in the findings of the overall programme; for example, the media, WHO, the World Bank, private sector businesses in directly affected areas, and the general public.

Research Community: The project findings will be of direct relevance to researchers working in on air pollution issues - sources, processes and impacts - in Delhi and related environments.


They will benefit in the following ways:

Tier 1: The PM source apportionment results are essential for developing air pollution control strategies and will therefore provide direct insight for policy makers including the DPCC. In addition, the source apportionment and air pollutant process understanding will also indirectly benefit policy makers by constraining and improving predictive air quality models, which are the basis for developing long-term and short-term air pollution control strategies.

Tier 2: Air pollution control requires actions from other governmental departments such as those responsible for transportation. The results from ASAP-Delhi will provide direct assessment of the relative importance of different sectors to air pollution loading in Delhi and surrounding areas. This will help these stakeholders to identify potential policy actions to control air pollution in the most effective manner.

Tier 3: Delhi is the most polluted city in the world for ambient air quality (WHO, 2014). Thus, it serves as a natural laboratory to study air pollution on human health. Our results will benefit health effect studies within the programme by providing detailed physical and chemical characteristics of PM in Delhi. This will be of interest to Tier 3 stakeholders such as WHO which is keen to more accurately and precisely quantify air pollution impacts on human health. Environmental agencies elsewhere will benefit from this work via the overall programme in providing improved understanding of air pollution impacts on human health.

Ultimate beneficiaries - the general population of Delhi will benefit eventually from the contributions of ASAP-Delhi, and the overall programme, to identification of optimal air quality control strategies, leading to improved well being and health.


Steps to maximise impact with these beneficiaries are outlined in the ASAP-Delhi Pathways to Impact document, which will be delivered collaboratively with other projects in the overall APHH-India Programme.