Project MAQUID

Project MAQUID

Context: Schools and colleges have the highest concentration of PM 2.5 and PM 10 compared to other buildings such as offices, restaurants and malls was the finding of the project undertaken to measure indoor air quality in such public places in Delhi.

Concept:

• A survey of indoor air quality in 37 buildings of the city, conducted by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, has revealed that schools and colleges have the highest concentration of PM 2.5 and PM 10 compared to other buildings such as offices, restaurants and malls.
• The overall PM 10 and PM 2.0 were 2 and half times above the ambient air quality set by the CPCB.
• CO2 levels are also recorded high in hospitals, colleges, offices as well as in restaurants due to higher occupancy and inadequate ventilation.
• The survey reported schools have the worst I/O (indoor/outdoor) ratio of all surveyed buildings, meaning it had more indoor sources of pollution as compared to outdoors.
• The use of chalkboards is considered primary source of indoor pollution in school.
• Poor ventilation after closing of doors and windows leads to rise in indoor pollution at night.

About Project MAQUID

• Project MAQUID (Monitoring of Air Quality in Urban Indoors in Delhi) was conducted in schools, colleges, hospitals, shopping malls, restaurants, offices and one cinema hall during the peak pollution period from October 15, 2019, to January 30, 2020
• It was undertaken by the Centre of Excellence for Research on Clean Air (CERCA), IIT-Delhi; Society for Indoor Environment (SIE); and Kaiterra, an air quality instrument company.
• The indoor air pollutants studied include PM 10, PM 2.5, TVOC (total volatile organic compounds) along with comfort parameters (temperature, relative humidity and CO2 concentrations).