Diwali Fireworks: Early Signs of Impact on PM10 Properties of Rural Brahmaputra Valley

Abstract

The festival of Diwali and it associated fireworks, which were not so common in the past, are slowly penetrating into rural Brahmaputra Valley. PM 10 monitoring was done during the 2009 Diwali festivities at a rural site in the Brahamputra Valley of Northeast India. Sampling of PM 10 was done on a 12 hourly basis for an extended period of 13 consecutive days. The mean PM 10 concentration during the monitoring campaign was found to be 40.88 ± 19 µg/m 3 and the maximum concentration of PM 10 was recorded on the Pre-Diwali night. Elemental and ionic constituents of PM 10 were analyzed by ICP-OES and Ion Chromatograph (IC), respectively. The ratio of ∑anions to ∑cations was found to be 1.26 for the study period, which is indicative of a cation deficient condition. Pearson's correlation and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were carried out to trace the impact of Diwali celebrations. In addition, the elemental enrichments due to Diwali fireworks, which we term Diwali Induced Enrichments (DIE) were calculated for the festival day samples. DIE showed marginal enrichment of elements and ions, indicating the beginning of the impact of Diwali in the rural areas of the region.

Characterization of PM 10 and Impact on Human Health During the Annual Festival of Lights (Diwali)

“…Table 2 presents a comparison of PM 10 and metals concentrations during Diwali in the present study with other studies around the world 17,18,20,39,43,44,45. The metal concentrations in the present study, except for Fe and Zn, were higher than in other studies.…”

“…A previous study in northeast India observed an increase in the concentrations of metals, anions and cations during festival days compared to other days 18. In Raipur, ion concentrations were 10 times greater than other days 19.…”

“…The mixture was filtered, and the filtrate volume was adjusted to 15 mL. Samples were stored in prewashed polyethylene bottles and kept at 4°C until analysis in an ion chromatograph (Metrohm 792 basic IC) 18…”

“…Only two studies have been reported from northeast India. In Tezpur, a mean PM 10 concentration of 87.45 μg/m 3 was observed during festival days, which was 2.13 times greater than normal day concentrations 18. Another study from Dibrugarh reported PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentrations during Diwali of 168 and 160 μg/m 3 , respectively, which was 5.33 and 5.74 times higher than normal day concentrations 26.…”

Effects of fireworks ancient celebrations on atmospheric concentration of particulate matter in Iran

“…Khaparde, Pipalatkar, Pustode, Rao, and Gajghate (2012) in Nagpur (Central India) reported a 4-10fold increase in PM 10 concentration was observed during Diwali. A previous study in northeast India observed an increase in the concentrations of metals, anions, and cations during festival days compared to other days (Deka & Hoque, 2014). Garaga and Kota (2018) indicated that the mean PM 10 concentration during Diwali, 311 µg/m 3 , was 81% higher than other days and 3.1-times higher the Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standards.…”