Temporary Reduction in VOCs Associated with Health Risk During and After COVID-19 in Maharashtra, India

Abstract

An unprecedented novel coronavirus has affected almost all countries and impacted the economy, environment, and social life. The short-term impact on the environment and human health needs attention to correlate the Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and health assessment for pre-, during, and post lockdowns. Therefore, the current study demonstrates VOC changes and their effect on air quality during the lockdown. The mean TVOCs concentrations for all monitoring stations 15.45, 2.82, and 19.25 µg/m3, respectively, for pre-, during, and post-lockdown periods. The highest value of TVOCs was observed at Thane, considered an industrial region (petroleum refinery and chemical industries), and the lowest at Bandra, which was considered a residential region, respectively. The VOCs levels drastically decreased by 52%, 89%, 80%, and 97% for Benzene, Toluene, Eth-benzene, and M-xylene, respectively, during the lockdown period compared to the corresponding period in 2019. In the present study, the T/B ratio was found lower in the lockdown period as compared to the pre-lockdown period. This can be attributed to the complete closure of non-traffic sources such as industries and factories during the lockdown. The Lifetime Cancer Risk (LCR) values for all monitoring stations for benzene for pre-, during and post lockdown periods were higher than the prescribed value (1 x 10− 6), except during the lockdown period.