UNB :
Air density of Dhaka’s two of the most marginalized low-income slums is four to five times higher above the permission limit of Bangladesh for 24 hours.
As a result, residents suffer with air pollution induced diseases like laryngeal problems, asthma and bronchial problems.
A study report published Wednesday titled “Urban Localized Pollution in the Context of Climate Change” revealed such information during its virtual launching and discussion event.
According to the study report, the major source of indoor air pollution in both the marginalized areas are earthen stoves used in cooking and biomass used as fuel. Women are the most severely affected by air pollution as they are exposed to smoke for long stretches of time during cooking.
The study was carried out in two large slums of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) – Dholpur Citypolli slum and Dhaka Match Colony, Shyampur. It focused on four issues- water supply, sanitation, indoor air pollution, and solid waste management.
These low-income settlements are surrounded by many air polluting industries like steel mills, plastic factory, melamine factory, and brick kiln among others.
The research was conducted under “The Featuring Green Earth Project,” which is jointly implemented by Plan International Bangladesh, Bangladesh Youth Environmental Initiative (BYEI) and Population Services and Training Center (PSTC).
The project initiated the research in collaboration with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (URP), BUET and International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD).
The study was carried out from December 2020 to January 2021 and followed a mixed methodology involving both qualitative and quantitative data.
Professor Afsana Haque of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (URP), BUET and Sarder Shafiqul Alam, coordinator of ICCCAD shared the research findings in the event. Mentioning a study report of UNICEF, Afsana Haque said, there are about 4 million people dwelling in 5,000 slums where meeting the basic needs and services is a huge challenge for this population, climate change has made their reality more complex.
Under this research, Center for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS), Stamford University Bangladesh tested water and air of the research areas.
The air quality report of CAPS team reveals that PM2.5 and PM10 are found four to five times higher above the permissible limit of Bangladesh standard for 24 hours (116.96 µg/m3 and 164.71 µg/m3 in Dholpur and 83.96 µg/m3 and 155.50 µg/m3 in Dhaka Match Colony respectively).
According to the national guideline of Bangladesh, the standard is 2.5 µg/m3 and 10 µg/m3. The water test report of CAPS reveals that the sample water is contaminated with foreign particles exceeding standard limits in both the study areas.
