The Inside Story

No. This post isn't an expose of a governmental goof up or some scoop like the Tehelka scam. This article is about an issue close to my heart; one which I am probably going to base my M. Tech. Project on. It is about Indoor Air Pollution.

As Mumbaikars, we know all about Air Pollution. Newspapers constantly barrage us with information about the breathability status of the air in and around Mumbai. While it is true that the status of air in Mumbai is bad, it may not be as bad as the journalists make it out to be. I think it is simply a case of misuse of journalistic freedom, in the sense that the values reported may have been changed for the sake of making a huge hulla-bullo. The average Mumbaikar goes about his life anyway; he doesn't give a damn how much sulphur dioxide (or whatever it is that the newspapers claim) he is breathing everyday. He knows that the status will not change. What he doesn't realise is that the situation doesn't change because he doesn't want it to. Controlling air pollution is like trying to prescribe a medicine for the common cold. There is no specific remedy. The best way is to ensure that you don't get a cold. Similarly, air pollution should be controlled at the source itself. Once the pollutant leaves the industry or the vehicle from which it emanates, God only knows where it will go, what it will do. As an example, consider this : When a volcano erupted in Mexico, some dust particles were found to have reached Mumbai. That is the sort of unpredictability that goes with Air Pollution. Which is why you should take all the values given by various sources with a pinch of salt. And which is why each and every one of us should take an active part in preventing air pollution whenever and wherever possible.

But this is only about Outdoor air pollution, what I want to talk about is the one that happens Indoors. Yes, there is something as Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) and which has been realised in the western countries years ago and only recently has research been started in India about the same. Let me give you the background data about IAP.

Each person spends about 80% or more of his time "indoors". Indoors being classified as home, office, public buildings, resatuarants, pubs, bars and all sorts of buildings where one is basically sheltered from the elements of nature. This is why indoor air pollution is the "buzz-word" in the environmentalist community these days. All these days we were worried about the pollution "out there", while right under our noses (literally and figuratively) contaminants such as carbon monoxide, respirable particulate matter and what not were creating havoc. Let me explain why indoor air pollution is so significant. When a person is outdoors, the sheer volume of the atmosphere more often than not works in his favour, by diluting the contaminant concentrations to values way below the harmful. This may not necessarily be true in case the person is indoors. Poor ventilation and sheer ignorance on part of the person may lead to the person taking into his lungs things that were never meant to have met the mucus in the nose, let alone the alveoli. The contaminant has a greater chance of entering the blood stream of a person indoors than it has outdoors. Dig this : we are probably at more risk at our own houses than we are outside!

I do not want to be an alarmist; a person who shouts that the world is coming to an end just because a flood took place in Mumbai just after a tsunami hit the eastern coast of India. Agreed, both events have a very low probability, but that does not mean that they will never occur. It's like this : The rains that hit Mumbai on the 26th of July were the sorts that occur once in 500 years or so. But that does not mean that they may not occur again the coming year. It is just that in the long run, when an average is taken, the value will come out to be once in 500 years. We are luckier than the western, developed countries in more than one ways. For starters, ours is a tropical country, which means that we seldom have extremes of temperature. A direct consequence of which is we need not have air-conditioned or heated residences or offices. The sun, of which we may be critical at times, is helping us lead healthier lives! Our country is constantly buffeted by winds from all sides. So, even in our houses there is, luckily, enough ventilation to get rid of the pollutants before they can become a problem.

There is however another problem here. We care the least about the person who loves us the most. No, I am not talking about girl friends / boy friends. I am talking about our mothers. They spend a lot of time in the kitchen, cooking up meals for us with loving care and attention. And what do they get in return for that? Possibly, the chance of smoking the equivalent of about a dozen cigarettes a day. Why? Because of the burning of the LPG. In an improperly ventilated kitchen, the chances of proliferation of carbon monoxide are much, much greater than in a properly ventilated kitchen. So, if your mom complains of fatigue after spending some time in the kitchen, it is probably because carbon monoxide has robbed her of some vital oxygen. Much work has been done in this area and it has been found that nothing works as good as an exhaust fan. Forget the electric chimney and other costly devices. The cheap and easily available exhaust fan can work wonders for the kitchen. There is the small matter of cleaning it once in a while, but that is true for all devices.

One last thought as I finish my article, the vertical growth of Mumbai is going to mean only one thing : lesser ventilation for out houses. Multi-storeyed buildings stop the winds, especially the buildings which are located on or near the sea-coast. So, as we get more and more towers, the wind velocities are going to go only one way : down. And then, there is also the matter of supply of water and electricity to the people living in these buildings. As it is, the people in the suburbs of Mumbai are facing power outages of an hour or two everyday. In such circumstances, it is rather unfortunate that the government is not doing something to control the burgeoning population of the metropolis. Agreed, the rising population may be our strength in the years to come. But this population should not be concentrated in few cities like ours. It needs to be spread out over the whole country. A high population density has many problems associated with it, the primary one being the chances of outbreak of a contagious disease.

Well, it seems that the "Inside Story" turned out to be more of a social commentary a la Michael Crichton in State of Fear. I will try to be concise the next time.