Countering smog

Smog in Punjab returned with a vengeance and the difference this time around has been the increase in awareness among the masses – probably because it has become a regular every winter, and probably because the people are feeling its ill effects now. It is surely not a result of any government awareness campaigns because measures to control smog (if any) till now have remain futile.

What people are not aware of is the fact that it’s not just the October-January period that has been wreaking havoc on public health, air quality is Lahore and many parts of Pakistan is above the safety standards almost throughout the year. According to Pakistan Air Quality Initiative (PAQI), only 17 days in Lahore were within safe limits in 2019.

Also what is little know is the fact that air quality started deteriorating more almost a decade back – not a couple of years. In the last 15 years, almost 70 percent of the vegetation cover of Lahore is gone.  And it’s not just the agricultural emissions, but also the vehicular and transport emissions, industrial emissions, urbanization and the quality of fuel that has taken the air quality to the choking levels.

The highlight of all this – also being referred to as a silver lining – is that finally there is discussion about the issue and its severity. This includes the general public as well as the intellectually informed including economists, environmentalists, think tanks, universities and research institutes and the government. And these discussions are now being backed with air quality and related data.

Also, the government has finally come forth with some really important measures to counteract smog and its effects. In a nutshell, these are about 5 anti-air pollution measures that the PM highlighted as a focus of the government recently.

The most important of them all is related to the fuel quality as vehicular emissions are arguably the most significant factor in deteriorating air quality. As per the government’s announcement, it will now be importing Euro-4 emission standard oil, which will be upgraded to Euro-5 by the end of 2020.  At the same time, shift of the auto sector particularly public transport busses to electric, CNG or hybrid will be an important measure. Currently, the auto sector uses Euro-2 diesel, which has a much higher Sulphur content and releases high levels of carbon monoxide and PM 2.5 pollutant.

On the refining side, the refineries are given a three year warning period to improve their quality of oil, and will face a shutdown in case of non-compliance.

On the agriculture and forestry side, 60,000 kanals in Lahore will be used for tree planation, while the machinery for post-harvest activity for paddy crop is planned for the farmers to control agriculture burning.

Brick kilns will be given financial support to move onto zigzag technology.

While on the industrial side, import duties on scrubbers will be removed to curb air pollution from steel factories. Currently, the steel industry does not have mandatory dry scrubbers installed to remove dangerous carcinogens and particulate matter from their emissions.

These long term and short term measures are crucial to combat the menace of smog every year as well as the general air quality that is plummeting with every passing day. But the real test of the government begins with successful implementation of these interventions.