Air pollution in Bangalore, India: an eight-year trend analysis

Bangalore is one of India's fastest growing metropolises and, although benefiting economically due to its fast development, has a rapidly deteriorating environment. This paper provides a critical analysis of the air pollution trend in the city over the period 2006-2013 at six specific locations where measurements have been consistently recorded. It also discusses the potential health implications pertaining to exceeding levels of pollutants where these are applicable. In order to attain informed decisions on the protection of the health of populations from elevated levels of air pollution, an understanding of spatial-temporal variance of air pollutant patterns is necessary. The study highlights the fact that Bangalore and other similar developing cities do not have an adequate number of fixed monitoring stations that could provide a complete coverage of the air pollution levels for the entire city. It is suggested that this can be overcome by using geospatial interpolation techniques that provide a complete coverage of the levels of pollutants, as well as assist in mapping health characteristics of the population, in order to reach evidence-based decisions and target effective interventions.