Bengaluru
For the first time, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) is set to buy five sprinkler vehicles with inbuilt tracking systems to combat increasing air and dust pollution in the city. Civic body officials said that the BBMP has called a tender to procure five sprinkler vehicles, which will be used in various areas suffering from dust pollution.
Speaking to The Hindu, a BBMP official said that spraying of water on the streets is one of the important measures to reduce the suspended particulate matter (SPM) and dust in the city. “Once the vehicles are procured, we will operate these on the roads which are most polluted. Officials will identify such roads in the city soon. After studying the output, accordingly, more such vehicles will be procured by the BBMP. For now, it will be focused on arterial roads to control dust and air pollution in the city,” the official said.
How it works
The BBMP hopes that sprinkler vehicles will improve the existing standards of public health and environmental quality by establishing efficient mechanism for dust suppression. “The main objective is to ensure clean and pollution free air, reduce dust particles in the environment and increase photosynthesis process by spraying water over the leaves,” the official explained.
The vehicle will have more than 6,000 litres of water tank capacity fitted with adequate nozzles for spraying. The machine will be able to throw mist to a minimum of 30 m distance in the air. A GPS equipment will also be fitted to all water sprinklers which will be integrated with BBMP Command Centre, according to officials.
‘Not sustainable’
Meanwhile, experts say that using the sprinkler machines is not a long-term and sustainable solution. “Water spraying on topsoil, roads, and other open areas by using sprinkler vehicles can help in dust suppression. For humid areas, this can work well, but in dry areas, the effect of water spraying does not last very long. Dust suppression on dry roads might last only for two to three hours after water spraying because of the weather conditions, which is not a long-term and sustainable solution. More than the amount of dust that will be captured by water spraying, we will end up causing pollution due to the burning of diesel by tankers,” Pratima Singh, Senior Research Scientist leading the Centre for Air Pollution Studies at CSTEP, told The Hindu.
Ms. Singh questioned the civic body. She asked: “Why do not we focus on long-term and more permanent solutions? The solutions should be customised according to the areas, such as roadsides, parking areas, construction sites, and parks. Mixing water with salts and other chemicals can be effective in reducing dust in the short term, but reapplications are required. Moreover, the use of materials like permeable pavers, gravels, and geosynthetics should be explored for dust suppression at various locations.”
GFX:
Why sprinkler vehicles
- To combat air and dust pollution
- To increase photosynthesis process
- To reduce the suspended particulate matter
How it works:
- Five sprinkler vehicles with inbuilt tracking systems
- 6,000 liters of water tank capacity fitted with nozzles, for spraying
-Focused on arterial roads and most polluted areas
-The machine will be able to throw mist to a minimum of 30 m in the air
- GPS equipment fitted to water sprinklers integrated with BBMP Command Centre
