-
Data Availability
As mentioned in Section 2.2, the DoE is entrusted with the responsibility
of monitoring, among other things, the ambient air quality of the country.
It has set up four monitoring stations in four divisional towns. Prior
to that, the DoE has been monitoring the air quality of Dhaka City since
1992 (Khan, 1999). Dissemination of these data is done through numerous
reports.
BUET has conducted a number of post-graduate and undergraduate researches
on the air quality of Dhaka City. These are available at the BUET library.
In addition, a number of publications in reputed national and international
journals are available for conducting further studies. The BAEC and the
BCSIR have also conducted researches on the quality of air around Dhaka
City, which are published in journals for further use. All these organizations
have independently or jointly conducted studies to determine the level
of lead in the ambient air and in the blood of the residents of Dhaka City.
Trans-boundary Data
Bangladesh is relatively new in addressing environmental issues. Major
importance was given in the field of water pollution. Importance on air
pollution related issues are very recent thus, have limited data. With
the limited resources overall data collection effort is negligible compared
to the actual need. Thus, Trans-boundary effect has not received much importance
resulting in complete lack of data in this regard.
Data on Urban Area
Air pollution problem is severe in the urban areas caused by mobile
sources as well as stationary sources. Mainly the two-stroke vehicle and
diesel-run vehicles cause the severity of the problem by emitting highly
contaminated exhausts. Air quality of most of the urban areas in Bangladesh
has deteriorated due to increased number of vehicles as well as industries.
Some air quality, fuel and energy consumption data are available for the
urban areas. The DoE has been collecting air quality data in Dhaka City
for a number of years. In addition, different organizations such as BUET,
BAEC, and BCSIR have also been collecting air quality data for research
purposes. Fuel and energy consumption data are also available through the
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). Also, traffic data such as, zonal
distribution of vehicles over a number of years is also available from
the BRTA. The data on stationary sources such as the industries are also
available at the BBS and at the Ministry of Industries.
Data on Rural Areas
In the rural areas of Bangladesh the air pollution problems have not
yet been detected. This due to lack of motorized vehicles and industries
in the rural areas. The principal sources of emission include the stack
emissions from the sparsely located brick kilns and the emission from cooking.
In rural areas both of the above use wood, coal and biomass as the source
of energy. Thus, it is likely that in the rural areas the principal contaminant
of air will be oxides of Sulphur and Nitrogen. However, at present, limited
data on the quality of air in the rural areas is available. Recently, a
number international oil companies are exploring the rural areas especially,
the northeastern zone of Bangladesh, for oil and natural gas. They are
required by law to perform Environmental Impact Assessment of their exploration
operation at any particular location. As a part of this assessment work
these organizations collect ambient air quality data. In most cases these
data are confidential and only for organization’s own use. However, since
these organizations are legally bound to submit the EIA report to the DoE
as a part of their licensing requirements, the ambient air quality data
in those areas may be available from the DoE.
The Department of Civil Engineering of BUET collects air quality data
at the Bangabandhu-Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge to complement their on-going
traffic survey programme at that location.
-
Data Quality Checks
According to Khan (DoE, 1999), the DoE follows the standard USEPA
procedure for sampling and testing of the ambient air quality. Due to lack
of Reference Laboratory in Bangladesh the DoE performs no crosschecking.
However, the DoE exchange views with the BAEC on collected data from time
to time.
BUET collects air quality data mainly for research purposes. As mentioned
earlier, BUET calibrates the equipment used for air quality monitoring
every six months from the manufacturer as per the specification. Inter-laboratory
discussions are held intermittently with the BAEC personnel on the quality
of data, sampling locations, sampling frequency and other issues of bilateral
research.
-
Future Development of Monitoring Networks
