The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has reportedly informed the National Green Tribunal that the use of smog towers as a solution to the city’s air pollution problem is not feasible. The DPCC stated that a smog tower can only mitigate pollution up to a distance of 100 meters.
This conclusion was based on research conducted by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in Bombay and Delhi, which found that a smog tower can only reduce pollution by 17 per cent, and only within a 100-meter radius.
According to the committee, it would require 40,000 such towers to significantly decrease pollution levels in Delhi. The DPCC, while endorsing the IIT Delhi report, also proposed that existing smog towers be converted into museums to serve as educational resources for technical knowledge.
The smog tower at Anand Vihar, one of Delhi’s most polluted areas, was reportedly non-operational due to its negligible impact on air pollution, according to an affidavit.
Each smog tower, which can only reduce pollution by 17 per cent within a 100 metre radius, costs around Rs 15 lakh per month to operate. Given that Delhi spans an area of 1,483 square kilometres, a total of 47,229 smog towers would be needed, amounting to a staggering cost of Rs 11,80,725 crore.
The construction of each tower costs Rs 25 crore, with an additional recurring cost of Rs 15 lakh per tower every month for operation. The DPCC concluded that the continued use of smog towers is not justified due to these high costs.
The smog towers were installed by the Centre under the orders of the Supreme Court of India on January 13, 2020 and are being monitored by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. However, the experimental results were not promising considering the heavy expenditure.
To reduce air pollution in Delhi by 17 per cent, at least 40,000 smog towers would be required. The DPCC suggested that these structures could be repurposed as museums to disseminate technical information about air pollution control.
According to a report by IIT-B, a smog tower reduces air pollution by 48-56 per cent in a 20 metre radius, 34-30 per cent in a 21-99 metre radius, 12-13 per cent in a 109 to 199 metre radius, and around 16 per cent in a 300-500 metre radius.
Despite the presence of a smog tower, the Anand Vihar area has remained a pollution hotspot this winter. The Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station, located just 30 metres away from the smog tower, reported no significant difference in the Air Quality Index (AQI) levels. Anand Vihar’s AQI remained in the ‘severe’ category between October 2022 and January 2023.
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