Air Quality – What India can learn from the US

In India, maintaining air quality has become a concern as the air quality seems to be getting worse in some places. Monitoring and showing PM levels are getting higher. But it really comes down to figuring out your own path to improve air quality and the US could help. - Jack Broadbent, Executive Officer, Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Jack Broadbent serves as the Executive Officer/Air Pollution Control Officer for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, US. In this position, he is responsible for directing the Air District’s programs to achieve a healthy breathing environment for every Bay Area resident while protecting and improving public health, air quality, and the global climate for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. During his recent visit to India, he had an interaction with Subhajit Roy and explains how the US can help India in the area of air quality. Edited excerpts:

Air quality is a global concern today. How do you see the air quality awareness level in developing countries especially in India?

I think, there is a lot of interest in air quality in India and it is a concern of course in different metropolitan regions. The country understands the importance of air quality and monitors the air quite well. It is global phenomenon that when the economy improves, people become more interested in air quality and life.

How different is the scenario from the US?

In India, we see there is a considerable amount of interest in monitoring the air quality to understand what is in the air we breathe. In the US, we of course have moved towards cleaner vehicles and cleaner standards for the industry whereas India is still trying to figure out what is the best path to move forward.

We are certainly not the one that doesn’t make mistakes – we have made plenty in our march towards providing cleaner air. India has to figure out for itself how to move forward given all the other interests that it has. We can certainly serve in terms of our capacity of technical exchanges back and forth and share ideas on what has worked and what hasn’t in the US.

Why improving and maintaining indoor air quality is so important?

On an average, a person spends 80 per cent of his or her time indoor. So, improving and maintaining indoor air quality is extremely important. But the philosophy we take in the US is what is outside to come in. Therefore, we want to make sure that air quality of outdoor environment is also maintained apart from having good HVAC systems with filtering systems to prohibit indoor air contamination.

Could you let us know more about your clean air shelters?

Wildfire smoke is the major source of air pollution in the Bay Area. We are in the process of setting up adequate clean air shelters that reduce the amount of particulates generated by wildfire smoke. These clean area shelters are going to be designed with a high-efficiency air filter to provide the cleanest air. Bay Area District Organisation has proposed a bill at California State Legislature to fund about US$ 50 million over the next two years where we will fund clean air shelters throughout the Bay Area. Further, this program which we will launch in Bay Areas will be a model and is likely to be duplicated elsewhere in California.

How the US can help India in the area of air quality?

In India, maintaining air quality has become a concern as the air quality seems to be getting worse in some places. Monitoring and showing PM levels are getting higher. But it really comes down to figuring out your own path to improve air quality and the US could help.

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