Part 3: "Can India..." Particulate Matter (PM 2.5) Rankings: US leads in Global Control

Overall Result for PM 2.5:

Further Discussion:

The dangerous nature of PM has already been discussed in earlier articles. In addition, PM causes:

? Respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity, such as aggravation of asthma, and other respiratory symptoms leading to increased hospital admissions; 

? Risk of Death from the occurrence of cardiovascular/respiratory diseases and lung cancer 

The small sizes of these particles are visualized in Figure 1, sourced from the US EPA. As can be seen from the figure, the human hair’s thickness is five to seven times that of PM 10 and more than 25 times the thickness of PM 2.5.

Figure 1: Particulate Matter Sizes ("Particulate Matter (PM) Basics, US EPA", 2018)

Six Country PM 2.5 Analysis

Figure 2 highlights the trends observed between the years of 2000 to 2015. There are more data points available from the period from 2010 – 2015 as compared to years earlier. This increased data collection may be attributed to increasing awareness globally of the harmful health effects of PM 2.5.

 Figure 2: Six Country PM 2.5 Trends (Raw Data from World Bank. 2018)

The United States (US) has been ranked highest in the six-country index for reduction in PM 2.5. The only other country that has a reduction was the UK, which is ranked second. Of all countries, India has the highest increases in PM 2.5. US, UK, Japan, and Germany are much better than India and China, as with most of the metrics studied. An exciting trend observed is that between 2010 and 2015, China's PM 2.5 levels, though well above globally acceptable standards, seems to have stabilized. Japan surprisingly has seen a minor increased trend in PM 2.5 since 2011.

Review: What Other Countries Can Learn From The US In PM 2.5 Control

The success of the US in controlling PM 2.5 emissions may be primarily attributed to the combined action of the Clean Air Act (CAA) along with combined efforts of the US EPA along with the state pollution control agencies. This decline was also driven by the associated phase-out of coal burning plants and phase-in of natural gas operations due to better economics of shale gas production as well. The Clean Air Act requires states to develop State Implementation Plans (SIPs): a general plan to attain and maintain National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in all areas of the country, as well as a specific plan to achieve the standards for each area designated non-attainment for a NAAQS ("Basics of SIP Requirements, US EPA", 2018). A high-level summary of the process followed by the US EPA in controlling air pollutants is shown in Figure 3. 

Figure 3: Process Followed by US EPA in Controlling Air Pollutants (Source US EPA, 2018)

Control of PM 2.5, specifically under a SIP program, is established through control requirements specified for each point, area, and mobile sources. These requirements are very elaborate and require further comprehensive study for these programs to be replicated in India but, per the research results in this paper, the effort would be worthwhile. Examples of point source PM 2.5 emissions control include implementation of best available control technologies by asking chemical and utility plants in the area to ensure that burners for their combustion units operate more efficiently in order to prevent particulate pollution as well as the use of electrostatic precipitators. Examples of area source control include restrictions on residential fireplaces and wood stoves which contribute PM 2.5 emissions to the atmosphere. Transportation fuel standards are an example for control of PM 2.5 emissions from mobile sources.