Investigation of indoor air quality and indoor/outdoor relationship in three different microenvironments of central part of India

Ambient air quality is a serious concern in many cities of India. Many recent policy intervention have been undertaken to improve ambient air quality but very little is known about Indoor Air quality (IAQ). People spend the majority of their time indoor, mostly in domestic environment, where their health may be affected mostly by indoor air pollution. This study attempts to provide information about the present IAQ of residential homes in Agra (world famous for TAJMAHAL) India, located in three different locations that are roadside, urban and rural during five months of winter season from Oct'2004 to Feb'2005. Air pollutants measured in the living rooms of the homes in this study included CO, CO(2), NO(x), (NO+NO(2)) and SO(2). On comparing 8 hourly averages of indoor concentrations of pollutants between the houses three locations, it was found that the CO and CO(2) concentration was maximum at roadside houses i.e. 2.3ppm and 480ppm respectively, where as NO(x) concentration was maximum at the urban houses, NO 0.3ppm and NO(2) 0.2ppm, SO(2) was found to be maximum in the rural houses 0.1ppm. Though it was seen that the indoor concentration at all the houses of the three sites have positive correlation with outdoor concentration but in cases of CO and CO(2), variation in indoor were very less due to outdoor sources.