COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON AIR AND WATER QUALITY IN PARTS OF INDIA: BEFORE AND DURING LOCKDOWN DUE TO COVID -19RUMI GOSWAMI, AMIT KUMAR DEY AND ABHIJIT DEYAbstract Due to the pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2(Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus2) commonly known as Corona virus, a nationwide lockdown came into effect in India from 24th March midnight, 2020, which slowed down the movement of vehicles, operation of industries etc. Due to this reason a drastic change in the environment occurred and it caused the reduction of pollution level in the environment. In the present study, observations have been made to understand the positive impacts of lockdown in India. Studies have shown that after the implementation of lockdown, the level of the various major constituents of air pollution such as particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10, etc.), NO2, CO and ozone etc.in the air has reduced substantially. The air quality index data have clearly shown the difference in level of air pollution between the year 2019 and 2020. The study was mainly focused on comparison of air quality parameters such as particulate matter, NO2, CO and ozone etc as well as the water pollution parameters such as Biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and dissolved oxygen for the River Yamuna and it was observed that there was substantial amount of positive change in pollutants after lockdown compared to what was prior to lockdown. The observations are carried out in a time frame manner such as before lockdown and after lockdown and results have been found with a huge difference in reduction of air pollution as well as water pollution. |