Impact of an industrial complex on the ambient air quality: Case study using a dispersion model

The Industrial Source Complex Short Term (ISCST-3) model has been used to study the impact of an industrial complex, located at Jeedimetla in the outskirts of Hyderabad city, India, on the ambient air quality. The emissions of SO2 from 38 elevated point sources and 11 area sources along with the meteorological data for 2 months (April and May 2000) representing the summer season and for 1 month (January 2001) representing the winter season have been used for computing the ground level concentrations of SO2. The 8- and 24-h averaged model-predicted concentrations have been compared with corresponding observed concentrations at three receptors in April 2000 and at three receptors in May 2000 where ambient air quality is monitored during the study period. A total of 90 pairs of the predicted and observed concentrations have been used for model validation by computing different statistical errors and through Quantile–Quantile (Q–Q) plot. The results show that the model-predicted concentrations are in good agreement with observed values and the model performance is found to be satisfactory. The spatial distribution of SO2 concentrations over the study area is examined in the summer and winter months and found that the levels of SO2 are within the limits in comparison to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards except near the industrial area.