Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Move to monitor Carbon Monoxide levels

CHENNAI: In an effort to monitor the levels of highly-toxic Carbon Monoxide in the ambient air, CO analysers will soon be installed at five locations in the city.

The equipment will be installed in Anna Nagar, T. Nagar, Vallalar Nagar, Adyar and Kilpauk. Equipment of the Chennai Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme is already functioning at these five locations.

The existing equipment monitor the levels of respirable suspended particulate matter, particulate matter, Sulphur dioxide and Nitrogen oxides.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is procuring the CO analysers from a U.K.-based firm at an estimated total cost of Rs.25 lakh.

A TNPCB official told The Hindu that though CO emissions, below 500 microgram/cubic metre, in the city were well within the permissible limit of 2,000 microgram/cubic metre, the decision was taken in public interest.

CO is a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas produced from partial oxidation of carbon-containing compounds, particularly in internal-combustion automobile engines.

The official said that the gas had great affinity to haemoglobin.

When higher levels of atmospheric CO combines with haemoglobin, it forms carboxy-haemoglobin and restricts the exchange of oxygen in the body.

Mild exposure also causes suffocation, dizziness and headaches.

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