Estimation of air pollutant emission loads from construction and operational activities of a port and harbour in Mumbai, India.

Port causes environmental and health concerns in coastal cities if its operation and development are not made environmentally compatible and sustainable. An emission inventory is necessary to assess the impact of port projects or growth in marine activity as well as to plan mitigation strategies. In this study, a detailed emission inventory of total suspended particulate (TSP) matter, respirable particulate matter (PM(10)), sulphur dioxide (SO(2)) and oxides of nitrogen (NO(x)) for a port having operation and construction activities in parallel is compiled. The study has been done for 1 year. Results show that the maximum contribution of emission of air pollutants in the port area was from TSP (68.5%) and the minimum was from SO(2) (5.3%) to the total pollutants considered in this study. Total TSP emission from all activities of the port was 4,452 tyr(-1) and PM(10) emission was 903 tyr(-1) in the year 2006. Re-suspension of dust from paved roads was the major contributor of TSP and PM(10) in the road transport sector. Construction activities of the port had contributed 3.9% of TSP and 7.4% of PM(10) to total emission of particulate matter. Of the total particulate emissions from various port activities approximately 20% of TSP could be attributed to PM(10). The sectoral composition indicates that major contribution of SO(2) emission in the port was from maritime sector and major contribution of NO(x) was from road transport sector.