Innovative ways to survive the pollution caused by construction dust

Finding it hard to breathe Construction with its constant generation of dust is one of the biggest pollutants in the city currently A 2020 study by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute NEERI and IITBombay clearly pointed out that dust generated by construction work comprised 70 per cent of the particulate matter PM load in Mumbairsquos air In February Mumbairsquos airquality was worse than Delhirsquos spurring activists to demand a halt of construction activities in the cityIn April Thane Municipal Corporation TMC declared it would fine developers to the tune of 5000 to 25000 if they did not do anything to control the dust from construction sites But how does one do thatThe inside of the Olle Pod is swanky and is even equipped with designer toilet fittingsArchitect Keith Menon cofounder of Spiro Spero and Circle in Goa has a way out The firm has built a 25 acreresort in Goa using chira stone mined from the property itself ldquoWe dug the ground using techniques that would not crack the stone so that we were able to get large slabs that could be assembled by bindingrdquo he says ldquoAs a result air pollution was reduced by 30 per cent as this reduced use of cement and concrete as well as cutting out of marble from mountains and transporting it to siterdquoChira is red mud compressed and compounded over 100 years and is unique to the Konkan belt Itrsquos a worthy replacement for marble as almost 20 to 30 per cent of the latter is wasted in the form of powder when it is cut into desired shapes And this powder contains calcium carbonate and silica that lines lungs and decreases their capacity to filter air causing pulmonary diseasesAn Olle Pod being anchored to the Earth with cranes It is 480 sq ft in total and can be transported anywhereldquoWe often take chira or any organic material found naturally on the project site and reuse it for the next projectrdquo says Menon ldquoWe hope this creates a chain reaction that quells the effects of constructionrdquoLike Menon Lavina Rodrigues too is trying to make a change in the way things are traditionally done While working with the Navy she invented Olle Pods that can replace concrete ldquoThe pod has a prefabricated metal frame with walls made of calcium silicate panelsrdquo says the Khargharbased architect ldquoThe 35 cm of wall and 30 cm of rooffloor is filled with mineral wool for highest level of thermal insulation longterm stability and durability It is as reliable as concreterdquo No concrete no pollutionThe outdoor sensor that can check the Air Quality in and around your homeOlle Pods take up 480 sqft and Rodrigues is currently scouting for land to display them and guarantees that their use will reduce construction time by 50 per cent which will also contribute to reduction in air pollution They can also be recycled Rodrigues hopes this motivates people to move away from the use of Reinforced Concrete Cement RCCWhat exactly are we breathing though Abhinav Guptarsquos company Active Buildings manufactures sensors that tell you about the airquality within your home as well as the area around it ldquoMost of our customers are concerned parents or social activistsrdquo says the Chandivili based engineer ldquoOne parent placed a sensor in her childrsquos school at BKC another in her Vile Parle neighbourhood and a social activist used it to assess the air around the Deonar dumpyardrdquo According to the report the dumpyard predictably had the worse readings with the Ozone O3 and Nitrous Oxide parameters in the lsquoBadrsquo category and are known to cause pulmonary ailments as well as decrease long term immunityAbhinav GuptaHomegrown innovators are on it though Such as Tejas Sidnal founder of CarbonCraft who reuses Recovered Carbon Black RCB the powdered form of carbon as tiles ldquoAt first we made bricks out of RCB but no one wanted to pay an extra four rupees for themrdquo he says ldquoSo we moved on to tiles because people like beautiful tiles We place our equipment on the chimney in say a tyre company The powdered carbon that is collected which would line our lungs otherwise is moulded into tiles These have lined the floors and ceilings of offices of international brands such as Adidas who want to reduce their carbon footprintrdquoInternationally checks and balances keep an eye on pollution generated by construction activity and countries such as the United States incentivise use of less toxic raw materials or fuels and use of a lesspolluting industrial process Use of mechanical collectors wet scrubbers fabric filters baghouses and absorbersmdashall of which reduce emission of construction particles in the airmdashare encouragedKeith Menon Lavina Rodrigues and Tejas SidnalCountries such as the Netherlands have been trying to control construction as well An Indian real estate developer based there gave us a glimpse into how the country deals with carbon emissions right from the get go ldquoThere are very strict guidelines on how much a neighbourhood can be developed and how many projects can go on simultaneouslyrdquo he says ldquoFor example in Mumbai 20 to 30 projects can be underway within an area of 2 sq km In the Netherlands this would never be sanctioned One of the procedures to procure a construction permit is called the NitrogenCarbon Dioxide Calculation This is done by independent parties which are strictly reviewed by the government These independent parties check the development of the project right from the demolition phase of an existing structure to the new structure standing up right up to when people move inmdashcarbon emission at each stage is added up If the parameters to control carbon emissions do not fit the set guidelines they will not be allowed to build on the site in the first place Also you cannot use machines that are over five years old counting the manufacturing datersquo which in itself cuts down the emissions by a large scalerdquo Admittedly the meagre population makes this kind of control possible ldquoNetherlands has 17 million people which is the population of Mumbai alonerdquo says the expertIndia too has norms for those seeking a green certification The Indian Green Building Council IGBC the largest green certification organisation in the country is the gatekeeper Sundeep Vullikanti an IGBC counsellor shares some of the checks ldquoThe first step is wrapping the green cloth around the site and keeping it constantly wet Then comes building boundaries around the site to contain the dust and keeping the trees as natural barriers We ask developers to wet the path on which trucks come to the site so that the tyres do not carry the dust and dispel it on the road after leaving the site We also tell developers to flush out air ducts before the building is occupied otherwise all the dust and particles settled in there are pumped into the rooms by the airconditioningrdquoSundeep Vullikanti Aun Abdullah and Sriram MahadevanIn our climate water is the most potent dust dispeller It should be applied a couple of times a day on the green cloth Another way to control dust is to clean the site at the end of every day with an industrial vacuum cleaner wherever possible because sweeping can blow the dust particles into the airTillage or roughening soft land is recommended to reduce wind erosion It involves making a minimum of 15 cm furrows perpendicular to the wind direction Mulching which when covers a site construction with mulch made out of organic mulch materials including grain straw fresh or old hay freshcut forage or cover crops chipped brush wood shavings tree leaves is one of agriculturersquos most prominent methods and is 80 per cent effective in trapping dust at construction sites as wellAun Abdullah the Environmental Social and Governance Leader at Lodha claims that they have an advanced set of pollution control measures ldquoWe closely monitor environmental parameters such as air sampling noise emissions and diesel generators Maharashtra Pollution Control Board MPCB or Central Pollution Control Board CPCB stack emissions to ensure compliance with limits We have realtime air quality measurement stations installed at certain developments We employ 120GSM monofilament vertical netting throughout our buildings which traps dust particles To ensure dust suppression we use treated water to control particle emissions that traps dust and utilise water sprinklers on grinding surfaces and during excavation activities and water suppression to mitigate dust emissions We also deploy wheel washing facilities for construction vehicles to restrict pollutants from reaching public roadsrdquoSriram Mahadevan Chief Operating Officer at Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate says environmental impact assessment is conducted routinely to develop strategies to mitigate them ldquoWe also prepare and implement sitespecific environmental management plan To control dust generation various measures such as installation of dust collectorsscrubbers on batching plant silos sprinkler systems on material bins and sprinkling water on internal roads are implemented Additional steps include the provision of tyre wash points at entry gates the use of vertical green nets and high fencing with galvanised iron GI sheets around batching plants Continuous ambient air quality monitoring devices are installed at project sites for realtime monitoring of temperature humidity PM25 PM10 and the Air Quality Index AQI These devices are GSMWiFi enabled providing mobile access to data and ensuring the effectiveness of dust suppression measures implemented onsiterdquo