Air quality index (aqi) of atmospheric pollutants in different parks and play grounds of karachi city and their associated health hazards

Aim of this study was carried out to determine the concentration of ambient air quality of Karachi city in terms of Air Quality index (AQI). The data of air pollutants were collected from ten different parks and play grounds in residential, industrial and commercial areas of the city. The survey was carried out to evaluate the concentrations of atmospheric trace gases: sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM10) by sampling for a period of 24 hours in winter season of the year, 2014. Sampling was done at ten different Parks and play ground i.e. PIB colony park(R-1), Nazimabad Cricket ground(R-2), Taleemi bagh (R-3) in residential areas, paramount cricket ground (I-1), Qyyum park (I-2), Naurus green belt(I-3), Siemens green belt (I-4) in industrial areas, Hill park (C-1), F.C area Cricket ground (C-2) and Zoological Garden(C-3) in commercial areas of Karachi city. Pollutants concentrations were used to calculate the Air Quality Index (AQI). Air quality index are used for local and regional air quality management in many cities of the world. The experimental results in this study obtained from different air quality categories according to national ambient air quality standard at different parks and play grounds, as Taleemi Bagh (R-3) in residential area though looks a clean area, falls under Good AQI category regarding the trace gases and moderate category regarding the PM10 pollution, as this is purely residential area with low traffic density whereas PIB colony park (R-1) and Nazimabad Cricket ground (R-2) shows moderate pollution AQI category regarding the trace gases pollution and unhealthy pollution, regarding the PM10 pollution with moderate traffic density. In commercial areas parks Zoological garden (C-3) falls under high pollution AQI category. This garden is situated in extremely congested commercial area with high traffic density and high commercial activities, F.C area Cricket ground (C-2) also falls under unhealthy AQI category, whereas Hill park (C-1) falls under moderate pollution level. In industrial areas parks and play grounds Paramount cricket ground (I-1), Qayyum park(I-2), Naurus green belt (I-3) show moderate pollution AQI values whereas, Siemens green belt (I-4) falls under unhealthy category may be due to industrial activities and high traffic density.