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Background.Diwali is a Hindu holiday observed each autumn in India, where it is known as the ‘celebration of lights’. Burning of fireworks on this day leads to air and noise pollution, causing adverse effects to human health.Objectives.To monitor and analyze air quality and noise levels in a residential college campus in northeast India over Diwali 2015.Methods.Components of PM10, including metals (cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and nickel (Ni)), ions (calcium (Ca2+), ammonium (NH4+), sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), chloride (Cl−), nitrate (NO3−) and sulfate (SO4 2−)) and bacterial counts were studied for a period of ten days in November 2015. In addition, a health-based survey of patients attending the institute's hospital during those days was conducted to evaluate the risk level due to fireworks burning.Results.The mean PM10 concentration during Diwali, 311 μg/m3, was 81% higher than other days and 3.1-times higher the Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standards. While noise levels were increased by 65%, the concentration of bacteria in PM10 was reduced by 39% during Diwali compared to other days. The concentrations of metals, cations and anions were increased by 51%, 72% and 77%, respectively. A health study conducted during the analysis period revealed an increase in hospital admissions in the campus due to respiratory symptoms. The higher concentrations of metals during the Diwali period resulted in a 0.5% increase in the hazard index.Conclusions.The present study suggests that reducing fireworks during Diwali could reduce pollutant concentrations and result in potential health benefits.Participant Consent.ObtainedEthics Approval.The study and survey design were approved by the Institutional Bioethics Committee of the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.Competing Interests.The authors declare no competing financial interests

In this study, we investigated the sources of organic pollutants associated with fine (PM 2.5) and coarse (PM 2.5-10) atmospheric particulate matter in Doha, Qatar based on an eight-month sampling campaign conducted from May to December 2015. Multiple organic compound tracers including 36 PAH members, 25 n-alkane homologs, 17 hopanes, and 12 steranes were used for organic aerosols source apportionment. Source apportionment based on specific molecular markers, molecular diagnostic ratios/indices, and positive matrix factorization (PMF) modeling showed that similar sources are responsible for both fine-and coarse-particle organic pollutants. PMF analysis showed that biogenic aerosols, fugitive dust emissions, gasoline engine emissions, diesel engine emissions, and heavy oil combustion were the five main pollution sources of organic aerosols, which agreed well with the results from the diagnostic ratios analysis. The conditional bivariate probability functions (CPF) and potential source contribution function (PSCF) indicated that both regional (i.e., mixed biogenic/secondary particles and oil refinery/shipping emissions) and local sources contributed to airborne organic aerosol concentrations observed at the site, depending on the wind speed and direction. It appears that the relatively high levels of organic pollutants were contributed by local anthropogenic sources, such as fossil fuel combustion, vehicular emissions, and fugitive dust emissions. The high levels of local contributions indicated that there might be great opportunities for Qatar to considerably reduce emissions so that population exposures to carbonaceous aerosols and the public health risks associated with air pollution can be minimized. Implications: Multiple organic tracers and various source apportionment techniques have been used for convincing source apportionment. It was found that both long-range and local sources have a significant impact on atmospheric carbonaceous particles in the area, depending on the wind conditions. Relatively high levels of organic pollutants attributed to local anthropogenic sources indicate that there are great opportunities for Qatar to establish and implement more efficient pollution control measures and policies. Regional sources such as petroleum refineries and shippingvessels emissions in the Gulf region should also be regulated and managed through regional cooperation to improve the air quality in the region.

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