New normal baseline data during nationwide lock down due to Covid 19 pandemic in the world’s largest ship recycling yard at Alang, India

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 28; no. 26; pp. 35051 - 35063
• Main Authors: Chanchpara, Amit, Sonpal, Vasavdutta, Mehta, Gauravkumar, Sahoo, Tarini Prasad, Thorat, Ravikumar Bhagwan, Ray, Sanak, Haldar, Soumya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-07-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air quality; Air sampling; Anthropogenic factors; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bioaccumulation; Coastal environments; Coastal waters; COVID-19; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Heavy metals; Industrial areas; Metal concentrations; Nitrogen dioxide; Nutrient concentrations; Outdoor air quality; Pandemics; Particulate matter; Phytoplankton; Pollutants; Recycling; Research Article; Sampling; Sediments; Shipbreaking; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Variance analysis; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Zooplankton; Air quality; Pollution; Sediment; LSD; Seawater; Biological diversity
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-12885-y

A detailed study to generate the new normal baseline data has been carried out during nationwide lockdown (May 12 to May 16, 2020) covering sampling for ambient air, coastal water, coastal sediments, fish and bioaccumulation of heavy metals, in an around Alang, the world’s biggest ship recycling yard. The lockdown data were compared with 2018 and 2019 observed data. PM
10
values during lockdown were reduced by 3.75 to 4.5 times as compared with previous 2 years. Similarly, four-fold reduction of PM
2.5
and SPM values was observed during lockdown. The gaseous pollutants like NO
2
and O
3
are within safe limit. Overall air quality index (AQI) improved significantly during lockdown. Similarly, there was drastic reduction in the majority of the nutrient parameters in the coastal water. Different heavy metal concentration in the coastal sediments samples also showed strong reduction during lockdown sampling in comparison with other two sampling. This proves that the coastal environment has its efficient self-cleaning potentials if there is considerable reduction in the anthropogenic as well as industrial activities. Diversity of phytoplankton and zooplankton also increased. The results were validated using statistical techniques like analysis of variance and least significance difference (LSD).