The Impact of a Building Implosion on Ambient Air Quality: A Case Study in an Urban Coastal City

Abstract

This study was carried out to assess the impact of implosion of four multi-storied apartments in an urban coastal city, Kochi, India on the ambient air quality. Air quality monitoring was conducted pre and post demolition stages indicated that there was short-term air quality deterioration surrounding the demolition sites. The increase of SPM, PM10 and PM2.5 was above the permissible limits during demolition which reduced afterwards, but was above the ambient level monitored in the pre demolition stage. In the case of SPM the concentration increased to 3004µgm/m3 during implosion in one of the sites, Golden Kayaloram. This site showed PM10 and PM2.5 also to be above permissible limits during implosion. This is followed by the monitoring sites of Jain Coral Cove, which also showed higher concentration levels above permissible limit during demolition. Other apartments, Alfa Serene and Holyfaith share the same monitoring sites and exceeds permissible limit for SPM and PM2.5 during demolition. In general more sites reported concentration above permissible limits for PM2.5. The average air quality after three months of implosion shows that, the pollutant concentration was much higher than the pre-demolition level. These results clearly show that building implosion is having severe impact on local air quality