Health hazard assessment in an industrial town with the help of GRAM-GIS

Unplanned industrialization and urbanization are causing health hazard mainly in developing countries. It is essential to assess the magnitude of future hazard in an industrial town. The geographical information system is a special type of tool evolved to analyse geographic data for efficient planning. In India large-scale industrialization started after independence. New industrial towns have been established and Durgapur in West Bengal is one of them. In this study an indigenously developed GIS package GRAM has been used to assess air quality in Durgapur town. Using GIS, interpolated maps have been prepared showing the distribution of five pollutants, i.e. carbon monoxide, total oxidant, nitrogen-oxide, sulfur-dioxide and suspended particulate matter. The maps have been used to find the pollutant standard index of the area. The final map shows that the PSI index is high and ranges between the 'unhealthy' to 'very unhealthy' category. This map has been combined with a present landuse pattern. There are three pockets of extremely poor air quality zones which generally match with industrial units. Areas around these units are the potential zones of health hazard. Large numbers of patients admitted in hospitals here suffer from obstructive diseases. Most of them belong to the working age group. This may indicate that the main work force is exposed to the health hazard due to industrial pollution.