Effect of urban area development in Selangor to the air pollution index from 2012 to 2014: article

Klang Valley’s rapid urban development over the years has increased the risk of ambient air pollution. The pollutants may be in different forms such as solid particles, liquid droplets, gases or a mixture of these three forms. This study aims to analyse the air quality trends and their correlation with the anthropogenic and natural factors at three air monitoring stations in Klang Valley. The data of the five primary pollutants (SO₂, NO₂, O₃, CO and PM10) were continuously monitored daily by the Department of Environment Malaysia (DoE). The air quality trends and status could be observed by the data retrieved from DoE. It shows that the concentrations of PM10, SO₂ and O₃ were high due to transboundary haze recorded at 275μg/m3, 0.013ppm and 0.094ppm respectively. This happened during the southwest monsoon where the country experience dry and hot weather. Meanwhile, the concentrations of NO₂ and CO were seen to be influenced more by the motor vehicles near the monitoring stations where the highest concentrations were recorded at 0.064ppm and 4.35ppm respectively. This shows that the source of air pollution from motor vehicles are dominant especially in urban areas. Besides that, industries, forest fires and urbanisation were also been found as the prime contributor to the decrease in air quality level in these three locations.