Air quality in Delhi (India) gets even worse

We've talked about Delhi (India) before and every year the air quality seems to get worse. Indian politicians seem unable or unwilling to remedy the problem that will eventually (not potentially) will kill their voters in ever larger numbers.

In April 2022, temperatures in large parts of the country already reached nearly 50^oC, and it will even get warmer and worse in the coming months. Monsoon rains will only (hopefully) arrive in June.

Huge numbers of cars crowd the city, many of which are ancient trucks, lorries and buses, which emit extremely high volumes of particularly harmful soot that all living creatures inhale. This soot (or black carbon) is caused by the inefficient combustion of fossil fuels and various forms of organic matter, such as food waste, and forest and farmland being set ablaze.

Delhi has an estimated (nobody really knows, because nobody really cares) population of about 30 million and those amounts of people produce an immense amount of waste. Modern cities can dispose of that waste in modern ways, possibly even 'go green' to limit the daily amounts that end up in a landfill or incinerator.

Not Delhi, because that city simply dumps its waste in a landfill that has been completely filled decades ago. The solution was simple: keep dumping on the same spot, which turned a landfill into a massive garbage dump. The mountain of garbage is now more than 60 meters high. It has been 'officially closed' for years, but more than 2,300 tons of garbage still get dumped there every day.

The sweltering heat also set fire to this garbage dump (again), probably caused by higher levels of methane and – yup – smoking, although the 'official cause isn't known'.

Now, acrid smoke drifts once again over the city, further reducing the already bad air quality.

[Update April 23, 2023] A year later: How does Delhi plan to control landfill fires this season? As the temperature rises and with it the possibility of fires at the landfills and dump sites, a number of suggestions have been put forward to counter this danger, such as installing spark arresters; laying pipelines at the dumpsite to release methane; increasing number of tankers to sprinkle water; ensuring adequate water storage capacity and pumps at the dumpsite to douse fires; CCTVs; methane detectors; temperature sensors and fire alarms; jetting machines to keep vulnerable areas damp; construction of roads around the dumpsite to allow movement of fire tenders and patrolling; and plantation in areas that are cleared.

What has been done? As so often in India: nothing.