Monitoring and mapping noise levels of university campus in central part of India

Abstract

Introduction: Each one of us is directly or indirectly exposed to noise pollution in our daily life. Noise has chronic effect on the human but many of us are not aware. In our modern research platform very few studies are available for monitoring and mitigating of noise pollution compared to other environmental pollution.

Materials and methods: This study has been designed to monitor, map the noise pollution in educational institute and find out the sources of noise followed by identification of hot spot. In this regards National Institute of Technology Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India was selected as study area. Noise levels measurements were carried out at 15 locations within the study area at time intervals of forenoon (9:30 – 10:30 AM), noon (12:30-1:30 PM) and afternoon (4:30-5:30 PM) for 5 days of the week (working days). Using GIS tool observed noise levels were interpolated by Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) method and graphical plots were prepared for different time intervals.

Results: Noise Levels were found to be between 46 dBA to 72.08 dBA during our study. Sources contributing to higher levels of noise in the premises were traffic, honking of trains followed by students themselves. On comparing the finding with Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi, India (CPCB) standards all the locations recorded higher noise levels than the prescribed limits.

Conclusion: Based on our finding, mitigating approaches like: plantation of trees, construction of noise barriers, proper parking area, restricting high speed of vehicles etc. were suggested for making a healthy learning environment.