AIRBORNE LEAD POLLUTION IN THE CITY OF VARANASI, INDIA

Monitoring of lead in ambient air was undertaken in the city of Varana si, India, over a period of 2 yr from January 1988 to December 1989. A ir samples were collected from 10 sampling sites and analysed by the A tomic Absorption Spectrometry method. Lead levels in India are found t o be low compared to western countries. The highest concentration of P b was recorded at Andhra Pul a busy crossing in the city and lowest at Sarnath, i.e. about 10 km away from the city centre. The experimental results obtained, show that the automobile emission is the predominan t source for lead pollution in the city. The concentrations follow a l og-normal distribution at most of the sites.