HYDERABAD: It is an odourless, colourless and volatile gas. It can result in the creation of ground level ozone which can be harmful to people, especially those with any respiratory disorder.
And Hyderabad tops a list of large cities in India that produces this gas — methane — which is also recognised as a prime greenhouse gas contributing to climate change.
According to a study in ‘Urban Climate’, a science journal, Hyderabad had a higher methane concentration compared to Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur. Incidentally, the study, published in November 2024, also says methane is 25 times more effective in trapping atmospheric heat than carbon dioxide, another greenhouse gas that is generated in large volume in urban areas.
In Hyderabad, the methane problem arises from its industrial and waste management issues, and is “compounded by a lack of comprehensive methane monitoring and regulations,” the study authored by researchers from the Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur says.
“While the emissions of methane can have many reasons, some of the primary producers of this greenhouse gas as waterlogged areas, water bodies, or garbage dumps,” Dr GV Ramanjaneyulu, the executive director of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, said.
In Hyderabad, three major methane producing entities are the highly polluted Musi river, the eutrophied Hussainsagar lake, and the huge garbage dump in Jawaharnagar.
The study, which used data from Nasa’s Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite’s TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument, said that it was observed that Hyderabad consistently exhibited the highest methane concentrations followed by Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Jaipur.
The methane levels in Hyderabad, were “strongly correlated with the temperature,” the study said, indicating a possible and vicious cycle of one contributing to the other, given that higher temperatures result in more eutrophication, more generation of methane, which in turn could result in higher temperatures.
According to the study, methane levels in Hyderabad, which were just around 1,880 parts per billion (PPB) in 2019, rose to a peak of around 1,970 PPB in 2023.
The study examined various metrics such as air temperature and wind speed, urbanisation metrics such as population density and land use patterns. Among the areas where the study found highest methane levels are Rajendranagar, Falaknuma, Mehdipatnam, Charminar, Karwan, Jubilee Hills, Khairatabad and Yousufguda zones of the GHMC.
A previous study published a year before, in 2023, by the National Remote Sensing Centre based in Hyderabad, had focused on methane variations in Shadnagar on the city’s outskirts and found that there was a steady rise in the levels of this gas between 2013 and 2022 indicating that methane levels were also becoming a cause of concern outside the city.
According to the Environmental Defence Fund, methane can also result in poor air quality by contributing to the formation of ground level ozone and particulate pollution. And exposure to ozone and particulate pollution damages airways, aggravates lung diseases, causes asthma attacks, increases rates of preterm birth, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and heightens stroke risk.