Assessing pollution levels from Boda Bodas and their potential environmental impact

Abstract

The boda boda sector in Kampala aids and facilitates growth and development. The sector has been largely favored by the rapid increase in Kampala’s population. This increase in the number of motorcycles has brought about an increase in utilization of oil products which has also resulted into higher emission levels The major objective of this research therefore was to assess the pollution levels from these boda bodas and their potential environmental impact. The method employed was using a gas analyser to determine exhaust composition of these motorcycles against mileage, the year of manufacture and the type of motorcycle. It was observed that the longer the motorcycle mileages, the more emissions it released. However this is not always the case since the level of emissions are also dependent on the frequency of maintenance the motorcycle is subjected to. Motorcycles where the owner admitted to maintaining it frequently registered a lower level of emissions though they had higher mileages in some instances. The highest amount of CO2 measured was 240 mg/m3 from a motorcycle with a mileage of 66,764 kms and the lowest was 51 mg/m3 from a motorcycle that read 14226 kms. The highest amount of hydro carbons was 2.6mg/m3 at 73249 kms, Nitrous oxides was 0.14mg/m3 at 78384 kms and Carbon monoxide was 81 mg/m3 at 31662 kms. The lowest amount of emissions measured was 51 mg/m3 at 14226 kms for CO2, 0.08 mg/m3 at 8523 kms for HC, and 3.0 mg/m3 at 23514 kms for CO. It was also observed that the levels of emissions were highest in motorcycles with older years of manufacture and lowest in motorcycles with newer years of manufacture. The highest amount of CO2 was measured from Type B made in 2006. The highest amounts of hydro carbons were measured from Type B made in 2006 and the highest amounts of Nitrous oxides emitted were from the Type D made in 2009. It was also seen that Type G motorcycle being a newer model generally emitted less pollutants as compared the older models like Type K made in 2002 and Type L made in 2001. This is due to the advancement in the emission control measures in Type G which are absent in the early models.