TERMS OF REFERENCE (ToR)
Short-term Consultancy: Air Quality Modelling, Monitoring Plan and Mitigation Measures for Legacy Waste Sites in Chikkaballapura, Karnataka
Action Area: Air Quality and Legacy Waste Management
Location: Three legacy waste sites in and around Chikkaballapura, Karnataka, to be confirmed at inception
About FISH
The Foundation for Inclusive and Sustainable Habitats (FISH) is a Section 8 not-for-profit organisation based in Bangalore, India. FISH works with small and medium urban local bodies (ULBs) across India to improve water, sanitation and solid waste management services, combining policy advisory, technical design and field implementation.
FISH works in Chikkaballapura on solid waste systems improvement and legacy waste management. Its work aims to make municipal services inclusive, climate-resilient and financially sustainable, and to improve conditions for the workers who deliver them.
Background
Air quality monitoring in India is concentrated in large cities. Reference-grade Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations provide accurate measurements, but their capital cost and continuing operation, maintenance and calibration requirements place them beyond the reach of most small ULBs. Substantial spatial gaps therefore persist in small towns and peri-urban areas, precisely where pollution levels and exposure vary sharply over short distances and where municipal waste sites sit close to habitation.
Legacy waste sites are a recognised source of this exposure. Decomposing waste bodies release landfill gases including methane, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and methyl mercaptan, together with volatile organic compounds; exposed waste surfaces and vehicle movement generate particulate matter; and smouldering or open burning releases fine particulate matter and products of incomplete combustion. Under the Solid Waste Management Rules and the CPCB guidelines on odour monitoring and management at urban municipal solid waste landfill sites, continuous environmental monitoring at such sites is expected, with directional monitoring to capture plume trajectories, integration of meteorological parameters for source-receptor correlation, use of continuous surrogate parameters such as hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and methane alongside odour assessment, and application of validated dispersion models for impact evaluation. In practice this is implemented at a handful of large metropolitan landfills and almost nowhere else.
The waste at the three Chikkaballapura sites has already been quantified through existing legacy waste assessments and remediation planning, so the quantum, area, depth and composition of the waste bodies need not be re-established. What is missing is an estimate of what these sites emit, who is affected and in which conditions, how that should be monitored, and which measures would reduce the exposure most.
The assignment is incremental in nature. Established methodologies for hybrid air quality monitoring, combining low-cost sensors with reference-grade and satellite-derived data, together with standard operating procedures, calibration protocols and landfill monitoring designs, already exist in the published literature and in work commissioned by regional institutions and metropolitan corporations. The consultant is expected to identify, adapt and justify the most suitable of these for a small Karnataka town, not to develop new protocols where workable ones exist. The outputs are intended to be replicable in other small Indian towns and usable by municipal officials who are not air quality specialists.
Objectives
The purpose of this assignment is to establish an evidence base on the air quality impact of three legacy waste sites in Chikkaballapura, and to set out how it should be monitored and reduced. The specific objectives are to:
- Model the emissions and air quality impact of the three sites: Using the existing quantification of the waste bodies and available data, estimate emission rates at each site and model the resulting ground-level concentrations at nearby settlements and sensitive receptors, benchmarked against the NAAQS and the CPCB odour guidance.
- Prepare a monitoring plan: Adapt established hybrid monitoring methodologies into a proportionate monitoring plan for the three sites, covering parameters, siting, operation, calibration and QA/QC, with a cost comparison against reference-grade monitoring and a route to scaling it to other small towns.
- Recommend mitigation measures: Identify, cost and rank the measures available for reducing emissions and exposures at the three sites, with the air quality improvement modelled for each, and set out a phased implementation roadmap.
Method of application
Applicants are requested to apply by 1 November 2026 (11:59 PM IST) by sending the following documents to accounts@fish-india.org
- Experience and methodology note of max 4 pages.
- Filled proposal template at Annexure 1, including the quoted fee.
- Supporting documents evidencing the experience claimed, and GST registration.
For detailed information, please check the complete version of the RFP attached below