E-Paper
After two ‘good’ days, air quality in Delhi dips to ‘satisfactory’ level
New Delhi: After two days of “good” air quality, pollution levels in the national capital shot up on Monday. From “good”, the air quality deteriorated to “satisfactory”.
New Delhi: After two days of “good” air quality, pollution levels in the national capital shot up on Monday. From “good”, the air quality deteriorated to “satisfactory”.
The air quality index (AQI) value, as monitored by the Central Pollution Control Board, remained 81, higher than the safe limit of 50. On Sunday, the AQI came down to 49, which is categorised as “good”. Experts said rain in the national capital kept the particulate matter (PM) in check.
The level of particulate matter smaller than 10 microns (PM10) remained 83.7 ug/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre of air) and PM 2.5 levels remained 37.9 ug/m3. The permissible limit for PM10 is 100 ug/m3, while for PM2.5 the safe limit is set at 60 ug/m3.
The AQI is expected to deteriorate but remain in the “satisfactory” category for the next three days, said a statement issued by Safar(System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) on Monday.
Before Sunday, the last time the city had breathed cleaner air was on July 31, 2017, when the AQI was at 47. Any reading of upto 50 on the index is considered to be an indicator of good air quality.
For the past 10 days this month, between August 6 and August 16, the air quality has been in the “satisfactory” category. The Safdarjung observatory, which is representative of Delhi’s weather, recorded 47.7mm of rain over early Sunday and Monday.
