E-Paper
Air quality dips to ‘severe’ again, Noida most polluted in the country
Noida: The city on Sunday turned out to be the most polluted city in the country due to low wind speed and accumulation of local pollutants, dragging the air quality
Noida: The city on Sunday turned out to be the most polluted city in the country due to low wind speed and accumulation of local pollutants, dragging the air quality back under ‘severe’ category.
Ghaziabad was the second most polluted city of the country, making these two the only cities suffering a ‘sever’ air quality on Sunday. With at least four days to get respite as weather analysts expect rain showers with heavy winds around December 12 and 13 in Delhi-NCR, the region is supposed to experience toxic air quality fluctuating between ‘very-poor’ and ‘severe’ till then.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of Noida, on a scale of 0 to 500, was 414 or ‘severe’ on Sunday against 388 or ‘very-poor’ a day earlier. The AQI for Ghaziabad was 413 (‘severe’) against 394 (‘very-poor’) on Saturday.
The CPCB forecast suggests that the emissions to accumulate more in the region, keeping the air quality within the ‘severe’ category till December 11.
In Noida, the PM2.5 or particles with diametre less than 2.5 microns, spiked to an average of 290.66 microgrammes per cubic metres (µg/m³) on Sunday, against 257.57 a day before. This is four times higher than the national standard of 60 µg/m³ and 11 times higher than the international standards set by World Health Organisation (WHO) of 25 µg/m³.
The region’s air quality dipped to ‘severe’ on Thursday, December 5, after fluctuating between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ for almost 10 days before that. The air quality had improved to ‘very poor’ on Friday even as certain areas of Noida and Ghaziabad were under ‘severe’ category.
According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecast and Research (SAFAR), the winds will remain calm for another two days, and respite is likely on December 12.
“A fresh western disturbance is likely to affect northwest India by 11th December, scattered rainfall is expected on 12th and significant improvement in AQI is expected. Few biomass fire counts are observed, no significant biomass fire PM2.5 contribution is likely for the coming days,” said a SAFAR forecast.
