E-Paper
Air starts turning foul again as wind speed drops
New Delhi
New Delhi
Air quality in the national capital dipped slightly on Tuesday but continued remaining in the ‘poor’ zone.
The pollution levels, however, is likely to spike further from Wednesday as the wind speed is expected to slow down and cloud cover is likely to return. The cloud cover may block sunlight and allow little ventilation, pushing up the pollution levels over the next two days, warned government agencies.
The air quality index (AQI) as calculated by the Central pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) bulletin on Tuesday was 242, as against 214 the previous day.
On Tuesday, the levels of PM 2.5 — the most harmful aerosols in Delhi’s air — were recorded at 95ug/m3 at 8am, which rose to 122ug/m3 at 7pm, as per CPCB.
“Air quality is likely to deteriorate further on Wednesday, as wind speed has already started slowing down. With clouds and fog expected on November 20-21, it can slip to ‘very poor’ or even ‘severe’ category,” said a senior CPCB official.
The Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) had on Monday warned that Delhi could experience another smog-like episode between November 20-21 on account of a host of unfavourable weather conditions as well as an increased share of crop stubble burning to overall pollution in Delhi.
As per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), a unit of Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), the share of stubble burning to Delhi’s pollution was 13% and is predicted to go up to 14% on Wednesday. It was 9% on Monday.
“The wind speed has already shown a decreasing trend and forecasted to be calm during the next 48 hours. With increase in share of stubble burning, the conditions are conducive for sudden accumulation of pollutants. The air quality may touch ‘severe’ by November 21,” said a statement by SAFAR.
The average wind speed is expected to remain around 5-6kmph on Wednesday. “It was 10-12 kmph on Tuesday. Slowing winds and reduced sunlight will not allow fast dispersion of pollutants,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre (RWFC).
