Delhi sees second cleanest half year since 2016: CAQM

There was also an increase in the number of relatively clean air days this year, CAQM said, when the AQI was below 200.

Delhi recorded its second-cleanest first half of the year in 2023 since 2016, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR said on Friday.

June in Delhi ended with a 24-hour average AQI of 70 (satisfactory) on Friday. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Air Quality Index (AQI) data showed the average AQI from January 1 to June 30 this year was 199.6 — the lowest after 2020’s average of 171.8. To be sure, nearly three months in 2020 had a national lockdown in place due to Covid-19, which subsequently impacted the air quality. The AQI was launched in April 2015, so the complete data for that year was unavailable.

There was also an increase in the number of relatively clean air days this year, CAQM said, when the AQI was below 200, while the number of “poor”, “very poor” and “severe” air days have dropped in comparison to previous years.

“During the first six months of the current year, Delhi experienced a remarkable increase in the number of days categorized between ‘Good to Moderate’ on the Air Quality Index (AQI). During the last eight years - from 2016 to 2023 (for the period January – June), Delhi registered its best air quality during the current year (barring 2020) with the highest number of ‘good to moderate’ AQI days,” CAQM said in a statement on Friday.

While Delhi has not seen a “good” air day so far this year – when the AQI is 50 or less, it has recorded 101 “satisfactory” and “moderate” air days so far this year.

The number of “good”, “satisfactory” and “moderate” air days in the corresponding period last year was 54. It was 84 in 2021 and 126 such relatively clean air days were recorded in 2020.

However, the number was just 30 in 2016, 57 in 2017, 65 in 2018 and 78 in 2019, CAQM data for the corresponding period showed.

June in Delhi ended with a 24-hour average AQI of 70 (satisfactory) on Friday, an improvement from Thursday’s reading of 101 (moderate). Before that, Delhi recorded four consecutive “satisfactory” air days.

The average AQI for the first six months last year was 229.8, 220.8 in 2021, 228.8 in 2019, 236 in 2018, 238.7 in 2017, and 271.4 in 2016.