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Gurugram air quality enters ‘poor’ zone for first time this season
Gurugram:
Gurugram:
For the first time this season, air quality entered the ‘poor’ category in Gurugram with the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily evening bulletin recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 259, a significant rise from Sunday’s AQI reading of 187. Neighbouring Delhi recorded an AQI of 261 in the ‘poor’ category, the worst this season.
Experts and officials said this was to be expected as the city has consistently recorded pollution levels in the upper end of the ‘moderate’ category since October 6, coinciding with a dip in temperature and a reduction in wind speed.
They, however, said Gurugram may see cleaner air days over the next week before the full impact of stubble burning in paddy-growing states, mainly Haryana and Punjab, is felt around Delhi-NCR.
The maximum temperature recorded was 34.8 degrees Celsius while the minimum was 16.8 degrees Celsius, according to the IMD website.
Higher concentrations of PM2.5 (recorded as the primary pollutant in Gurugram on Monday) were felt in the early hours of the morning, peaking around 8am, with concentrations of PM2.5 exceeding the 300ug/m3 mark in the vicinity of at least three official air quality monitoring stations in the city.
“North-westerly winds are prevailing, and they are fairly calm. While there may be some small impact farm fires, the reason for Monday’s spurt in AQI is not actually stubble burning. Rather, negligible wind speeds and a nip in the air have allowed pollution from local sources to accumulate. The IMD has predicted a change in wind speeds and directions this week, so we can hope for some improved air quality, but not for very long,” said Sachin Panwar, an independent air quality scientist based in Gurugram, adding crop fires are likely to peak next week, mid-way through this season’s harvest.
Elaborating on this, Sumit Sharma, director of the earth science and climate change division at TERI, said, “As of October 8, there were only about 250 farm fires visible in a 400km x 400km quadrant around Delhi. So the intensity is not so much as of now. What has likely happened in Gururgam is that emissions from local sources — vehicles, diesel generators, biomass burning and so on — have been subject to two meteorological adversities: a drop in temperature and a drop in wind speed. So there is no horizontal diffusion of pollutants taking place (by wind) or vertical diffusion (by temperature).”
The ministry of earth science’s early air quality warning system for Delhi, issued daily, also noted on Monday, “The wind speed has slowed down, particularly in evening and night, which will help in accumulation of pollutants over Delhi-NCR and deteriorate air quality.”
However, as per CPCB’s forecast, Gurugram is expected to see ‘moderate’ air over the next two days, between 160 and 190 on the AQI bulletin. During this period, the India Meteorological Department has predicted an increase in wind speeds over Delhi-NCR, from 4kmph on October 12 to about 8kmph on October 14.
Kuldeep Singh, regional officer, Haryana State Pollution Control Board, corroborated the experts’ accounts. “This is not a stubble burning issue yet. Over the past week, the atmospheric temperature has dropped by more than degree and there has been a fall atmospheric pressure all across north India due to the onset of winter, leading to extremely slow winds. We will begin measures for local dust control once we have received directions from the Environment Pollution Control Authority in Delhi. The directions are awaited. The Graded Response Action Plan will be put into effect by the end of this week,” he said.
