Mumbai’s air quality continues to worsen; in ‘poor’ category

Mumbai’s air quality worsened on Tuesday, recording an AQI of 280, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)

Mumbai’s air quality worsened on Tuesday, recording an AQI of 280, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). The reading officially puts the city’s air quality in the “poor” category, going by the Central Pollution Control Board’s classification.

A person on Chowpatty beach in Mumbai on Tuesday. The city’s air quality on the AQI scale worsened on Tuesday to 280, putting it in the ‘poor’ category. (AFP)

On Monday, the AQI reading was 245, also in the “poor” category.

According to data from IQ Air, a Swiss air quality technology and monitoring company, Mumbai’s air was the sixth most polluted across major cities globally on Tuesday afternoon. New Delhi’s was the worst, while Kolkata was the other Indian city in the top 10, at No 8.

IQ Air follows its own stringent air quality guidelines laid down by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to which New Delhi recorded an AQI of 235, Mumbai 166 and Kolkata 159.

Experts said pollution has spiked over the past two days - particularly particulate matter (PM) pollutants - due to moisture coming in as a result of a low-pressure area in the Arabian Sea off Maharashtra’s coast.

Mumbai’s air quality had dipped to the “poor” category on November 5, a day after Diwali, when the AQI touched 215.

Colaba continued to register the most polluted air in the city with an AQI of 370 - up from 345 the previous day. It was in the “very poor” category.

Other locations with “very poor” air quality include Mazagaon at 331 (up from 325 on Monday) and Malad with 327 (up from 306 on Monday). “Very poor” air quality persisted in Bandra-Kurla Complex with an AQI of 311, marginally down from 314 the previous day.

Gufran Beig, a meteorologist and project director at SAFAR, said a build-up of moisture in the city has allowed the air to retain more particulate matter pollutants such as PM2.5 and PM10, pushing up the AQI in almost all monitoring locations.

“Due to the low-pressure area, moisture-laden winds have started blowing over the city, pushing up humidity levels. When this happens, the air becomes heavier and is able to hold pollutants, especially PM2.5 and PM10, to a greater capacity. This is why one might notice a haze accumulating over some parts of the city. At the moment, winds are not strong enough to disperse this haze, but there may be some relief soon because rains have been predicted,” he said.