Air quality falls, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida now in ‘very poor’ category

Unfavourable weather pushed air quality further down in the three cities of Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida on Tuesday

Unfavourable weather pushed air quality further down in the three cities of Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida on Tuesday.

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Under the central pollution control board (CPCB) air quality index (AQI), Noida fell deeper into the ‘poor’ category, while Greater Noida and Ghaziabad slipped was back in the middle of ‘very-poor’ air over past 24 hours.

The air quality index (AQI) for Greater Noida and Ghaziabad had been under ‘very-poor’ category since last week, however stronger winds gave the city better air on Monday, although it was “poor”.

According to the weather analysts, the weather conditions are likely to be same till Wednesday.

“The wind speed on Tuesday dropped slightly and reached around 10-15 kmph and around 5 kmph towards the evening. Over next two days the mercury may further drop and the wind speed would also be slight low,” said Mahesh Palawat, director, private weather forecasting agency Skymet,

The AQI of Noida, on a scale of 0 to 500 on Tuesday was 278 against 264 a day earlier, both ‘poor’.

The AQI of Greater Noida was 312 against 283 a day earlier. The AQI of Ghaziabad was 324 against 283 a day earlier.

The AQI between 101 to 200 is considered ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 is ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 is considered ‘very-poor’ and above 400 is considered ‘severe’.

The major pollutant or PM2.5 in the region also spiked from about three times the safe limit.

The average PM2.5 for Tuesday for Noida was 150.90 microgrammes per cubic metres (µg/m³), against 119.18 µg/m³ a day earlier. The average PM2.5 for Greater Noida was 153.94 µg/m³ against 124.77 µg/m³ a day earlier. The PM2.5 levels for Ghaziabad against 161.34µg/m³ against 135.36 µg/m³ a day earlier. The safe limit for PM2.5 is 60µg/m³.

According to the System of air quality and weather forecasting and research (SAFAR), the AQI is likely to deteriorate further due to calmer winds.

“Surface winds are westerly and moderate, the minimum temperature is likely to fall, and however, the better ventilation condition is likely to stop the fast deterioration of AQI for today and tomorrow. The AQI is likely to slip to Poor to the low end of Very Poor tomorrow. Lower to Middle end of the Very Poor category is forecasted for 14th Jan AQI is likely to further deteriorate on 15th Jan to the higher end of the Very Poor category due to cam winds and extremely low ventilation condition,” said SAFAR on Tuesday.