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Noida’s air quality enters ‘very poor’, Greater Noida worst in country
Noida: Noida’s air quality dropped to “very poor” on Wednesday as meteorological conditions remained unfavourable
Noida: Noida’s air quality dropped to “very poor” on Wednesday as meteorological conditions remained unfavourable. Greater Noida and Ghaziabad turned out to be the top-two polluted cities in the country.
The air quality index (AQI) of Noida deteriorated to “very-poor” for the first time since January 9 when it was “poor”.
According to the weather analysts, the minimum temperatures fell and wind was calm on Wednesday leading to poor ventilation.
“The wind was calm through evening hours and even at its peak it was around just 10-12 kmph unlike two-three days back when the stronger winds pulled the region out of the very polluted zone. The day had also been misty with shallow fog, which tends to keep particle pollutants in the air,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice-president, meteorology and climate change, Skymet.
Noida’s AQI, on a scale of 0 to 500 on Wednesday was 348 against 278 a day earlier.
The AQI of Greater Noida was 398 against 312 a day earlier. The AQI of Ghaziabad was 388 against 324 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 four times the standards.
The average PM2.5 for Wednesday for Noida was 222.14 microgrammes per cubic metres (µg/m³), against 150.90 µg/m³ a day earlier. The average PM2.5 for Greater Noida was 252.36 µg/m³ against 153.94 µg/m³ a day earlier. The PM2.5 levels for Ghaziabad against 238.66µg/m³ against 161.34 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 poor ventilation conditions.
“The minimum temperature is likely to fall and surface winds are likely to slow down gradually. The AQI is likely to slip from the middle to the higher end of Very Poor by tomorrow. Extremely low ventilation conditions and lowering of boundary layer height are forecasted for 15th Jan which will lead to further deterioration and SAFAR model predicts that the AQI will touch higher end of Very Poor to Severe category on 15th and 16th Jan. No quick relief to the deteriorated situation is expected in the next few days,” said SAFAR on Wednesday.
