Delhi in severe zone again; this time it is stubble burning | Latest News Delhi - Hindustan Times
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Delhi in severe zone again; this time it is stubble burning

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
Oct 30, 2019 06:00 AM IST

Experts have said that while Tuesday’s dip in air quality was primarily because of the emissions from crackers, Wednesday’s high could be attributed to smoke from stubble burning regions of Punjab and Haryana and unfavourable meteorological conditions

Air monitoring stations in t least 28 out of the 37 areas in the national capital recorded “sever” pollution levels by 10pm on Tuesday. This, after the city air was “very poor” for most of the day.

A man walks while wearing a pollution mask amid dense haze and low visibility as air quality in the national capital plunged to severe in many parts of the city.(HT photo/Burhaan Kinu)
A man walks while wearing a pollution mask amid dense haze and low visibility as air quality in the national capital plunged to severe in many parts of the city.(HT photo/Burhaan Kinu)

Construction and demolition, open dumping of waste, and unpaved roads were found to be the three top major sources of pollution in the last 20 days.

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At least 46 teams comprising CPCB officials had been going around in the city to flag violations. Authorities received around 1,452 complaints between Oct 7 and 27. Out of this at least 446 were of construction and demolition waste, 355 of open dumping and 196 of unpaved roads and pits.

On Tuesday the hourly PM2.5 levels in most stations were at least five to six times above the daily safe limits of 60µg/m3. By 6 pm on Tuesday the level of PM2.5 in several areas across the such as Burari, Alipur, Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, CRRI Mathura Road, DTU, JLN Stadium, Jahangirpuri were already at least five times above the safe standard. All these areas showed PM2.5 concentrations above 300µg/m3.

Experts said that while Tuesday’s dip in air quality was primarily because of the emissions from crackers, Wednesday’s high could be attributed to smoke from stubble burning regions of Punjab and Haryana and unfavourable meteorological conditions.

The day’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) value which was 400 (very poor) at 4pm entered the severe (400+) zone in the evening. Around 7:30 pm on Tuesday, the AQI touched 414 and by 10 pm it shot up to 419. In 2018, the AQI had slipped into severe zone two days after Diwali.

“Unlike the Diwali night when the hourly concentrations of PM2.5 had shot up to 15 times above the permissible limits for a short span of time only to come down later when the fumes of crackers dissipated, on Tuesday it was a steady rise in the pollution levels,” said a CPCB official.

Government forecasts suggests that air quality is only expected to improve on Thursday when the wind speed picks up and flushes out a large chunk of the pollutants.

“The winds could only partially flush out the pollutants that had accumulated in the city’s air on Diwali night from cracker burning. But then upper level northwesterly winds started bringing in smoke from stubble burning regions resulting in spike in pollution levels,” said a senior official of the Delhi environment department.

This was evident from data available with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) which showed that the 24-hour average concentration of PM2.5 – the ultrafine and more harmful of the particles - breached the severe mark of 250μg/m3 by 5 pm on Tuesday. On Monday, it crossed the severe mark around 11am and had there till 2 am on Tuesday. Between 2 am and 5 pm on Tuesday it dropped by a few units to very poor levels.

“On Tuesday, the stubble plume from north-west regions has become one of the significant factors in deteriorating Delhi’s air quality. On Tuesday stubble burning contributed to around 25% of the city’s PM2.5 levels. It is expected to rise to around 29% on Wednesday,” said a statement issued by SAFAR, the union ministry’s pollution forecasting wing

“While Delhi needs a minimum wind speed 10km per hour to flush out pollutants the speed dropped to around 6 km per hour. The ventilation index, which is a measure of how fast accumulated pollutants can be dispersed, was also lower than the required levels resulting in a steady buildup of pollution,” said an official from IITM, Pune.

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