Gurugram air quality remains poor due to farm fires; may improve over the weekend

Air quality in the city remained poor on Friday, recording 275 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) daily air quality index (AQI) bulletin, up from 253

Air quality in the city remained poor on Friday, recording 275 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) daily air quality index (AQI) bulletin, up from 253 the previous day. The uptick has been attributed to a slight increase in farm fires in Punjab and Haryana, pollutants from which are being blown eastward by winds originating from the northwest of Delhi-NCR.

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According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), the union ministry’s air quality forecasting wing, Friday’s deterioration in the air quality was mainly on account of about 600 farm fires in Punjab and Haryana that contributed to the rise in PM2.5 levels across NCR, thereby pushing up the AQI across major cities.

The level of ultrafine particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) which has a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM 2.5), the city’s primary pollutant, was 175 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) on Monday, as per the CPCB’s air quality monitor at Vikas Sadan in Sector 11 was 292ug/m3, up from about 175µg/m³ on Monday. “In the interim, the level of PM2.5 has been steadily going up, day by day. About a quarter of the city’s air pollution load at the moment would be from farm fire pollutants,” said Sachin Panwar, a city-based air quality scientist.

However, with the India Meteorological Department predicting high wind speeds of up to 15kmph over the next two days, the situation may improve. As per the early air quality warning system for Delhi-NCR, “Air quality over Delhi NCR is likely to improve and reach in... Poor to Moderate category on 21.11.2020. The Air Quality is likely to remain in Poor to Moderate category on 22.11.2020.”

Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional weather forecasting centre, said on Friday, “The wind speed has remained good and is likely to be the same over the next two days, which should lead to some dispersal of pollutants. But if farm fires continue, and if temperatures keep dropping, we may see pollutants accumulating instead.”

Gurugram on Friday recorded a minimum temperature of 10 degrees Celsius, the same as on Thursday. The maximum daytime temperature also remained constant, at 24.1 degrees Celsius, as per IMD data. “However, we are expecting cold wave conditions in some pockets of Delhi-NCR soon and temperatures will probably fall sharply soon, maybe by two to three degrees,” said Srivastava. As per the IMD’s weekly forecast for Gurugram, the minimum temperature may drop to as little as six degrees Celius over the next seven days, while the maximum daytime temperature could drop to 23 degrees Celsius.