In 22 days, January recorded 11 poor air days; Dec saw seven

With eight days left to the end of the month, January has already recorded more ‘poor’ air quality days than December 2019.

With eight days left to the end of the month, January has already recorded more ‘poor’ air quality days than December 2019.

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According to the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research’s (SAFAR) daily air quality index (AQI), compiled by citizens’ group Clean Air Collective, January has so far recorded 11 days of ‘poor’ air quality for PM2.5 pollutant (particles of 2.5-micron size that can easily enter the lungs and cause ailments). There were seven ‘poor’ air quality days in December 2019.

The worst AQI this month so far was recorded on January 2 (244) and was lower than December 2019’s worst reading (279) on December 26. Last year, the city recorded 23 ‘very poor’ air quality days, all in the month of January. Altogether, there were 36 ‘poor’ air quality days in 2019.

SAFAR categorises AQI for pollutants in the 0-50 range as good; 51-100 as satisfactory; 101-200 as moderate; 201-300 as poor; 301-400 as very poor and above 400 as severe.

“Over the past five years, we have witnessed that January is generally the most polluted month as along with fluctuating temperatures during early hours of the day, high moisture incursions along the Mumbai coast allows the boundary layer of pollutants to drop closer to the surface. Calm winds further enhance smoggy conditions,” said Gufran Beig, project director, SAFAR.

Data showed Bandra Kurla Complex has been the most polluted location.

So far in January, BKC recorded 12 days of ‘very poor’ air; six days of ‘poor’ air; and ‘moderate’ air quality on four days. In December 2019, BKC recorded ‘poor’ air quality on 23 days and ‘very poor’ air quality on eight days. Bhandup has had the cleanest air with ‘satisfactory’ air quality on 18 of 22 days in January.

Independent air quality researchers said the current air quality setup in the city was only representing urban background levels.

“There is a need to identify hotspots in the city, and this can be done only by checking source-wise emissions and their impact by studying direct exposure levels to citizens. For example, if we know BKC is the most polluted, we can identify which areas pollution levels are the highest and what is the source by having a dense, hyperlocal network followed by implementing abatement measures there,” said Ronak Sutaria, founder and director, UrbanSciences.