Air quality falls sharply, Greater Noida most polluted in state

Following a short breather, Noida and adjoining areas saw a sharp deterioration in air quality on Thursday with several areas of the city plunging into the “severe”

Following a short breather, Noida and adjoining areas saw a sharp deterioration in air quality on Thursday with several areas of the city plunging into the “severe” category when even healthy people are affected. This is the first time this season that the air deteriorated to this level.

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On the day, Greater Noida was the most polluted city in Uttar Pradesh and second most polluted city in the national capital region (NCR), second to Charki Dadri in Haryana, about 90 kms west of Delhi. Slow wind did not help ventilation and pollution levels were almos nine times the standard in Greater Noida and seven times in Noida and Ghaziabad.

“We are ensuring that adequate dust and emission control measures are taken to avoid further drop in the air quality, but the issue is that the met conditions are highly unfavourable at time leading to the spike in pollutants,” said Archna Dwivedi, regional officer, UPPCB, Greater Noida.

The Air quality index (AQI) of Greater Noida on Thursday, on a scale of 0 to 500, was 412 or ‘severe’ against 324 a day earlier. The AQI of Noida was 383 against 301 a day earlier, while the AQI of Ghaziabad was 389 against 317 a day earlier. Meanwhile, sector-1 area of Noida also turned ‘severe’ with an AQI of 405.

According to the pollution monitoring agencies and experts, weather conditions and higher share of stubble burning among the local emissions in the region led to the sharp deterioration of the air quality. The wind speed, according to the weather analyst was nil for most of the day, while some areas across Noida and Ghaziabad saw a wind speed of around three to five kmph for some time.

“The wind speed was negligible for most of the day and only for a very short time the winds reached a maximum speed of five kmph, which was not enough for the dispersion of pollutants. The forecast is however promising as winds are likely to increase from October 30 up to 10-12 kmph, while on October 31 the winds will increase further,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, India Meteorological Department (IMD).

According to the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), both PM2.5 and PM10 values of Noida and Ghaziabad saw sharp rise.

For Greater Noida, the PM10 was 589.02 microgrammes per cubic metres (µg/m³) and PM2.5 levels were 275.6µg/m³. For Noida, the PM10 and PM2.5 levels were 459.99µg/m³ and 275.05µg/m³, respectively. For Ghaziabad, the PM10 level was 438.36 µg/m³ and PM2.5 was 255.13µg/m³.

The CPCB standard limit for PM2.5 is 40µg/m³ while that of PM10 is 60 µg/m³.

“PM10 or the large particles causes health issues like breathing issues by reaching up to the lungs however the PM2.5 damages the body further by mixing in the bloodstream thereby causing heart related issues,” said Shambhavi Shukla, program officer, air pollution, centre for science and environment (CSE).

Meanwhile, according to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the stubble burning share in PM2.5 in the entire region of NCR, including Noida and adjoining regions was estimated to 36 per cent.

“The stubble burning share in PM2.5 is estimated as 36 percent for today…Increased surface wind speed and better ventilation conditions are likely to significantly improve the situation by 31st October,” said a SAFAR statement.