Ghaziabad, Noida begin year with worst air in country

The new year began with Ghaziabad and Noida breathing “severe” category air and grabbing the first and second spots of most polluted cities in the country as weather

The new year began with Ghaziabad and Noida breathing “severe” category air and grabbing the first and second spots of most polluted cities in the country as weather turned unfavourable.

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In “severe” air, even healthy people may show symptoms of respiratory distress.

The cold, dense fog and low wind speed kept pollutants, mostly from local source, trapped in the air, said weather analysts. They expect ventilation to improve slightly over the next 24 hours, but it may take until January 3 to pull the two cities out of the “severe” category.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the western disturbance (moisture laden winds that originate from the Mediterranean, which is responsible for snow in the northern states, led to a change of wind direction from the northwesterly to the weaker Eastely.

“The pollution levels spiked because the dispersion of pollutants stopped. There are also cold wave conditions that makes air heavy and traps pollutants further making dispersion difficult. The wind speed on Friday was around 8-10 kmph, there are chances of slight rise in mercury on Saturday leading to slightly better ventilation,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, IMD.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of Noida on a scale of 0 to 500, on Friday was 455, Greater Noida’s was 434 and Ghaziabad was 470.

An 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’.

Particulate matter

The concentration of fine and coarse particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10, respectively) exceeded the CPCB’s safe limits.

PM2.5 levels in Noida was 382 microgrammes per cubic metres (µg/m³), whereas the safe limit is 60 µg/m³. In Greater Noida, this was 310 µg/m³ and in Ghaziabad it was 477µg/m³. These fine particles are understood to be able to go into organs and is also a known carcinogen.

According to the System of air quality and weather forecasting and research (SAFAR), the AQI is set to improve to the very Poor category by Saturday January 2 and further improve to ‘poor’ category by Sunday January 3.

“Surface winds became extremely calm as forecasted and the low dispersion condition led to accumulation and trapping of pollutants near-surface. The radiative fog mixed with high PM levels are making it Smog and reducing the visibility. However such extreme situation is short lived. The condition is likely to improve marginally by tomorrow and thereafter the fresh Western Disturbance is very likely to affect the region by 3rd January to improve surface winds speed, ventilation and some rainfall that are likely to bring significant improvement to the current AQI condition,” said the SAFAR statement on Friday.