Noida: Air quality severe for fourth consecutive day

Noida: Even as cases of stubble burning dropped slightly over the past 24 hours, the air quality of Noida and Greater Noida worsened on Sunday, remaining under the

Noida: Even as cases of stubble burning dropped slightly over the past 24 hours, the air quality of Noida and Greater Noida worsened on Sunday, remaining under the “severe” category for the fourth day in row. Pollution monitoring agencies don’t see a respite for the next few days until the stubble burning drops drastically.

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According to the weather department, the air quality is likely to remain toxic till Diwali, as the weather conditions are likely to remain unsupportive to disperse the pollutants choking the city.

“There was a little wind speed towards the morning hour that helped ventilate the air, however, the wind speed dropped to near three kmph that led to further worsening of the air. The situation is likely to remain so for a week at least,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Meanwhile, instances of stubble burning in neighbouring states, though slightly lesser, continued, with north-westerly and westerly winds bringing smoke to the city, taking pollution levels nine times above the safe limits.

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), there were approximately 3,780 instances of fire counted on Saturday, against 4,528 on Friday.

“Surface winds have become calm, which were moderate so far, and forecasted to stay low in magnitude for the next two days. This is the major factor due to which no quick recovery is expected unless a drastic reduction in fire counts takes place. Air quality is forecasted to marginally deteriorate and stay at the “severe” to the higher end of a “very poor” category for the next two days. The Safar synergised stubble fire counts over Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and neighboring areas stood high at 3,780 Saturday,” said SAFAR statement on Sunday.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of Noida, on a scale of 0 to 500, was 428 on Sunday against 426 a day earlier. The AQI of Greater Noida was 440 on Sunday against 428 on Saturday, while Ghaziabad was 456 against 436 a day earlier.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe.”

Meanwhile, the average particulate matter (PM)2.5 volume for Noida was 266.90 microgrammes per cubic metres (µg/m3) against 346.5µg/m3 a day earlier. The PM10 for Noida was 549.89µg/m3 – nine times the safe limits, against 546.62µg/m3 a day earlier.

The PM2.5 for Greater Noida was 376.56µg/m3 against 321.55 a day earlier and PM10 levels were 608.72µg/m3 against 536.37 a day earlier.

The standard limits for PM2.5 is 40µg/m3 and for PM10 is 60µg/m3.