Air quality improves slightly in Delhi, falls to ‘very poor’ again
DELHI POLLUTION Experts blame it on unfavourable conditions, but say rising wind speed may help disperse pollutants from Sunday
air quality of Delhi, which had nosedived to ‘severe’ levels a day after Diwali on Friday, improved slightly on Saturday and returned to the ‘very poor’ zone once again.
The improvement, however, was marginal this time as the dispersion of pollutants appeared to be much slower when compared to 2016.
Though experts blamed it on unfavourable meteorological conditions, they predicted conditions were likely to improve further on Sunday as the wind speed is picking up and dry north-westerly winds are blowing.
In 2016, the AQI had dropped from 445 on October 31 (one day after Diwali) to 389 on November 1 (two days after Diwali). The improvement was nearly 13%.
This year, however, it dropped from 403 on October 20 (one day after Diwali) to 389 on October 21 (two days after Diwali). The improvement was just around 4%. “The calm winds and high moisture content are not allowing the pollutants to get dispersed. We would need some strong north-westerly winds to flush out the pollutants. This can only happen when the winds get a clear passage from west to east. Any atmospheric system that blocks the passage of winds would be detrimental,” said D Saha, head of the air quality monitoring laboratory at the Central Pollution Control Board.
Officials of the Indian Meteorological Department have forecast that while the north-westerly winds have already started blowing, the wind speed would have picked up from Saturday night.
“The wind speed on Friday was around 5-6 km per hour. On Saturday it increased to around 9 km per hour. We are expecting further improvement on Sunday,”
NEWDELHI:The
Air Quality Index on Saturday at 4pm
Good 0-50 Poor 201-300
Satisfactory 51-100 Very Poor 300-400 said a senior official of the regional weather forecast department. But even though Delhi showed signs of improvement, pollution levels in the NCR, especially Faridabad and Ghaziabad, remained in the ‘severe’ category and continued to deteriorate during the day.
While the AQI of Faridabad shot up from 417 around 9 am to 429 around 8 pm, the AQI of Ghaziabad deteriorated from 438 to 455 during the same period on Saturday. “We need to analyse why the AQI of certain places in deteriorating. The Graded Response Action Plan is already in force and needs to be implemented diligently to curb pollution levels,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy) of Centre for Science and Environment.
CURB ROAD DUST: EPCA TO DELHI, NCR STATES
A number of major roads in Delhi-NCR, which are in a state of disrepair and contribute to dust pollution, have come under the scanner of the Supreme Courtmandated Moderate 101-200 Severe 401-500 EPCA.
The EPCA or the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, has tasked the authorities in the region with preparing a list of such roads — around three each in Delhi, Noida, and Gurgaon for now.
It assumes significance as an IIT Kanpur study on Delhi’s air pollution, considered the most comprehensive report on the issue till date, had identified road dust as the biggest source of suspended particulate matter.
EPCA chairman Bhure Lal said after the identification of the “high-impact” roads, including NH-24, urgent dust control measures would be taken up as part of the larger action plan to contain pollution levels. Officials of Delhi’s environment department and pollution control boards of Haryana and UP were directed to take the requisite steps towards identification of the roads by coordinating with the agencies concerned, including PWD and NHAI. The IIT report had observed that the silt load on Delhi roads is high. PTI