Temperature dips, pollution levels stay high in city

MUMBAI : The city continued to have ‘poor’ air quality, with firecrackers being burst in most parts of Mumbai till early Saturday. The pollutant measuring indicator — air quality index (AQI) — was at 230 (poor).

AQI level from 0-50 is considered good; 51-100 is satisfactory; 101-200 is moderate; 201-300 is poor; 301-400 is very poor; and 401 and above is severe.

Meanwhile, the temperatures in Mumbai also witnessed a dip, with the weather station in Santacruz recording 35.4 degrees Celsius, a drop of almost one degree over the past three days.

The Diwali week saw pollution levels in the city gradually rise, as AQI levels went from being 95 (satisfactory) on Monday to 145 (moderate) on Tuesday to 221 (poor) on Wednesday. It peaked on Thursday with an AQI of 305 (poor) owing to firecracker emissions. Although, the AQI dipped to 242 (poor) on Friday and 230 on Saturday, experts said the levels may rise in coming days.

On Saturday, Andheri, Malad and Mazagaon were the most polluted, with AQI of 377, 338 and 329, falling under the ‘very poor’ category. Researchers said air quality would have improved but weather conditions delayed it. “The wind speed was low... it did not allow swift dispersion of pollutants,” said Gurfran Beig, project director, System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).