Hindustan Times (Noida)

Noida air still toxic as mercury starts to rise

Several parts of the city experience­d dense morning fog; AQI to stay ‘very poor’ for the next few days

- HT Correspond­ent htreporter­s@hindustant­imes.com

NOIDA: A day after slipping into the “severe” category, the air quality of Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida improved marginally to “very poor” category on Monday with the pollution board expecting no significan­t improvemen­t for the few days. Although the region witnessed dense fog in the early morning, rising temperatur­e and wind speeds led to a partial dispersal of pollutants later in the day, said weather experts.

While the minimum and maximum temperatur­es will be around 10 and 30 degrees Celsius respective­ly for the next few days, the open areas along the Noida-greater Noida Expressway and parts of Western Uttar Pradesh may see dense fog in the morning.however, foggy mornings will give way to warmer days along with rising wind speeds.

According to the weather experts, while parts of Noida, especially Sector 114, was still suffering from a severe level of pollution, in other parts, a slight rise in the wind speed and higher maximum temperatur­es have led to an improvemen­t in the level of ventilatio­n leading to better dispersal of pollutants.

“The wind speed increased slightly towards the daytime reaching 10kmph on Monday. Though the wind speed was not enough to disperse the current volume of pollutants, the higher mercury helped. The temperatur­es in the region on Monday were five degrees higher than the season’s average. High temperatur­e also helped with the dispersal of the pollutants,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecastin­g centre, India Meteorolog­ical Department (IMD).

On Monday, the maximum and minimum temperatur­es for Noida was recorded at 29.1 degrees Celsius and 11.4 degrees Celsius respective­ly.

“Due to zero wind speed during the early morning, regions of western Uttar Pradesh, including the Agra and Lucknow expressway­s, may see dense fog during the early morning hours between 4am to 9am,” Srivastava added.

He also said that the weather conditions will remain almost the same for the next few days and the pollution levels will not see much improvemen­t either.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of Noida on Saturday was recorded at 368 (very poor) as against 416 (severe) a day earlier.

The AQI of Greater Noida was recorded at 349 as against 402 a day earlier. Meanwhile, the air quality of Ghaziabad was 369 — the third worst in country — as against 416 a day earlier

Between February 9 and 14, Noida, Greater Noida and Gaziabad have seen some of the worst pollution levels in the country.

The AQI between 101 to 200 is considered to be “moderate”, while that between 201 and 300 is considered to be “poor”. The air quality between 301 and 400 is considered a “very-poor” while the same above 400 is considered “severe”.

According to the system of air quality and weather forecastin­g and research (SAFAR), the air quality is likely to improve but likely to remain within the “very poor” category for the next few days.

“Surface winds are low and forecasted to improve over the next two days. Better ventilatio­n is likely to influence AQI positively. AQI is likely to improve towards the lower end of Very Poor for the next three days,” read the SAFAR statement on Monday.

NEW DELHI: Water supply in parts of south, east and northeast Delhi remained partially affected on Monday as silt and debris from the flash floods in Uttarakhan­d’s Chamoli district increased turbidity in the Ganga river forcing Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to operate at reduced capacity.

The body’s vice-chairperso­n Raghav Chadha, however, said the water utility has overcome the issue and supply will be normal by Tuesday.

Turbidity is the measure of relative clarity of a liquid. It is measured in NTU. High turbidity can be caused by debris, silt, mud, algae, plant pieces, melting glaciers, sawdust, wood ashes or chemicals in the water.

Chadha visited DJB’S Bhagirathi Water Treatment Plant (WTP) to take stock of the situation. “We treat the raw Ganga water which comes from the Upper Ganga Canal at Muradnagar and provide it to Delhi households. But, due to the calamity in Uttarakhan­d, the quality of water has worsened. The water which we are getting now is of very poor quality as it has a lot of dirt and other particles. Water quality is measured in nephelomet­ric turbidity units (NTU) which touched 8,000, while the permissibl­e limit is 100,” said Chadha.

Chadha said the DJB shut down the Sonia Vihar and Bhagirathi

WTPS. The production capacity of these plants was brought down to combat the situation, he said. These plants together provide around 250 MGD water per day.

“Due to high level of dirt in the raw water, supply was affected in areas of south, east and northeast Delhi. In Bhagirathi treatment plant, water NTU has been reduced from 8000 to 960 and in Sonia Vihar it has been brought down from 8200 NTU to 1000,” said Chadha.

Residents in several areas complained nil or irregular supply on Monday. These include Greater Kailash-2, Defence Colony, Vigyan Vihar, South Extension-2, Kailash Colony, Jamia Nagar, Panchsheel Enclave, Krishna Nagar, Jafrabad, Seelampur among others.

The DJB in a statement said the Bhagirathi water treatment plant (WTP) is now working at 100% and Sonia Vihar at 80% capacity. In many areas, residents had to buy water cans or rely on tankers to meet the water shortage. RWAS also issued instructio­ns to residents to judiciousl­y use water for a few days.

Sanjay Rana, president, Greater Kailash-2 RWA, said there was no prior intimation about the disruption of water supply hence people could not fill their tanks or store water.

“There had been no supply of water since Sunday evening. The authoritie­s told us about the water crisis only on Sunday evening, saying that there will be no supply in the evening and next (Monday) morning as well. This led to water shortage in almost every household in the area. People had to buy 20-litre water cans for their daily chores,” Rana said.

He added that the DJB officials have assured them that the supply would become normal by Tuesday.

Ranjeet Singh, president, Defence Colony RWA, said there was no water supply in the area. “Water supply was impacted in the colony since Sunday evening, and there was no supply today. No one got the opportunit­y to fill their tanks or store extra water as there was no prior intimation,” Singh said.

Several areas in east Delhi were also due to the break in supply.

BS Vohra, president of a joint forum of east Delhi RWAS said in some areas such as Vigyan Vihar, Preet Vihar among others there was no water supply on Monday. In other areas, bad quality water was supplied for a short duration.

On the allegation­s that there was no prior informatio­n, a DJB spokespers­on said, “The informatio­n was shared through social media handles. It was tweeted during the day on Sunday by the vice chairperso­n and most MLAS also sent out messages to RWA groups.”

 ?? SUNIL GHOSH/HT PHOTO ?? The minimum and maximum temperatur­e will be around 10 and 30 degrees Celsius for the next few days.
SUNIL GHOSH/HT PHOTO The minimum and maximum temperatur­e will be around 10 and 30 degrees Celsius for the next few days.
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