Air quality in Delhi inches close to the ‘very poor category

On Monday morning, Delhi’s air quality inches closer to the “very poor” category as unfavorable climatic conditions enabled pollutants to accumulate and stubble burning and firework blasts made the situation worse.

The city’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was 259 on Sunday night, the lowest for the day before Diwali in seven years. However, as individuals let off firecrackers in various sections of the capital at night and amid a dip in temperature and wind speed, pollution levels crept up. Most farm fires have occurred this season so far (1,318).

The AQI for Delhi was 298 at 6 am on Monday. 19 of the 35 monitoring sites in the city recorded “very poor” air quality readings, while one (Anand Vihar) reported “severe” pollution levels.

Poor air quality was observed in the nearby cities of Ghaziabad (300), Noida (299), Greater Noida (282), Gurugram (249), and Faridabad (248).

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An AQI of 0 to 50 is considered “good,” 51 to 100 as “satisfactory,” 101 to 200 as “moderate,” 201 to 300 as “poor,” 301 to 400 as “very poor,” and 401 to 500 as “severe.” SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, had earlier cautioned that due to calm winds and low temperatures that allow for the quick accumulation of pollutants in the air, the air quality may become “very poor” on Monday morning.l

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