Air improves, Gurugram cleanest in Delhi-NCR

GURUGRAM: City’s air improved slightly on Monday making it the cleanest in Delhi-NCR. The air quality index (AQI) which was recorded at 343 on Sunday improved to 316 (very poor) on Monday.
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According to the Met department, the change in wind direction improved the air in western areas (including Gurugram). All other cities in Delhi-NCR recorded the AQI in ‘severe’ levels.Delhi recorded the AQI at 448, Faridabad at 459, Ghaziabad at 439, Greater Noida at 434 and Noida at 464.
A Met official added that the air in the city is likely to improve in the coming days as the wind direction is expected to change. “The wind direction will change from north-west to east. This might bring some relief but again as the wind speed is expected to increase, the cold conditions will persist,” he said.
Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality got fouler on Monday as the AQI was ‘severe’ at 446, fouler than Sunday’s 431, according to the Central Pollution Control Board readings.
The frigid temperatures, high humidity and low wind speed allows accumulation of pollutants leading to further deterioration.
Data according to CPCB’s central control room showed Delhi-NCR’s average PM2.5 levels at 285.4 micrograms per cubic metre at 8pm on Monday. The average PM10 levels, at the same time, were meanwhile recorded at 420.5 micrograms per cubic metre, data showed. The ‘emergency’ benchmark for these pollutants under GRAP is, respectively, 300 and 500 micrograms per cubic metre while the safe standards are 60 and 100 micrograms per cubic metre.
According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research, a body under the ministry of earth sciences under the Union government, there might be marginal improvement in sight under the influence of the approaching western disturbance. Surface winds are likely to pick up by afternoon and the improved ventilation is likely to influence AQI positively. Isolated rainfall is likely over Delhi by January 2 and it is likely to improve AQI further by the weekend.