Delhi air quality remains in ‘very poor’ category

Delhi’s air quality was in the ‘very poor’ category for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday morning with the average air quality index (AQI) of 328 (very poor) recorded at 9am.
This is an improvement from Wednesday’s 4pm reading of 364 (very poor), with an increase in wind speed – up to 15 to 20 km/hr helping disperse pollutants.
Delhi’s AQI is expected to remain very poor till Saturday, the Centre’s Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi states, adding there are chances of the AQI turning severe and crossing 400 next week.
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The AQI turned ‘very poor’ for the first time this winter season on Monday, prompting the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to invoke stage-2 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).
Delhi’s average AQI on Thursday was calculated on the basis of 33 out of Delhi’s 40 ambient air quality monitoring stations, with Anand Vihar (389) the worst impacted. A total of 27 stations were in the very poor range, with six in the poor category.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) classifies AQI between 0-50 as “good”, between 51 and 100 as “satisfactory”, between 101 and 200 as “moderate”, between 201 and 300 as “poor”, between 301 and 400 as “very poor”, and over 400 as “severe”.
There was an increase in air pollution on Wednesday, following a change in wind direction to northwesterly, allowing stubble intrusion to increase in Delhi.
On Tuesday, the contribution was stubble burning was pegged at 8%, the Centre’s Decision Support System (DSS) showed. The contribution on Wednesday was estimated to be around 11.1%.
“The wind direction will predominantly remain northwesterly for the next two to three days too, meaning if farm fires are high, AQI can shoot up again,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet.
Delhi’s minimum temperature was 20.7°C on Thursday. This was three degrees above normal and 0.2°C higher than Wednesday’s minimum. The maximum is forecast to be around 35°C on Thursday.