At 265, Delhi recorded the lowest air quality index (AQI) for the day before Diwali in seven years on Sunday, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.
Last year, the AQI on November 3 (a day before Diwali) was 314. It had shot up to 382 on the Diwali day and 462 the next day. In 2020, Delhi recorded an AQI of 296 a day before Diwali (November 13), while it worsened to 414 on Diwali and 435 the day after.
The capital logged an AQI of 287 on the day before the festival in 2019. It worsened to 337 on Diwali (October 27) and further to 368 the next day. The AQI was 338 on the day before Diwali in 2018. Interestingly, it improved to 281 on the Diwali day before aggravating to 390 the next day.
The AQI was 302 and 404 on the day before Diwali in 2017 and 2016, the CPCB data showed. The air quality in the capital is predicted to turn “very poor” on Monday morning while it could worsen to the “severe” category on Tuesday due to emissions from firecrackers and an increase in the share of smoke from stubble burning because of a favourable wind speed and direction.
Meanwhile, the pollution level in Delhi this Diwali is likely to hit ‘severe’ category with PM 2.5 levels estimated to shoot up to nearly five times the safe standard if firecrackers are burst the same way as last year, System for Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar) predicted in its forecast for Diwali week released on Saturday.
Scientists at Safar, under the Union Minister of Earth Sciences (MoES), said that if the additional pollution load from firecracker bursting is same as the previous year (25% of long-term average) coinciding with farm fire emissions, which also likely to pick up from Monday, Delhi’s air quality is likely to touch ‘severe’ while the air quality index (AQI) is expected to cross 400-mark. The air is then considered unsafe to breathe even for healthy people.
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