THANE: Even though the showers over the last two days has yet to bring Thaneites the much-needed respite from the sweltering heat and humidity, it seem to have given them a breath of fresh air by clearing the air pollutants.
The
air pollution levels, which is mainly gauged by the quantity of
respirable suspended particulate matter (
RSPM), has gone down by 40%. This has been revealed by the data collected by the civic body’s pollution control department.
While the permissible limit of RSPM is 100gm per metric cube (g/m3), the recorded RSPM levels in the last few days has been as low as 102g/m3 to as high as 167 g/m3.
On Sunday, this pollutant concentration dropped drastically to an average of 67.5g/m3 level and stayed around the same on Monday.
The nitrogen dioxide (NOx) and sulphur dioxide (SO2)levels in the air also dropped by 40% and 20%, respectively.
“There is a continuous supply of toxic, dust and other air pollutants from vehicles, air conditioners and construction sites throughout the year. While the pollution level in winter is high as the crystallised pollutants don’t move much as the air is in a constant state of inertia, summer causes these particles to rise in the atmosphere, again adding to the air pollution level. In monsoon, all these pollutants are washed down by the rains and the air is cleared. The toxic gases are dissolve while the remaining dust or RSPM is washed down to the ground,” said a civic official.
Weathermen assert that while the pre-monsoon showers have already reduced the pollution levels in the city, the heavy rains which are most likely to start by this weekend will improve the air quality further.
“We expect the rains to pick up intensity on Wednesday and Thursday and pockets of Mumbai, Thane and Dahanu are most likely to witness extremely heavy rain at the start of monsoon which is likely to commence in between Friday and Monday. While these showers are bound to bring down the air pollution levels, citizens need to be on high alert as there could be cases of flooding,” said Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist at skymetweather.
