Rain brings some relief to people from pollution in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Rain and wind brought down pollution in air on Sunday, bringing some relief to the people in the national capital.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) in the city was 338.
An AQI between 100 and 200 comes under ‘moderate’ category, 201 and 300 is considered ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, while that between 401 and 500 is ‘severe’. Delhi’s air quality has been oscillating between upper range of ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ category for the past two weeks.

The overall PM2.5 level (fine particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers) was recorded at 184 while the PM10 (fine particulate matter in the air with a diameter of less than 10 micrometers) level was at 274.

The Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR) said the overall air quality in Delhi was ‘very poor’.

“The rainfall along with sufficient wind speed was enough to wash away air pollutants to an extent and improved the AQI. Air quality is likely to improve much faster during the day as moderate surface wind speed is positively working to disperse pollutants which is the key factor now in keeping pollution in check under cool and foggy weather conditions,” the SAFAR said.