Pollution level ‘severe’, but air quality improves

New Delhi: Delhi’s pollution level decreased on Saturday but continued to remain in the “severe” category even as authorities expressed hope that the air quality would improve during the day due to dispersion of pollutants.

“The pollution level, which dipped to the ‘severe plus state,’ is slowly reducing due to dispersion of pollutants,” the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research institute (Safar) said.

According to the data by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the PM10 level (presence of particles with diameter less than 10 mm) was recorded at 522 in Delhi-NCR and 529 in Delhi on Saturday. The PM10 level had climbed to 778 in Delhi-NCR area and 824 in Delhi on Wednesday, bringing to light that severe pollution could be a “summer-time problem” too.

The PM2.5 level (presence of particles with diameter less than 2.5 mm), which deteriorated from “very poor” to “severe,” has now returned to the “very poor” category. It was 124 in Delhi-NCR and Delhi on Saturday, the CPCB data said.

Meanwhile, the civil construction activities remain debarred in the city till Sunday.

There was a dip in the air quality level on Tuesday owing to dust storms in western India, particularly Rajasthan, which increased the presence coarser particles in the air, the CPCB had said.

However, the dispersion of pollutants became faster after the local winds picked up speed on Friday, which in turn improved the air quality, said Gufran Beig, a scientist at Safar. He added that the air quality is expected to improve further.

The IMD has predicted cloudy days in the national capital with the possibility of thundershowers.