Mumbai’s air quality slips to poor: SAFAR

Mumbai: Mumbai’s air quality has started deteriorating since the last weekend, with the air quality index (AQI), an indicator of pollutants in the air, recorded at 207 Monday which comes under the “poor” category, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered “good”; between 51 and 100 is considered “moderate”; between 101 and 200 is also considered “moderate”; and between 201 and 300 is considered “poor”.

The overall PM10 level- particulate matter of or less than 10mm in diameter which mostly arises from dust pollution - was recorded at 174 (moderate) Monday.

The PM2.5 — fine particles with diameter less than 2.5mm mostly arising from vehicular and industrial emissions — was recorded at 91 (poor).

Weathermen attributed the increase in air pollution to the fluctuating temperatures in Mumbai which have ranged between 10 and 13 degrees Celsius over the last three days.

“The spike in air pollution could be due to the sudden altering of temperature over the last few days. While the city saw significant lower minimum temperature between 10 and 13 degrees Celsius, the mercury started rising by the weekend. As such, pollutants moved closer to the surface. The pollution was also aggravated due to the low wind movement Sunday,” said Gufran Beig, project director, SAFAR.

The Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) recorded the worst air quality Monday at 289 AQI. This was followed by Malad (266), Andheri (231), Mazagaon (222) and Worli (208). Borivali recorded a minimum temperature of 14.6 degrees Celsius followed by Goregaon at 16.3 degrees Celsius.

“Mumbai mornings still continue to remain pleasant Monday with minimum temperature around 15 to 17 degrees Celsius and maximum crossing 30 degrees Celsius at a few places,” said K.S. Hosalikar, deputy director general, IMD Mumbai.