Despite the rain on Friday, air quality has become a concern as high humidity with air pollution can lead to severe health issues.
Despite the rain on Friday, air quality has become a concern as high humidity with air pollution can lead to severe health issues. Although the sudden downpour has provided some respite from the heat, poor air quality coupled with humidity has already affected the health of some people.
Many patients have already complained of respiratory and gastroenteritis problems. “For the past two to three days, the temperature was high but suddenly the rainfall brought down the temperature. Again on Saturday, the temperature rose. This fluctuation provides the best breeding condition for viral infections,” said Dr Niranjan Agarwal, a general physician.
Those who expected fresh air after the sudden shower were disappointed as the air quality in the city was still poor.
As per the data of System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the air quality index (AQI) of the city was in the category of ‘poor’ with 220 mg/u3 (microgrammes per cubic metre). This can aggravate respiratory problems among people as the air pollutants can get mixed with moisture and lead to respiratory problems, said experts. On Saturday, the humidity level was 85 in the city.
“When air pollution mixes with water droplets present in the air, it comes closer to the earth’s surface. So, when people breathe in the air, they inhale higher amount of pollutants,” said Rishi Aggarwal, an environmentalist.
With fluctuating change in temperature and high level of pollution, mostly the aged and young children fall prey to it.
On Saturday, among the nine air quality monitoring stations, Malad recorded the highest amount of air pollution in the city as per the data of SAFAR. The particulate matter size 2.5 was measured as 332 mg/u3 at the station that fell in the criteria of ‘very poor’ in the air quality index.
“Patients with asthma or any respiratory problems should take precautionary measures. Along with that, they should boil drinking water before consuming it; this can help in controlling gastroenteritis problems,” said Dr Pushpa Agarwal, another general physician from Malad.
