After A Long Spell Of Dust Storms & Vehicular Pollution, Delhi Finally Breathes ¡®Good¡¯ Air

After staying at the bottom of the Air Quality Index for months, the national capital on Friday recorded ¡°Good¡± air quality. Delhi has been receiving good monsoon rains for the last few days which has cleared the air of dust, thus improving the quality.

An AQI in the range of 0-50 is considered "Good", 51-100 "Satisfactory", 101-200 "Moderate", 201-300 "Poor", 301-400 "Very Poor" and 401-500 "Severe".

The clean air experience for the people pf Delhi comes after a long spell of poor air quality. Frequent dust storms, vehicular emission and construction activities had a detrimental effect in the respiratory health of residents as air quality remained in ¡°severe¡± level.

PTI

The PM10 level, which is the presence of particles with diameter less than 10mm, was recorded at 801 in Delhi and at 754 in Delhi-NCR on June 15.

On Friday, the PM10 level was recorded as ¡°good¡± at 39 in Delhi-NCR and 32 in Delhi.

On June 15, PM2.5, microscopic particles that lodge deep into the lungs and cause the most harm, levels were recorded at 320, a "very unhealthy" score.

The PM2.5 level (presence of particles with diameter less than 2.5 mm) was 39 in Delhi-NCR and 21 in Delhi on Friday.

AFP

Nearly 15,000 people died prematurely due to the hazardous level of air pollution in the national capital in 2016. The pollution by fine particulate matter has been a massive cause of congestion in lungs and other breathing problems.

A new study ranked Delhi third in a list of cities reporting most deaths due to air pollution. Shanghai accounted for most premature deaths at 17,600 and Beijing with 18,200 deaths due to PM2.5 pollutant.