Delhi air quality better than Mumbai

Air quality of several Mumbai areas on Monday oscillated between “poor” and “very poor”, against the backdrop of Deonar dumping ground fire, while in Delhi it was “good” due to favourable weather conditions.

According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the average level of fine respirable pollutants PM 2.5 fell in the “poor” category in Mumbai as opposed to Delhi where it was recorded as “good”.

Even in terms of air quality index (AQI), Delhi fared better than Mumbai when checked around 6 pm. AQI of the SAFAR’s Delhi monitoring stations were moderate, while two stations in Mumbai had “very poor” AQI and four had “poor”.

An AQI of 301-400 is considered very poor which may give rise to respiratory illness on prolonged exposure. When its is between 201-300, it is regarded as poor, which may cause breathing discomfort on prolonged exposure.

At 6.20 pm, the real time readings of PM 2.5 in Delhi and Mumbai were 57 and 97.8 micrograms per cubic metre (ug/m3). The corresponding PM 10 levels were 135.9 and 138.5 respectively.

The safe limits of PM 2.5 and PM 10, microscopic particles that can enter and embed deep into the lungs and subsequently bloodstream, are 60 and 100 ug/m3 respectively.

Fresh smoke was witnessed this morning at the Deonar dumping ground, where the fire which has been raging for three days now intensified Sunday evening even as people living in the vicinity complained of discomfort due to the fumes emanating from the site.

Areas close to Deonar such as Chembur had air quality in the very poor category.

Chembur and BKC stations of SAFAR recorded AQI of 301 and 309 respectively.

This is the second big blaze in the area in less than two months.

A massive fire had broken out at the dumping yard, spread over 326 acres, on January 27, leading to a thick blanket of smog in various parts of Mumbai.