New Delhi: Delhi’s air quality dipped on Wednesday due to a drastic fall in wind speed, triggering rapid accumulation of pollutants and a grey haze, which affected visibility across the city.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 359, marking the return of ‘very poor’ air after eight days. The AQI had turned ‘moderate’ on December 12 and since then had remained ‘poor’.
CPCB scientist Dipankar Saha said the situation is likely to improve soon as winds blowing from the North will bring down temperature. “We are witnessing calm conditions but good news is that wind is likely to come from north and we can expect drop in temperature, and fog,” Mr Saha said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government tested an anti-smog gun in Anand Vihar, one of the pollution hotspots in the city.
The anti-smog gun, however, had little effect in containing the level of particulates at the area. While the air quality index was at 413, under the ‘severe’ category, in the morning when the trial run started, it kept rising after that. It was recorded at 461 at 3 pm and 483 at 7 pm. The device sprays atomised water up to a height of 50 metres, into the air to help pollutants settle and bring them to the ground. The device can be taken to different parts of the city on a vehicle.
The pollution levels at Anand Vihar, densely populated and a transport hub, remains in the ‘very poor’ or ‘severe’ category for most part of the year and the area was chosen to see if this machine could bring down the pollution levels at all. If so, it could be rolled out on the city’s street soon. The pollution levels did not drop despite the fact that the spraying of water was largely centred around the monitoring station of Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).
