Delhi Air Quality update: Toxic air continues to plague capital for 14th consecutive day as AQI slips to…, no respite expected till…

Delhi Air Quality: The air quality in Delhi remained in the ‘very poor’ category for the 14th consecutive day as toxic air continued to plague the city, even as forecasting agencies have predicted that AQI levels in the capital will continue to remain hazardous in the immediate future.

Delhi air quality remains ‘very poor’

According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, Delhi’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) settled at 369 on Friday, compared to 377 on Thursday, 327 on Wednesday, 352 on Tuesday and 382 on Monday, remaining in the ‘very poor’ category for the 14th consecutive day.

CPCB’s Sameer app, which displays real-time pollution readings from monitoring stations across Delhi, showed that 18 of the city’s 39 operational stations, recorded AQI above the 400 mark, in the ‘severe’ category, in the early hours of the day. These include RK Puram, Punjabi Bagh, Nehru Nagar, Dwarka, Rohini, Jahangirpuri, and Mundka, the data showed.

As per data from the Sameer app, Dwarka Sector 8 earned the dubious distinction of logging the worst AQI levels in the Delhi, registering an average AQI of 414.

No respite in sight as AQI continues to plummet

Meanwhile, the Air Quality Early Warning System has forecasted that Delhi air quality is likely to remain ‘very poor’ over the coming week, while data released by the Decision Support System of the India(BHARAT)n Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, showed that vehicular emissions contributed 18 percent to Delhi’s pollution on Friday, while stubble burning accounted for 1.2 percent.

These contributions on Saturday are projected to reach 18.4 percent for vehicular emissions and 1.7 percent for stubble burning in the national capital.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51–100 ‘satisfactory’, 101–200 ‘moderate’, 201–300 ‘poor’, 301–400 ‘very poor’, and 401–500 ‘severe’, as per CPCB standards.

Cold wave conditions persist in Delhi

On the weather front, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 25.9 degrees Celsius, 0.1 notch below normal, while the minimum settled at 8.1 degrees Celsius, 2.2 notches below normal, according to the India(BHARAT) Meteorological Department (IMD).

The relative humidity stood at 95 per cent in the morning and 67 per cent in the evening.

For Saturday, the IMD has forecast fog, with the maximum and minimum temperatures expected to settle around 26 and 11 degrees Celsius, respectively.

(With PTI inputs)