New Delhi: Delhi's air quality witnessed a gradual regression on Diwali due to bursting of firecrackers, with few areas of the city recording 'critical' level of pollution, while the rest fell largely in 'very poor' category on the air monitoring scale.
The pollution levels spiked as much as 23 times higher than normal in arguably the most polluted spot of the capital city. As per the real time ambient air quality data of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, the Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM), which directly affects breathing, has gone up by over 23 times from the national ambiance air quality standard at Anand Vihar.
At 11pm, PM10 was recorded at 2,308 microgram per cubic meter (mpcm) against the prescribed standard is 100mpcm. At the same time PM2.5 spiked to as high as 619mpcm at midnight against the prescribed standard of 60mpcm.
At RK Puram, PM10 was at its peak at 1am at 1,333mpcm while PM2.5 touched 985mpcm at 9.20pm. In nearby Punjabi Bagh area, the PM2.5 was highest at 1am when it was recorded 638 mpcm while PM10 was recorded as 1,033mpcm at the same point of time. .
As the day progressed, suspended both particulate matters (PM 2.5 and 10) shot up to unhealthy levels across the capital, leading to the World Air Quality Index issuing a health alert, due to the potential "serious health effects", especially among patients, children and the elderly.
The air quality at other SAFAR monitoring stations in Pusa (PM10: 263), Lodi Road (PM10: 250), Noida (PM2.5: 298), Mathura Road (PM10: 297), Aya Nagar (PM10: 268), Dhirpur (PM10: 289), Airport (T3) (PM2.5: 351), Pitampura (PM2.5: 381) and Gurgaon (PM2.5: 300) oscillated between ‘poor' and ‘very poor'.
Delhi University was the most polluted spot in the city with PM2.5 touching an average of 430 mg per cubic metre, which is a ‘severe' reading, said SAFAR.
PM 2.5 are extremely fine particulate matters, with a diameter smaller than 2.5 microns, that can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract and cause harm to the lungs. PM 10 are comparatively larger but also have the potential to cause health effects.
Sulphur dioxide (SO2) levels were also very high on Wednesday and early Thursday morning. SO2 inhalation can have serious health impacts which can lead to bronchoconstriction (inflammation, constriction of air ways) and aggravated asthma symptoms. At around 11 pm SO2 levels were recorded at 253 micrograms per cubic metres at Anand Vihar and 259 micrograms per cubic metre at Mandir Marg.
The meteorological department had cautioned that pollution level during Diwali night would be "severe" due to fireworks and bursting of firecrackers and advised those persons with heart and lung diseases to stay indoors.
Delhi government led by Arvind Kejriwal is planning to introduce certain measures to curb down air and noise pollution from next year. The govt is considering to bring down the permissible decibel levels of firecrackers and banning the use of certain metals in the manufacture of firecrackers.
“The norms for regulating firecrackers need to be revisited. The cut off for noise-levels in firecrackers is 145 decibels, which is very high. Under the existing norms, firecrackers can be quite lethal in terms of noise; that needs to be brought down,” said Environment Secretary Ashwani Kumar.
