Delhi's air quality turns 'very poor'; AQI stands at 307

Delhi's air quality deteriorated for the seventh consecutive day on Tuesday. The national capital's average air quality index (AQI) reached 307, which falls in the very poor category.

AQI near Delhi Institute of Tool Engineering in Wazirpur stands at 369 whereas in Rohini and Mundka, the air quality has reached hazardous levels with an AQI of 470 and 421, respectively.

AQI levels between 0-50 are considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 400 'very poor' and 401-500 'very severe'.

Also read: Delhi air quality turns 'poor' for 6th day on the trot; AQI at 278

Delhi's air pollution levels are going to be impacted by an increase in farm fires in Punjab, Haryana and neighbouring regions of Pakistan, according to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi.

Contribution of farm fires in neighbouring states to air pollution in Delhi reaches 44 per cent during the harvest season. According to SAFAR, farm fires have contributed 3 per cent particulate matter to Delhi's PM2.5 concentration on Monday.

Also read: Delhi air pollution: Arvind Kejriwal to launch anti-stubble burning solution on Tuesday

Apart from farm fires, transportation and road dust are the other important contributors to Delhi's worsening air quality. According to a Council on Energy, Environment and Water analysis, transportation contributes the most, i.e, 18-39 per cent to Delhi air pollution. This is followed closely by road dust at 18-38 per cent, industries at 2-29 per cent, thermal power plants at 3-11 per cent and construction at 8 per cent.

This year, air pollution in Delhi-NCR will not only lead to smog but also an uptick in coronavirus cases , according to experts.

Also read: Took several bold steps to tackle climate change, air pollution in Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal

Edited by Mehak Agarwal with PTI inputs