Air Quality in Delhi Is Actually Better Now Than in 2012, Says Pollution Control Committee Data

             
                                                    A woman held a placard during a rally against air pollution in New Delhi,

Air quality in India’s capital is improving according to readings that might surprise policy makers and campaigners grappling with how to clean up one of the world’s most-polluted cities.

The data collected between 2011 and 2015 from stations operated by Delhi’s state pollution control committee show that levels of dangerous particulate matter, known as PM-2.5, were lowest in 2015.

The highest readings were taken in 2012.

For sure, Delhi isn’t out of the air-pollution woods.

The United Nations World Health Organization says that PM-2.5 levels should be below 10 microns a cubic meter on average over a year and not rise above 25 in any 24-hour period.

Last year, PM-2.5  levels averaged 101 micrograms a cubic meter.

In 2012 though, levels of the tiny particles, which can penetrate the lungs causing respiratory problems, averaged 168 in Delhi and peaked at 427.

That reading was taken in November in Anand Vihar, a neighborhood in north Delhi that has a massive bus terminus that manages over 3000 buses daily and a railway terminal.

The committee said in its report that while pollution levels are high in the city in the hot summer months of May and June, mainly because of dust storms in the neighboring desert state of Rajasthan, they peak in winter when cold temperatures and moisture trap dust, exhaust fumes, soot and smoke in the air.

“Large scale burning of agricultural residue” in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana that neighbor Delhi also contributed significantly to surging pollution levels in Delhi, the report said.

In November, a satellite image of fires burning across farmland in Punja showed the extent of pollution generated by farmers clearing their land ahead of the planting season.

According to a study published in the journal Environmental Pollution in 2011, burning chaff is one of the major causes of greenhouse gas emissions in the region around the Ganges in north India.

Ashwani Kumar, chairman of the pollution control committee, said that air quality in Delhi would remain dismal because of the capital’s wide-ranging temperatures and landlocked situation. “It is more important to address the crux [of the problem] which is how to produce clean energy. That requires substantial investment and good technology,” he added.

The report was commissioned by judges at the Delhi High Court who are currently investigating what is being done to reduce pollution levels.

Authorities in Delhi have taken steps in recent months intended to lower levels of dangerous emissions from cars among other sources.

Late last month, a federal environmental court asked authorities to reduce the number of traditional cremations that use wood to burn corpses to combat environmental damage caused by the religious practice.

For two weeks in January, authorities in the capital restricted the number of private cars on roads by allowing vehicles with even-numbered license plates on alternate days of the week and those with odd numbers on the remaining days.

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