Hyderabad: Hyderabad’s air quality took a drastic dip as the city and the nation celebrated the festival of Diwali by bursting firecrackers throughout the night on Monday.
According to data from the Air Quality Index website, the average air quality in the city on October 18 was at ‘8’ which falls in the ‘good’ air quality category of 0-50. But as Diwali approached and firecracker celebrations went up, the graph showed a massive dip in air quality reaching its worst of ‘654’ on Tuesday at 07:06 in the morning which falls under the category of ‘Hazardous’ (401-500).
Prolonged exposure to ‘Hazardous’ category air can lead to premature deaths, the website said.
The latest PM2.5 concentration in Hyderabad at 11:53 am on Tuesday was 8.2 times above the recommended limit given by the WHO 24 hrs air quality guidelines value.
Also, the air quality index for the mostly residential regions of Sanathnagar, New Malakpet, Somajiguda, and Ramachandrapuram monitoring stations was at 500 around 11 p.m. and stayed there until early the next morning, according to data accessible from the Pollution Control Board website. The highest of the Nacharam monitoring stations was 446 at 11:00 p.m.
(Air Quality data across several areas in Hyderabad at 12:09 pm on Tuesday)
PM 2.5, or fine particulate matter, is a unit of measurement for the air quality index. A warning that “affects healthy persons and substantially hurts those with existing ailments” is included with the Central Pollution Control Board’s classification of AQI readings over 400 as severe.
Higher air pollution levels are associated with increased cardiovascular, and respiratory illnesses and increased frequency and severity of Covid-19 infections.
According to a recent study, Hyderabad stood at the fourth place as the most polluted city after Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai and is the most polluted mega city in the southern part of the country as per the data on IQAir website on October 21.
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