Gurugram air finally 'good' due to unexpected rains and wind

Gurugram, Oct 08: Untimely rains in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) is proving a blessing in disguise for the environment and people as it has improved the air quality index (AQI) of the region.

Following the rain accompanied by heavy winds, the AQI of Gurugram improved to 'good' on Friday from a 'poor' on Wednesday. The AQI was recorded 41 which was 73 (satisfactory) on Thursday and 238 (poor) on Wednesday.

Earlier the city, which is also called the millennium city, witnessed a good air day on September 16, when the AQI was 48, according to a report by The Times of India.

Surprisingly, the city has so far witnessed six good air days in the year.

As per the report, this year between Jan-Oct 2022 now, the city has witnessed 110 moderate days, 46 satisfactory days, 20 very poor days and 97 poor days

The city reported a single good air day when the AQI was 36 on October 18, 2021.

The city has four AQI monitoring stations of which two, one located at sector 51 recorded an AQI of 36, while it was 46 at Teri Gram. The rest two have no data available, according to the report published in the English daily.

It is expected that the air quality will further improve due to rain and strong winds in the coming days.

"PM2.5 levels reported by continuous monitoring stations in Gurugram saw improvement from 150+ ug/m3 at 10 am yesterday to less than 40 ug/m3 at night. This can be attributed to the sudden change in wind direction from the northwest to southeast and east on Thursday afternoon at 3pm. For the next three days, the peak wind speed is forecast to be 14-16kmph in Delhi-NCR, causing moderate dispersion of pollutants," said Tanushree Ganguly, programme lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), according to the TOI report.

She also added that the migration of a low-pressure area from the Bay of Bengal towards central India and its interaction with a western disturbance are also likely to cause light to moderate rainfall over many parts of north India, including Delhi-NCR.

"Strong easterly winds, combined with rainfall in the coming days, are likely to help AQI stay in the 'moderate' and 'satisfactory' categories," quoted the report as saying.