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Delhi: Winter pollution dips a little, but still way off safe mark, says study

NEW DELHI: The national capital region, including Delhi, saw only marginal improvement in air pollution this winter despite receiving one of the highest recorded rainfalls. Track the pollution level in your city According to a report by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the pollution levels, between October 2021 and February 2022, were extremely high and far from meeting the safety standards. The non-stubble sources accounted for almost 80% of the seasonal average PM2.5 levels. The report stated that even with an average rainfall of 217mm, Delhi’s average and peak PM2.5 levels this winter were 172ug/m3 and 516ug/m3 as against 189 and 542ug/m3 and 114mm rainfall in the previous winter. Though at a declining trend, Delhi still had the highest number of days with “severe” air quality. “Delhi recorded 25 days with ‘severe’ air quality. It was followed by Ghaziabad recording 16 days. Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon recorded 15, 13 and five days,” the report stated, adding that Ghaziabad was the most polluted among the four major satellite towns. “Elevated pollution levels and smog episodes are evidence of the systemic pollution that has continued due to inadequate infrastructure for pollution control in all sectors. This can be tamed only if round-the-year action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and the region,” says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of CSE. The report stated that the average PM2.5 from stubble burning was 28ug/m3 per day while the rest was of “non-stubble origin”. According to the report, 30 out of the 38 air quality monitoring stations in Delhi recorded a declining trend, but Lodhi Road and Rohini registered the highest peak pollution. “Wazirpur was the only recognised hotspot that registered a worsening air quality. All other locations on the Delhi-NCR pollution hotspot list saw a decline... compared with last winter,” it stated. Bahadurgarh, with an average of 131ug/m3, continues to be the least polluted hotspot, while Jahangirpuri, with 252ug/m3 average, was the dirtiest in Delhi.

Winter air poor despite rain

Despite its wettest winter in several decades, the Capital only saw a marginal reduction in pollution this time around as compared to last year, according to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Despite recording its wettest winter in the last several decades, Delhi only saw a marginal reduction in pollution this time around as compared to last year, found an analysis released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Wednesday. Analysing a five-month period from October 1, 2021, to February 28, 2022, the city-wide average PM 2.5 level was found to be 172 microgramme per cubic metre (μg/m3) -- over four times the national annual standard of 40μg/m3 and the daily standard of 60μg/m3. This is 9% lower than the seasonal average during the corresponding period in 2020-21 (189μg/m3), and similar to the pollution level in 2019-20 (173μg/m3). The 2018-19 winter saw an average PM2.5 level of 190μg/m3. The analysis also found the seasonal peak PM 2.5 level (516μg/m3) to be 5% lower than in 2020-21 (542μg/m3) and 2019-20 (549μg/m3). “Meteorologically, this winter was the wettest in recent years with almost two-three fold more rainfall compared to previous winters, bulk of which happened in January, making it the least polluted January since real-time air quality monitoring started in the city. But, this meteorological advantage did not give much reprieve to the city as a rapid build-up in between rainy spells and formation of smog episodes during the rainless periods kept overall seasonal average very high,” said the analysis. Delhi recorded 217mm of rainfall during this winter period -- nearly double of the 114mm recorded in the previous winter. The Capital was 74mm during the 2019-20 winter and 86mm in 2018-19 winter.

Marginal improvement in Delhi-NCR's air quality this winter season despite record rain

Delhi recorded 25 "severe" air quality days this winter season – equalling the number of such days in 2019-20 – despite heavy and prolonged rains, according to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment. The city also saw two days of 'good' air and seven days of 'satisfactory' air this winter, which is an improvement from the last winter season when no such low-pollution days were recorded. This high variability in air quality this winter can be attributed to the increased number of heavy rainfall days and colder-than-usual weather. The winter average of PM2.5 for Delhi stood at 172 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3), which is equal to the average of the 2019-20 winter season but is 9 per cent lower than the seasonal average of the 2020-21 winter. Meteorologically, this winter was the wettest in recent years with almost two-three times more rainfall, bulk of which happened in January, compared to previous winters, making it the least polluted January since real-time air quality monitoring started in the city. But this meteorological advantage did not give much reprieve to the city as a rapid build-up in between rainy spells and the formation of smog episodes during rainless periods kept the overall seasonal average very high, the green think tank said. "Elevated pollution levels and smog episodes are evidence of the systemic pollution that has continued in the region due to inadequate infrastructure and systems for pollution control in all sectors. "This can be tamed only if round-the-year action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and the region. Action has to be performance-based to meet the clean air standards," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Research and Advocacy, CSE. Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager, Urban Lab Analytics, CSE, said, "Even though there is considerable variation in seasonal averages across the region, winter pollution episodes are alarmingly high and synchronised in the region despite large distances." "This is the challenge of this landlocked region. Despite being the wettest winter, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources are higher than that from stubble smoke," Somvanshi said. PTI GVS DIV DIV

Marginal improvement in Delhi-NCR’s air quality this winter season despite record rain

Delhi recorded 25 “severe” air quality days this winter season – equalling the number of such days in 2019-20 – despite heavy and prolonged rains, according to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment. The city also saw two days of ‘good’ air and seven days of ‘satisfactory’ air this winter, which is an improvement from the last winter season when no such low-pollution days were recorded. This high variability in air quality this winter can be attributed to the increased number of heavy rainfall days and colder-than-usual weather. The winter average of PM2.5 for Delhi stood at 172 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3), which is equal to the average of the 2019-20 winter season but is 9 per cent lower than the seasonal average of the 2020-21 winter. Meteorologically, this winter was the wettest in recent years with almost two-three times more rainfall, bulk of which happened in January, compared to previous winters, making it the least polluted January since real-time air quality monitoring started in the city. VDO.AI But this meteorological advantage did not give much reprieve to the city as a rapid build-up in between rainy spells and the formation of smog episodes during rainless periods kept the overall seasonal average very high, the green think tank said. “Elevated pollution levels and smog episodes are evidence of the systemic pollution that has continued in the region due to inadequate infrastructure and systems for pollution control in all sectors. “This can be tamed only if round-the-year action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and the region. Action has to be performance-based to meet the clean air standards,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Research and Advocacy, CSE. Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager, Urban Lab Analytics, CSE, said, “Even though there is considerable variation in seasonal averages across the region, winter pollution episodes are alarmingly high and synchronised in the region despite large distances.” “This is the challenge of this landlocked region. Despite being the wettest winter, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources are higher than that from stubble smoke,” Somvanshi said. PTI GVS DIV DIV

Regional Sources Bigger Contributor Than Stubble Smoke To Delhi-NCR Winter Pollution: CSE

Despite being this winter being the wettest, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources were higher than that from stubble smoke, an analysis of winter pollution for Delhi-NCR by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed on Wednesday. While there had been a minor drop in the seasonal level compared to previous winters, the level is still extremely high, and far from meeting the safety standards, the CSE researchers said, warning that if not acted upon immediately, this trend can worsen in the coming years negating the downward dip of the pandemic years. The CSE carried out the analysis of real-time data from monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR for the entire winter period – starting from October 1, 2021 till February 28, 2022. “Elevated pollution levels and smog episodes are evidence of the systemic pollution that has continued in the region due to inadequate infrastructure and systems for pollution control in all sectors. This can be tamed only if round the year action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and the region,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, CSE. Avikal Somvanshi, Programme manager, Urban Lab Analytics, CSE, said: “Even though there is considerable variation in seasonal averages across the region, winter pollution episodes are alarmingly high and synchronised in the region despite large distances. Despite being the wettest winter, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources are higher than that from stubble smoke.” According to SAFAR, smoke from the stubble fire in northern states started contributing to Delhi’s PM2.5 level from October 10, 2021 and ended on November 30, 2021. During these 52 days, the percentage contribution varied between one per cent and 48 per cent, with the latter being reported on November 7, 2021. This winter’s stubble fire season was four days shorter than the ones in the previous two winters. The number of days when percentage contribution was over 40 per cent was the same this winter as last year: just two days. But if looked at from absolute concentration terms, this year had twice the number of days when the PM2.5 load from stubble fire was high enough to plunge Delhi’s air quality into ‘very poor’ category on its own. Further, these high contribution load days happened in a cluster, which indicates that the biggest bulk burning instances took place in a span of fewer days this year than in the previous years. This might be due to the extended monsoon which reduced the rain-free period before the sowing of the wheat crop. The city-wide winter average for Delhi stood at 172 micro-gram per cubic metre, which is identical to the seasonal average of the winter of 2019-20 but is nine per cent lower than the seasonal average of 2020-21 winter. The seasonal peak was about five per cent lower than both preceding winters. Number of days with severe or worse air quality bounced back to pre-Covid levels: This winter, 25 days had the city-wide average in ‘severe’ or ‘worse’ AQI category — up from 23 such days in the previous winter and on par with 25 days in the winter of 2019-20. The CSE used data as recorded by 81 air quality monitoring stations under the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) while the farm stubble fire data was sourced from System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). Weather data was sourced from the Safdarjang weather station of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

Regional Sources Bigger Contributor Than Stubble Smoke To Delhi-NCR Winter Pollution: CSE

Despite being this winter being the wettest, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and Regional sources were higher than that from Stubble Smoke, an analysis of winter pollution for Delhi-NCR by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed on Wednesday. Regional Sources Bigger Contributor Than Stubble Smoke To Delhi-ncr Winter Pollution: Cse-TeluguStop.com While there had been a minor drop in the seasonal level compared to previous winters, the level is still extremely high, and far from meeting the safety standards, the CSE researchers said, warning that if not acted upon immediately, this trend can worsen in the coming years negating the downward dip of the pandemic years. The CSE carried out the analysis of real-time data from monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR for the entire winter period – starting from October 1, 2021 till February 28, 2022. “Elevated pollution levels and smog episodes are evidence of the systemic pollution that has continued in the region due to inadequate infrastructure and systems for pollution control in all sectors.This can be tamed only if round the year action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and the region,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, CSE. Avikal Somvanshi, Programme manager, Urban Lab Analytics, CSE, said: “Even though there is considerable variation in seasonal averages across the region, winter pollution episodes are alarmingly high and synchronised in the region despite large distances.Despite being the wettest winter, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and Regional sources are higher than that from Stubble smoke.” According to SAFAR, Smoke from the Stubble fire in northern states started contributing to Delhi’s PM2.5 level from October 10, 2021 and ended on November 30, 2021.During these 52 days, the percentage contribution varied between one per cent and 48 per cent, with the latter being reported on November 7, 2021. This winter’s Stubble fire season was four days shorter than the ones in the previous two winters.The number of days when percentage contribution was over 40 per cent was the same this winter as last year: just two days. But if looked at from absolute concentration terms, this year had twice the number of days when the PM2.5 load from Stubble fire was high enough to plunge Delhi’s air quality into ‘very poor’ category on its own.Further, these high contribution load days happened in a cluster, which indicates that the biggest bulk burning instances took place in a span of fewer days this year than in the previous years.This might be due to the extended monsoon which reduced the rain-free period before the sowing of the wheat crop. The city-wide winter average for Delhi stood at 172 micro-gram per cubic metre, which is identical to the seasonal average of the winter of 2019-20 but is nine per cent lower than the seasonal average of 2020-21 winter.The seasonal peak was about five per cent lower than both preceding winters. Number of days with severe or worse air quality bounced back to pre-Covid levels: This winter, 25 days had the city-wide average in ‘severe’ or ‘worse’ AQI category — up from 23 such days in the previous winter and on par with 25 days in the winter of 2019-20. The CSE used data as recorded by 81 air quality monitoring stations under the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) while the farm Stubble fire data was sourced from System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). Weather data was sourced from the Safdarjang weather station of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

Regional sources bigger contributor than stubble smoke to Delhi-NCR winter pollution: CSE

Despite being this winter being the wettest, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources were higher than that from stubble smoke, an analysis of winter pollution for Delhi-NCR by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed on Wednesday. Despite being this winter being the wettest, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources were higher than that from stubble smoke, an analysis of winter pollution for Delhi-NCR by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed on Wednesday. While there had been a minor drop in the seasonal level compared to previous winters, the level is still extremely high, and far from meeting the safety standards, the CSE researchers said, warning that if not acted upon immediately, this trend can worsen in the coming years negating the downward dip of the pandemic years. The CSE carried out the analysis of real-time data from monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR for the entire winter period - starting from October 1, 2021 till February 28, 2022. "Elevated pollution levels and smog episodes are evidence of the systemic pollution that has continued in the region due to inadequate infrastructure and systems for pollution control in all sectors. This can be tamed only if round the year action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and the region," said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, CSE. Avikal Somvanshi, Programme manager, Urban Lab Analytics, CSE, said: "Even though there is considerable variation in seasonal averages across the region, winter pollution episodes are alarmingly high and synchronised in the region despite large distances. Despite being the wettest winter, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources are higher than that from stubble smoke." According to SAFAR, smoke from the stubble fire in northern states started contributing to Delhi's PM2.5 level from October 10, 2021 and ended on November 30, 2021. During these 52 days, the percentage contribution varied between one per cent and 48 per cent, with the latter being reported on November 7, 2021. This winter's stubble fire season was four days shorter than the ones in the previous two winters. The number of days when percentage contribution was over 40 per cent was the same this winter as last year: just two days. But if looked at from absolute concentration terms, this year had twice the number of days when the PM2.5 load from stubble fire was high enough to plunge Delhi's air quality into 'very poor' category on its own. Further, these high contribution load days happened in a cluster, which indicates that the biggest bulk burning instances took place in a span of fewer days this year than in the previous years. This might be due to the extended monsoon which reduced the rain-free period before the sowing of the wheat crop. The city-wide winter average for Delhi stood at 172 micro-gram per cubic metre, which is identical to the seasonal average of the winter of 2019-20 but is nine per cent lower than the seasonal average of 2020-21 winter. The seasonal peak was about five per cent lower than both preceding winters. Number of days with severe or worse air quality bounced back to pre-Covid levels: This winter, 25 days had the city-wide average in 'severe' or 'worse' AQI category -- up from 23 such days in the previous winter and on par with 25 days in the winter of 2019-20. The CSE used data as recorded by 81 air quality monitoring stations under the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) while the farm stubble fire data was sourced from System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). Weather data was sourced from the Safdarjang weather station of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

Marginal improvement in Delhi-NCR's air quality this winter season despite record rain

Despite being the wettest winter, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources are higher than that from stubble smoke, Somvanshi said. Delhi recorded 25 ''severe'' air quality days this winter season – equalling the number of such days in 2019-20 – despite heavy and prolonged rains, according to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment. The city also saw two days of 'good' air and seven days of 'satisfactory' air this winter, which is an improvement from the last winter season when no such low-pollution days were recorded. This high variability in air quality this winter can be attributed to the increased number of heavy rainfall days and colder-than-usual weather. The winter average of PM2.5 for Delhi stood at 172 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3), which is equal to the average of the 2019-20 winter season but is 9 per cent lower than the seasonal average of the 2020-21 winter. Meteorologically, this winter was the wettest in recent years with almost two-three times more rainfall, bulk of which happened in January, compared to previous winters, making it the least polluted January since real-time air quality monitoring started in the city. But this meteorological advantage did not give much reprieve to the city as a rapid build-up in between rainy spells and the formation of smog episodes during rainless periods kept the overall seasonal average very high, the green think tank said. ''Elevated pollution levels and smog episodes are evidence of the systemic pollution that has continued in the region due to inadequate infrastructure and systems for pollution control in all sectors. ''This can be tamed only if round-the-year action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and the region. Action has to be performance-based to meet the clean air standards,'' said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Research and Advocacy, CSE. Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager, Urban Lab Analytics, CSE, said, ''Even though there is considerable variation in seasonal averages across the region, winter pollution episodes are alarmingly high and synchronised in the region despite large distances.'' ''This is the challenge of this landlocked region. Despite being the wettest winter, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources are higher than that from stubble smoke,'' Somvanshi said.

Winter air poor regardless of rain | Newest Information Delhi

Regardless of its wettest wintertime in fairly just a few a long time, the Capital solely noticed a marginal discount in air air pollution this time throughout as compared to last yr, in accordance with the Centre for Science and Ecosystem (CSE). Regardless of recording its wettest winter season within the final plenty of a very long time, Delhi solely noticed a marginal discount in air air pollution this time all-around as versus last yr, found an examination launched by the Centre for Science and Pure atmosphere (CSE) on Wednesday. Analysing a 5-thirty day interval time period from Oct 1, 2021, to February 28, 2022, the town-broad peculiar PM 2.5 quantity was discovered to be 172 microgramme for each cubic metre (μg/m3) — in extra of 4 durations the nationwide once-a-year normal of 40μg/m3 and the every single day frequent of 60μg/m3. That is 9% decrease than the seasonal peculiar by way of the corresponding time period in 2020-21 (189μg/m3), and equivalent to the air pollution degree in 2019-20 (173μg/m3). The 2018-19 winter noticed an regular PM2.5 diploma of 190μg/m3. The analysis additionally uncovered the seasonal peak PM 2.5 degree (516μg/m3) to be 5% decreased than in 2020-21 (542μg/m3) and 2019-20 (549μg/m3). “Meteorologically, this wintertime was the wettest in trendy yrs with nearly two-3 fold much more rainfall compared to former winters, bulk of which occurred in January, constructing it the least polluted January since genuine-time air good high quality monitoring began off within the city. However, this meteorological profit didn’t give a lot reprieve to the city as a speedy develop-up in in between wet spells and improvement of smog episodes at some stage in the rainless durations held whole seasonal typical fairly important,” talked about the analysis. Delhi recorded 217mm of rainfall in the middle of this wintertime interval — roughly double of the 114mm recorded within the previous winter. The Cash was 74mm at some stage in the 2019-20 wintertime and 86mm in 2018-19 winter.

Marginal improvement in Delhi-NCR's air quality this season despite record rain

Delhi recorded 25 "severe" air quality days this winter season – equalling the number of such days in 2019-20 – despite heavy and prolonged rains, according to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment. The city also saw two days of 'good' air and seven days of 'satisfactory' air this winter, which is an improvement from the last winter season when no such low-pollution days were recorded. This high variability in air quality this winter can be attributed to the increased number of heavy rainfall days and colder-than-usual weather.The winter average of PM2.5 for Delhi stood at 172 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3), which is equal to the average of the 2019-20 winter season but is 9 per cent lower than the seasonal average of the 2020-21 winter. Meteorologically, this winter was the wettest in recent years with almost two-three times more rainfall, bulk of which happened in January, compared to previous winters, making it the least polluted January since real-time air quality monitoring started in the city. But this meteorological advantage did not give much reprieve to the city as a rapid build-up in between rainy spells and the formation of smog episodes during rainless periods kept the overall seasonal average very high, the green think tank said. "Elevated pollution levels and smog episodes are evidence of the systemic pollution that has continued in the region due to inadequate infrastructure and systems for pollution control in all sectors. "This can be tamed only if round-the-year action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and the region. Action has to be performance-based to meet the clean air standards," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Research and Advocacy, CSE. Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager, Urban Lab Analytics, CSE, said, "Even though there is considerable variation in seasonal averages across the region, winter pollution episodes are alarmingly high and synchronised in the region despite large distances."

DL-POLLUTION-CSE - Marginal improvement in Delhi-NCR's air quality this winter season despite record rain

Delhi recorded 25 "severe" air quality days this winter season – equalling the number of such days in 2019-20 – despite heavy and prolonged rains, according to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment. The city also saw two days of 'good' air and seven days of 'satisfactory' air this winter, which is an improvement from the last winter season when no such low-pollution days were recorded. This high variability in air quality this winter can be attributed to t ...

Regional Sources Bigger Contributor than Stubble Smoke to Delhi-NCR Winter Pollution, Claims CSE

Despite being this winter being the wettest, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources were higher than that from stubble smoke, an analysis of winter pollution for Delhi-NCR by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed on Wednesday. While there had been a minor drop in the seasonal level compared to previous winters, the level is still extremely high, and far from meeting the safety standards, the CSE researchers said, warning that if not acted upon immediately, this trend can worsen in the coming years negating the downward dip of the pandemic years. The CSE carried out the analysis of real-time data from monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR for the entire winter period – starting from October 1, 2021 till February 28, 2022. “Elevated pollution levels and smog episodes are evidence of the systemic pollution that has continued in the region due to inadequate infrastructure and systems for pollution control in all sectors. This can be tamed only if round the year action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and the region,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, CSE. Avikal Somvanshi, Programme manager, Urban Lab Analytics, CSE, said: “Even though there is considerable variation in seasonal averages across the region, winter pollution episodes are alarmingly high and synchronised in the region despite large distances. Despite being the wettest winter, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources are higher than that from stubble smoke.” According to SAFAR, smoke from the stubble fire in northern states started contributing to Delhi’s PM2.5 level from October 10, 2021 and ended on November 30, 2021. During these 52 days, the percentage contribution varied between one per cent and 48 per cent, with the latter being reported on November 7, 2021. This winter’s stubble fire season was four days shorter than the ones in the previous two winters. The number of days when percentage contribution was over 40 per cent was the same this winter as last year: just two days. But if looked at from absolute concentration terms, this year had twice the number of days when the PM2.5 load from stubble fire was high enough to plunge Delhi’s air quality into ‘very poor’ category on its own. Further, these high contribution load days happened in a cluster, which indicates that the biggest bulk burning instances took place in a span of fewer days this year than in the previous years. This might be due to the extended monsoon which reduced the rain-free period before the sowing of the wheat crop. The city-wide winter average for Delhi stood at 172 micro-gram per cubic metre, which is identical to the seasonal average of the winter of 2019-20 but is nine per cent lower than the seasonal average of 2020-21 winter. The seasonal peak was about five per cent lower than both preceding winters. Number of days with severe or worse air quality bounced back to pre-Covid levels: This winter, 25 days had the city-wide average in ‘severe’ or ‘worse’ AQI category — up from 23 such days in the previous winter and on par with 25 days in the winter of 2019-20. The CSE used data as recorded by 81 air quality monitoring stations under the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) while the farm stubble fire data was sourced from System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). Weather data was sourced from the Safdarjang weather station of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

Regional sources bigger contributor than stubble smoke to Delhi-NCR winter pollution: CSE

Despite being this winter being the wettest, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources were higher than that from stubble smoke, an analysis of winter pollution for Delhi-NCR by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed on Wednesday. While there had been a minor drop in the seasonal level compared to previous winters, the level is still extremely high, and far from meeting the safety standards, the CSE researchers said, warning that if not acted upon immediately, this trend can worsen in the coming years negating the downward dip of the pandemic years. The CSE carried out the analysis of real-time data from monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR for the entire winter period – starting from October 1, 2021 till February 28, 2022. “Elevated pollution levels and smog episodes are evidence of the systemic pollution that has continued in the region due to inadequate infrastructure and systems for pollution control in all sectors. This can be tamed only if round the year action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and the region,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, CSE.

Marginal improvement in Delhi-NCR"s air quality this winter season despite record rain

Delhi recorded 25 "severe" air quality days this winter season – equalling the number of such days in 2019-20 – despite heavy and prolonged rains, according to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment.The city also saw two days of "good" air and seven days of "satisfactory" air this winter, which is an improvement from the last winter season when no such low-pollution days were recorded.This high variability in air quality this winter can be attributed to the increased number of heavy rainfall days and colder-than-usual weather.The winter average of PM2.5 for Delhi stood at 172 micrograms per cubic metre (?g/m3), which is equal to the average of the 2019-20 winter season but is 9 per cent lower than the seasonal average of the 2020-21 winter.Meteorologically, this winter was the wettest in recent years with almost two-three times more rainfall, bulk of which happened in January, compared to previous winters, making it the least polluted January since real-time air quality monitoring started in the city.But this meteorological advantage did not give much reprieve to the city as a rapid build-up in between rainy spells and the formation of smog episodes during rainless periods kept the overall seasonal average very high, the green think tank said."Elevated pollution levels and smog episodes are evidence of the systemic pollution that has continued in the region due to inadequate infrastructure and systems for pollution control in all sectors."This can be tamed only if round-the-year action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and the region. Action has to be performance-based to meet the clean air standards," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Research and Advocacy, CSE.Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager, Urban Lab Analytics, CSE, said, "Even though there is considerable variation in seasonal averages across the region, winter pollution episodes are alarmingly high and synchronised in the region despite large distances." "This is the challenge of this landlocked region. Despite being the wettest winter, the overall winter average of PM2.5 has stayed elevated and the overall contribution of the local and regional sources are higher than that from stubble smoke," Somvanshi said. PTI GVS DIV DIV

Local Sources Responsible For 80 Percent Of Pollution In Winter – CSE Revealed: Local Sources Responsible For 80 Percent Of Pollution In Winter, Researchers Warning

very year in Delhi-NCR, when the air suffocates in winter, the stubble smoke becomes the basis for the politics of accusation. In contrast, in the winter of last year, local level pollution has been found to be responsible for 80 percent of the suffocating air. The Center for Science and Environment (CSE) has analyzed in this regard. Researchers warn that this trend could worsen in the coming years if action is not taken immediately. CSE has analyzed the real time data from monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR during 1st October 2021 to 28th February 2022. This shows that the levels of haze and pollution have increased this winter despite heavy and prolonged rains at various stages. During this, due to the lockdown and rain caused by the Corona epidemic, some days of satisfactory category have also been recorded, which were not recorded in the last three seasons. CSE Executive Director Anumita Choudhary says that the increased pollution levels and smog episodes are a testament to the systemic pollution, which continues in the region due to inadequate infrastructure and systems for pollution control in all areas. This can be controlled only when the year-round action becomes more stringent and uniform across sectors and regions. The performance of the action should be based on meeting clean air standards. Avikal Somvanshi, program manager at CSE’s Urban Lab Analytics, says that even though there is considerable variation in seasonal averages across the region, winter pollution episodes are alarmingly high in the region despite large distances. data used in analysis For analysis, data recorded by 81 air quality monitoring stations of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has been analyzed. Also, the data on stubble smoke in the field has been taken from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). The weather data has been taken from the Safdarjung Meteorological Center of the Indian Meteorological Department. Stubble smoke contributes up to 48 percent According to SAFAR, stubble smoke in northern states started contributing to Delhi’s PM 2.5 level from October 10, 2021. Its effect was recorded till 30 November 2021. Its contribution to pollution during these 52 days ranged from one per cent to 48 per cent. The impact of stubble fires on air quality this winter was four days less than in the previous two winters. In winter last year, the air quality of severe level was recorded for 25 days. At the same time, 23 such days were recorded in the last winter.