Wind blows pollutants away but air still toxic

LUCKNOW: Facing ‘severe’ pollution for three days, air quality in the state capital improved slightly on Saturday but continued to be toxic and more polluted than New Delhi’s. According to the Air Quality Index (AQI) data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for 43 cities in the country, Lucknow AQI was severe at 424.
The state capital slipped into severe category on November 8 with AQI 430.Pollution levels were alarming with AQI crossing 450 over the next two days. On Saturday, there was a fall in pollution levels by 38 units over Friday. According to scientists and meteorologists, the situation is likely to improve further by Monday. “High relative humidity and low wind velocity with northwesterly winds bringing in pollutants have led to the smog conditions. Wind velocity was 1 metre per second on Saturday which slightly improved pollution levels. On earlier days, velocity was 0.16 m/s and spiked pollution levels,” said Prof Dhruv Singh from Lucknow University’s geology department. According to the live air quality monitoring station of CPCB, atmospeher’s toxic substances rose all day. PM2.5 concentration was 189.3 micrograms/cubic metre in Talkatora and 145.5 micrograms/cubic meter in Lalbagh.