Patna’s air quality improves to ‘moderate’ category after rain

Patna: Scattered rainfall and wind gusts brought down the pollution level in the state capital significantly on Wednesday. The overall air quality index (

AQI

) level of

Patna

, which remained in the “poor” and “very poor” zone for more than a month, improved to “moderate” category on Wednesday.According to the daily bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Patna recorded the AQI level at 159 at 4pm, 93 notches lower than previous day. On Tuesday, the AQI level in the city was recorded at 252. In December, the city has experienced 16 “poor” days, 12 “very poor” days and only one “moderate” day as far as AQI is concerned.The overall AQI of Patna was based on the readings of six continuous ambient air quality monitoring centres, including planetarium (179), Patna City (123), S

K Memorial Hall

(154), BIT-Mesra (133) and Eco Park (208). The most prominent pollutants in these areas were PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns) and PM10 (particulate matter less than 10 microns).An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor” and 401 and 500 “severe”. A ‘moderate’ AQI essentially means that air quality is acceptable. However, pollution in this range may pose a moderate health concern for a very small number of individuals.The Air Quality Early Warning System of the

ministry of earth sciences

, however, predicted that the coming two days will again see a spike in pollutant levels due to meteorological conditions, including decline in minimum temperature and moisture incursion. Ashok Ghosh, chairman of Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB), said the improvement in AQI level of Patna was temporary as it occurred only due unseasonal rain and rise in wind velocity. “The temperature will dip once the skies become clear and the city will experience foggy days which may increase the pollution level,” he added.On Tuesday, the PM2.5 concentration was at 114 micrograms per cubic metre and PM10 was at 237. The concentration of PM2.5 level came down to 69 micrograms per cubic metre and PM10 to 135 on Wednesday.
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