Good AQI days in Mumbai dropped by 20 per cent in the last two years: CSE study

Every winter smogfilled days and nights across entire north India are a common thing and by contrast the western region looks much cleanerHowever a new analysis of regional air pollution levels by the Centre for Science and Environment CSE has shown that proximity to the sea has not helped in containing the increasing air pollution in the financial capital MumbaiEven though winter pollution levels in the western region are not as high as that seen in the IndoGangetic Plains due to its proximity to the sea and improved ventilation the levels have been seen to be increasing despite the geographical advantages and favourable meteorology the CSE analysis saidIn other words increasing air pollution is not restricted to winters but is now an yearlong problem in Mumbai tooThe number of badair days in Mumbai have doubled between 2019 and 2021 while good days are down by 20 per cent This underscores the urgency of scaling up action across all sectors to prevent further worsening and to arrest the trend in this region executive director research and advocacy CSE Anumita Roychowdhury saidThis new analysis released on Wednesday of real time pollution data is part of CSEs air quality tracker initiative and also has an assessment of annual and seasonal trends in PM25 concentration for the period January 1 2019 to January 9 2022This analysis is based on the real time data available from the current working air quality monitoring stations Review of data availability from the automated monitoring stations in the region under the continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations CAAQMS programme of Central Pollution Control Board CPCB shows major data gaps When it comes to data availability calculated as number of days with adequate PM25 data for computation of a valid 24hour average among Mumbai stations Kurla in eastcentral Mumbai had only 55 per cent data while Malady West in north Mumbai came up with 68 per centIt is not clear why these stations have such poor data availability despite minimal problems of electricity and internet connectivity in the region said CSEs programme manager Urban Data Analytics Lab Avikal SomvanshiLike other cities in Maharashtra and Gujarat studied as part of the same analysis by CSE Mumbai too has indicated a rising trend in annual PM25 levels after an initial drop during 2020 when there were lockdowns with a rebound and a rising trend visible in 2021The CSE analysis to indicate that the number of badair quality days are increasing in Mumbai is supported with Air Quality Index AQI data Daily AQI analysis based on 10 oldest stations shows a 20 per cent drop in the number of good AQI days in the city between 2019 and 2021 while days with poor or very poor AQI have doubledSouth Mumbai has the worst air within the city during winter In December 2021 the stations in south Mumbai reported significantly higher PM25 levels compared to the rest of the cityMazgaon with a monthly average of 134 micrograms per cubic metres was the most polluted neighborhood of the city followed by Navy Nagar Colaba 124 micrograms per metre cube Kurla 101 micrograms per metre cube Vile ParleWest 101 micrograms per metre cube and Worli 97 micrograms per metre cubeKhindipada in north Mumbai which is at the edge of Sanjay Gandhi National Park in the suburbs with a monthly average of 54 micrograms per metre cube was the least polluted neighborhood Bandra and Malad West reported low numbers but the values are not considered valid due to a significantly large amount of missing data from these two stations the CSE analysis showedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever