New Delhi: Continuing with the trend of an overall improvement in air quality in NCR, the daily average air quality for Delhi for the period between January–September has registered its best index as compared to the corresponding period during the last six years, ie, from 2016 to 2023 (barring the COVID affected 2020), said the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. The daily average AQI for Delhi in the above-noted period during the current year has been recorded as 167 as against 184 in 2022, 180 in 2021, 188 in 2019 and 193 in 2018 respectively, during the corresponding periods.
The month of September also witnessed the only ‘Good’ air quality day (AQI-45) of the year on September 10, co-incidentally on the final day of the G20 Summit in New Delhi.
AQI is greatly impacted by the levels of rainfall/precipitation and wind speed. September 2023 recorded a lower rainfall of total 82.7 mm as against 165 mm during the month of September 2022. Despite this deficit of rainfall, the daily average AQI during the month of September at 108 has been comparable with the daily average AQI of 104 during September 2022.
Delhi witnessed the highest number of days (193) with ‘Good’ to ‘Moderate’ air quality (Daily Average AQI<200) during January–September 2023 as compared to the corresponding period for the last five years (barring the COVID-affected 2020).
‘Good’ to ‘Moderate’ air quality days during this period in the previous years were only 146 in 2022, 174 in 2021, 165 in 2019 and 152 in 2018, respectively. This period in 2023 has also witnessed a remarkable reduction in daily average PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations over the last six years.
The period during January–August in 2023 has recorded daily average PM2.5 concentrations of about 73 µgm/m3 as against ranging from 82-95 µgm/m3 during the corresponding periods from 2017 to 2022 (barring the COVID-affected 2020).
Likewise, the daily average PM10 concentration in Delhi has been about 169 µgm/m3, which is remarkably lower than a range of 183-215 µgm/m3 during the corresponding periods from 2017 to 2022 (barring the COVID-affected 2020), said the Environment Ministry.
Favourable meteorological conditions, continual ground level efforts, actions by various stakeholder agencies to abate air pollution and ongoing monitoring and enforcement actions have helped to better air quality during 2023. The Commission further urges all agencies and stakeholders to effectively implement the directions/guidelines related to abatement of air pollution and the citizens to follow the Citizen Charter in this regard, in our collective pursuit for better air quality during the ensuing winter season.
