This winter has been the cleanest in New Delhi-NCR since large-scale air quality monitoring started in 2018,” said Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
The analysis was conducted by the Urban Lab at CSE, and has revealed a continuous drop in seasonal average levels of air pollution, although elevated levels prevailed at city stations, said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director-research.
“This improvement is a combined effect of meteorology and emergency action based on pollution forecasting.” There was heavy and extended rainfall in the early phases of the season that prevented smog episodes from building up and also lowered the seasonal average.
“The analysis shows that there were still 10 days of severe and severe-plus air quality and one four-day long smog episode during this winter.”
The city-wide winter average for Delhi stood at 160 microgramme per cubic metre (µg/m³) for the October-January period, which is the lowest level recorded since wide-scale monitoring started in 2018-19. Like the city-wide winter average for Delhi, the winter peak pollution level was found to be the lowest recorded since wide-scale monitoring started in 2018–19. This year’s city-wide peak was 401 g/m3, which was recorded on November 3, 2022. This winter, only one smog episode was recorded from January 6–9, 2023. The average daily intensity of this smog stood at 287 µg/m³.