Delhi's air quality alarming: study

Delhi faces frequent pollution emergency which could lead to health hazards, a recent study has found after the city's air quality was monitored on the same benchmark as that of Beijing or United States.
A study by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) conducted between October 1, 2013 and January 31, reviewed the state of air quality reporting by monitoring agencies in Delhi and Beijing.
"If we apply the air quality classification and health alert system of Beijing or the US to Delhi this winter, this city would be in a frequent state of pollution emergency requiring contingency action," said Anumita Roychowdhury, head of CSE's air pollution control team.

The study also found that during a majority of days during this period, the levels of atmospheric particulate matter (PM 2.5) in Delhi exceeded the standard by four to seven times and on two occasions (December 18 and January 5) exceeded by 10 and eight times respectively.
The data came after the CSE reviewed daily 24 hour average PM2.5 levels from three monitoring stations at R K Puram, Mandir Marg and Punjabi Bagh.
The CSE also analysed extent of daily level of exceeding and found that Delhi met the standard only on three days.

"On 41 days (33 per cent of days monitored in winter), daily levels were 500 per cent higher than the standard. On 17 days (14 per cent of days monitored), the levels were higher than 350 microgramme per cum which is close to the highest reported by IITM-SAFAR for January," the report said.

Officials pointed out that other governments monitor air quality to inform citizens about health risks and take emergency action.
It was found that when CSE applied the criteria of air quality classification of Beijing and the US and their health alert systems to daily pollution levels in Delhi, only one day out of the total number of days monitored during last four months qualified as excellent.
Similarly CSE also found when the US air quality health alert system was applied to Delhi's winter pollution, there was not a single day with good air quality.