Lucknow's air not severe but still unhealthy

LUCKNOW: After being severely polluted for four consecutive days, Lucknow breathed easier on Saturday with a significant dip in air pollution levels. Low humidity, high wind velocity and low temperature helped the state capital to come out from the 'severe' category. However, with AQI of 374, Lucknow's air quality is far from satisfactory and remains 'very poor'.
According to the Air Quality Index (AQI) data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for 44 cities in the country, pollution levels in Lucknow dropped down by 50 units from Saturday.
Since November 8, the city AQI's had been more than 400 or 'severe'. It crossed 450 on November 9 and 10. On Friday, the pollution level reduced to 424.
"Lucknow's air has improved because of weather factors like low relative humidity, high wind velocity recorded 4 metre/second as compared to the earlier of 0.16 metre/second and later 1 metre/second and temperature as low as 25 degree Celsius," said Prof Dhruv Singh from Lucknow University's geology department.
He said there was negligible smog on Saturday and condition was expected to improve in the coming days.
Singh said, "The air quality might have improved from severe to very poor but pollutants are still present above permissible limits and can cause respiratory illnesses on prolonged exposure. The public should make sure not to burn garbage, should opt for public transport and follow traffic rules so roads are free from jams. This will help bring down pollution level".
According to the live air quality monitoring station of CPCB, the concentration of toxic substances in the atmosphere were comparatively low throughout the day on Sunday.
PM2.5 went down at all three locations monitored by CPCB. It was 261.6 micrograms/cubic metre in Talkatora, 246.2 in Lalbagh and 128.2 in Aliganj by evening.