Air In Mumbai Is Cleaner This December Than In Past Four Years

According to a statistical analysis of pollution data by a climate-tech platform Respirer Living Sciences, the air quality of Mumbai this December recorded a good milestone by showing improvement to the previous year. This year’s data on the air quality shows that 2023 was better in terms of air quality. The data on carcinogenic PM 2.5 levels this November and December showed far better improvement than the previous December 2022,

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) provided the information on the air quality level, as the number of the air quality monitoring system in the city had increased from 2019 to 2023.

Particulate matter PM 2.0 was fine, which is less than 1.30th the width of a strand of human hair. It has the power to get into the human bloodstream directly upon respiration, according to the experts. The analysis of 2023 indicated a marginal growth was clear in PM 2.5 against November 2019.

However, the city’s average air quality index has been constant at the higher end of the moderate category with major suburbs such as Sewri, Govandi, Kherwadi (Bandra East), BKC, Chembur, Navy Nagar in Colaba and Malad West being in poor air quality.

The most polluted cities in November were BKC and Govandi. In November BKC had PM 2.5 of 86.2 ug/m3 (over 17 times the WHO safe limit of 5ug/m3), and in December (till the 25th), Shivaji Nagar in Govandi had a PM 2.5 of 93.6 ug/m3 (more than 18 times the WHO safe limit). PM 2.5 is measured in ug/m3 which stands for microgram (one millionth of a gram) per cubic meter of air.

A study conducted by IIT-B and the International Society of Exposure Sciences (ISES), USA, showed that the level of air quality due to Diwali in December this year was less compared to the level of air quality in the previous year.