City air quality improved by 43%, says report

Average PM2.5 level dropped from 49 µg/m3 in 2017 to 28 µg/m3 last year; lack of monitoring stations still a concern

- SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA

CHENNAI may have made progress in its fight against air pollution, as per an analysis by environmental think tank EnviroCatalysts. The report states that the city's annual average PM2.5 levels have dropped from 49 µg/m3 in 2017, the baseline year for the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), to 28 µg/m3 in 2024, marking a 43% improvement in air quality. However, insufficient monitoring stations and data gaps continue to raise concerns.

Ideally, a city of Chennai's size should have 30 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS). However, it currently has only nine. Only seven of these nine stations had data for the full year of 2024. The remaining two in Ennore and Manali, both industrial regions, didn't have data for nine and seven months respectively.