‘Severe’ air warning for Delhi as dip continues

Delhi continued its losing battle with air pollution on Saturday, marking the fifth consecutive day of “poor” air quality index (AQU) in the Capital, and taking it closer to the “very poor” levels.

- Aheli Das

Amid unfavourable meteorological factors, firecracker bursting is set to cause further deterioration in air quality, with forecasts predicting the AQI to breach the “severe” levels over the next few days.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) classifies an AQI of 0-50 as “good”, 51-100 as “satisfactory”, 101-200 as “moderate”, 201-300 as “poor”, 301-400 as “very poor” and 401-500 as “severe”.

The 24-hour average AQI on Saturday was 268, continuing the worsening trend of readings of 254 and 245 recorded over the two days preceding it, according to the CPCB's daily bulletin.

Forecasts by the Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) suggest that the AQI might degrade to “severe” by Tuesday.