Islamabad Air Quality Moderates, Pollution Levels Drop

News Desk

Islamabad: The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) daily air quality report indicated a reduced ratio of air pollutants in the atmosphere, recorded below permissible limits, and the air quality was moderate.

After the maiden rainfall since the onset of the fall season lashed out on the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, the air quality of the federal capital was recorded as moderate on Friday.

The agency is responsible for ensuring the protection of the environment under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act of 1997.

The hazardous air pollutant particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM2.5), which is a hazardous atmospheric contaminant, remained at 30.53 µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter) on average, which was higher than the national environmental quality standards (NEQS) of 35µg/m3and denoted the air quality unhealthily.

EPA officials claimed that vehicular emissions due to increased automobiles are one of the leading causes of bad air quality. Industrial emissions have already subsided due to carbon-absorbing advanced technology installed at various steel manufacturing units.

PM2.5 is generated through the combustion of an engine, industrial emissions, burning garbage or inflammable material, and dust blown up by fast-moving cars plying on non-cemented patches of the roads.

The ratio of nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide (NO2 and SO2, respectively) also remained below the NEQS that were mostly produced during industrial emissions from factories involving complex and extraordinary chemicals’ use in production processes. The NO2 remained at 8.31µg/m3 and the SO2 was 14.52 µg/m3.

When calculated at the Air Quality Index (AQI) calculator of AirNow, the PM2.5 concentrations revealed an AQI of 77, leaving the air quality status to be moderate which left the sensitive groups—people with mainly respiratory and heart diseases, the elderly, and children—mostly at high risk of contracting respiratory or health complications due to air pollutants in the atmosphere.

The experts urged the people belonging to the sensitive group to avoid prolonged and heavy exertion outdoors.