Monsoon gift that Delhi is thankful for: Clean air
Monsoon months are generally the cleanest in Delhi as favourable meteorological conditions, including rain and strong winds, help in settling pollutants down.
During the monsoon last year, Delhi saw 27 consecutive days of satisfactory air quality, from July 28 to Aug 23.
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The city experienced 13 such days in a row in the monsoon of 2023, 11 days in 2022, and 20 days in 2021.
However, the monsoon of 2020, which was the Covid year, was the best with Delhi recording 51 straight days of satisfactory air quality, including four 'good' air days. A spell of 20 consecutive satisfactory days, including two good days, was seen each in 2019 and 2017.
Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said: "The air quality during the monsoon months is substantially cleaner primarily because of the washout and cleansing effect of the rains and strong winds. The level of particulate matter reduces substantially and as a result, the toxic gaseous pollutants like ozone become the lead pollutant in the city.
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" She added that the cleaner air quality that is achieved due to the climatic and atmospheric conditions needs to be achieved year-round with the help of clean air action.
Sunil Dahiya, founder and lead analyst at EnviroCatalysts, said: "Air quality is a function of emissions and meteorology. A higher number of rainy days and rainy hours wash down the pollution, reducing the concentrations, which ensures relatively cleaner days during the monsoon every year.
We have seen good rainfall this season, which has definitely contributed to relatively cleaner June-July months so far compared to past years.
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Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the best-performing hotspots were Rohini and Bawana on Monday with an AQI of 70. He said 6,471km of roads were swept, 594 KL of water was sprinkled across 1,071.45km of roads, 11,252 MT of garbage was removed, and 2,278.9 MT of construction and demolition waste was lifted on Monday.
According to the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, which is the forecasting body under the Union ministry of earth sciences, the air quality of Delhi is likely to remain satisfactory till July 10.
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