Hindustan Times : Jun 04, 2020, 08:55 PM
Mumbai: The city witnessed its cleanest air day this on Wednesday as Cyclone Nisarga that battered parts of the state brought high-speed winds and washed away particulate matter (PM).The air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 22, falling under the “good” category and the lowest for the year, said the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). Mazgaon had the cleanest air in the city with an AQI of four while Malad and Borivli recorded 43, which were the highest. All 10 locations recorded “good” AQI values. An AQI of 15 was predicted for Thursday. Prior to Wednesday, the lowest AQI this year was recorded at 25 on May 23. The cleanest air day so far since SAFAR began air quality monitoring was on September 4, 2019, at 12.“The wind speed was 72 km/h on Wednesday in Mumbai which dispersed pollutants combined with intermittent showers that cleared the air,” said Gufran Beig, director, SAFAR.The concentration of PM 2.5 — a breathable particulate matter of 2.5-micron size — was as low as 15 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3) on Wednesday against the World Health Organisation safe limit of 25 μg/m3 for 24 hours and 60 μg/m3, the national safety standard. Beig said the lockdown had helped keep the city’s PM2.5 concentration below 60 μg/m3 since the last week of March.