Air quality recorded healthy in capital

PM2.5 generated through combustion, industrial emissions, burning garbage or inflammable material

ISLAMABAD:

The air quality of the federal capital on Friday was recorded healthy as hazardous air pollutants were below the permissible limits in the atmosphere due to reduced vehicular traffic as outbound Islooites have not returned from their hometowns while celebrating Eid vacations.

The air quality data has been collected by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) which monitors air pollutants ratio for 24 hours based on three intervals of eight hours data collection from different locations.

The Pak-EPA data revealed that the air quality throughout the three intervals of data monitoring remained low as the pollutants were less than the permissible limits of national environmental quality standards (NEQS).

The hazardous air pollutant particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM2.5) which was a lethal atmospheric contaminant remained 28.6 micro grammes per cubic meter on average which is below the NEQS of 35 mic-programmes per cubic meter and denotes the air quality healthy.

The PM2.5 is generated through combustion of an engine, industrial emissions, burning garbage or inflammable material, and dust blown up by fasting moving cars plying on non-cemented patches of the roads. However, a slight jump in previous days was mainly due to congestion of automobiles plying on the roads as tourists thronged to the capital’s recreational spots, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2022.