Delhi AQI hits 196, highest in 82 days; no rain forecast for next week

New Delhi Delhi’s air quality deteriorated on Sunday, with the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) touching 196 at 10am, its highest level in more than 82 days, as a lack of rain, slow wind speeds and localised emissions pushed pollution levels higher, officials said.Delhi’s AQI touched 196, its highest since July 13, with 22 stations recording ‘poor’ air as the IMD forecast no rain over the next week.Of Delhi’s 43 active air quality monitoring stations, 22 recorded air in the ‘poor’ category, with Mundka recording the highest AQI at 282, followed by Narela at 262, Jahangirpuri at 248 and Okhla at 232.Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast no rain in the city over the next week, with partly cloudy skies likely from Tuesday.On Sunday, a minimum temperature of 24.1’C was registered and maximum is likely to hover between 35-37’C.According to Central Pollution Control Board data, AQI reading was the highest since July 13, when it stood at 246. Lack of rain, slow wind speed and localised emissions have led to increase in the pollution levels, officials said. As per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) standards, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.The city had recorded an AQI of 166 on Thursday, 174 on Friday and 171 on Saturday with PM10 being dominant pollutants and index in higher end of the ‘moderate category’. Delhi cantonment area had the lowest AQI in Delhi at 115.According to forecast from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi is likely to see “no rain” over the next week with clear sky on Monday and partly cloudy sky from“October heat is slowly taking over, Maximum temperatures are expected to spark up with parts of Delhi NCR & west UttarPradesh to experience in the range of 37-40°c,” amateur metereologist Navdeep Dahiya said.“A series of mild western disturbance will begin from 7th October with chances of moderate western disturbance after 10th October which could bring precipitation in plains of north India and early snowfall over the western Himalayas. Next drop in temperature is expected after 10th October, with minor dip in case of isolated rains during 7-8th October,” Dahiya added.