Delhiites endure another day of ‘very poor’ air quality, even as Ethiopia volcano ash spares city

Air quality in Delhi and other parts of the National Capital Region (NCR) continued to remain at worrying levels on Wednesday, with the AQI at 9 am hovering at 371, in the "very poor" category, down from 420 at the same time on Tuesday, as per air quality tracker aqi.in.

Visuals from Delhi-NCR on Wednesday morning showed scenes that have become typical in winters, with toxic smog shrouding parts of the city.

With the national capital enduring terrible air quality for weeks now, there's appears to be no respite in the foreseeable future, with no forecast for rain in the next seven days.

However, residents of Delhi and surrounding areas can take solace in the fact that the ash cloud from the Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia did not further affect the already dismal air quality, as had been initially feared.

The IMD on Tuesday confirmed that the ash cloud from Africa would pass through the upper atmosphere, posing "no risk to anyone on the surface".

The ash cloud has since moved away from northern India and into China.

Dip in particulate matter

Although AQI continued to remain the very poor category, data on Wednesday showed a noticeable dip in PM 2.5 levels, which remained at 232 at 9 am as opposed to 278 at the same time on Tuesday.

PM 10, the main pollutant in Delhi, also showed a marked dip, being at 282 at 9 am on Wednesday as opposed to 371 24 hours back.

That said, both PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentration levels remain far above the levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), which prescribes that exposure to PM 2.5 and PM 10 must not exceed 15 μg/m3 and 45 μg/m3, respectively.

Gurugram, Noida and Greater Noida AQI

The AQI in neighbouring Gurugram, meanwhile, stood at 365 at 9 am, marginally down from 371 at the same time on Tuesday.

Noida in Uttar Pradesh was worse off, with an AQI of 390 as of 9 am on Wednesday. However, this was improvement over Tuesday morning's 431.

Greater Noida, meanwhile had the worst quality air on Wednesday, recording an AQI of 440, unchanged from Tuesday.