Lahore "moderately polluted" in AQI reading

LAHORE: The rainfall has brought down the pollution levels in Lahore according to the Air Quality Index rating issued by the Punjab Environment Protection department.

The city remained in “moderately polluted” category on Sunday morning.

Lahore’s Sundar Industrial Estate showed air quality index (AQI) reading of 129, National Hockey Stadium 154, Town Hall 123, and Township Sector C2 62.

According to details shared by the Punjab Environment Protection Department, the air quality reading recorded 48 in Rawalpindi, 63 at Rahim Yar Khan, and 113 in Faisalabad.

The AQI is calculated on the basis of five categories of pollution: ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.

AQI as high as 151-200 is considered unhealthy, while an AQI rating between 201 to 300 is more harmful and AQI over 300 is termed extremely toxic.

According to experts, an increase in air pollution used to be recorded in the winter. A change in the wind speed, wind direction and sliding minimum temperature increases air pollution.

The air becomes heavier in the winter as compared to summer, causing poisonous particles in the atmosphere to move downwards and making the atmosphere polluted. As a result, a layer of polluted particles, including large amounts of carbon and smoke, covers a city.

The smoke produced by burning crop remnants, factories and burning coal, garbage, oil or tyres enters the atmosphere and the effects of this appear at the onset of winter and remain till the season’s end, experts said.