Lahore remains most polluted city on Air Quality Index

LAHORE: Lahore ranked first among the most polluted cities in world on the Air Quality Index (AQI), ARY News reported on Monday.

The air quality index reading at Lahore’s Gulbarg was measured 335, while the AQI reading at the city’s Defence area remained 271 and in Model Town hazardous particulate matter’s reading recorded 231.

In comparison to last few days average AQI reading in the city has dropped relatively.

It is to be mentioned here that AQI as high as 151-200 is considered unhealthy, while an AQI reading between 201 to 300 is more harmful and AQI rate over 300 mark is extremely hazardous.

According to experts, 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 factories and by burning coal, garbage, oil or tyres enters the atmosphere and the impact of it appears at the onset of winter and remains till the season’s end, experts said.

Thus, air pollution reaches to extremely dangerous levels in cold weather, severely compromising air quality.

Healthy atmosphere in such a situation is subject to rainfall, which washes off all hazardous particles.

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