Punjab environment department releases air quality reading of Lahore

LAHORE: The Air Quality Index rating measured 188 at the Town Hall Lahore in last 24 hours, the Punjab Environment Protection Department said.

Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Industrial Area showed air quality index (AQI) reading of 261, which was measured by a mobile van.

The AQI reading at the National Hockey Stadium was 179 and 208 at Township Sector II, according to the environment protection department.

According to details shared by the Punjab Environment Protection Department, the air quality reading recorded 120 in Rawalpindi, 90 at Bahawalpur and 80 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 an area.

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.