The air quality in Mumbai on Monday morning was recorded in the ‘moderate’ category with an air quality index of 127, according to the system of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research, Safar-India. The air quality in Mumbai on Tuesday last week was recorded in the ‘moderate’ category with an air quality index of 115.
Earlier this month, Mumbai was recording air quality under the ‘good category’.
However, the city witnessed a rise in the heat with an average daily maximum temperature ranging from 32 to 34 degrees for a week resulting in air quality slipping to the moderate category.
The Air Quality Index is a tool for effective communication of air quality status to people in terms that are easy to understand. There are six AQI categories, namely Good + Satisfactory, Moderately polluted, Poor, Very Poor, and Severe. Each of these categories is decided based on ambient concentration values of air pollutants and their likely health impacts (known as health breakpoints).
According to the AQI scale, the air quality check between 0 and 50 are considered “good”, 51 and 100 are “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 are “moderate”, 201 and 300 are “poor”, 301 and 400 are “very poor”, and 401 and 450 are “severe” and “severe+” when AQI exceeds 450.