New Delhi: Delhi recorded the highest number of clean air days in 2024 when the air quality index (AQI) fell below 200, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR (National Capital Region) and adjoining areas said Tuesday.
“Continual, concerted and persistent efforts of all the stakeholders round the year have further helped to improve the general air quality in Delhi, as is evident from a record 209 days during 2024 with the AQI falling below 200, i.e. in “good–moderate” air quality category,” a statement by CAQM read.
The commission added that barring 2020—which witnessed long spells of very low anthropogenic, industrial and commercial activities during the COVID pandemic, owing to lockdowns and other restrictions—2024 recorded the highest number of “good to moderate” air quality days.
An AQI of 50 or below is considered ‘good’, ‘satisfactory’ when it is between 51 and 100, ‘moderate’ between 101 and 200, and ‘poor’ when it is between 201 and 300. Anything between 301 and 400 is considered ‘very poor’, and it is marked ‘severe’ the index goes beyond 400.
The CAQM analysis showed that since 2018, Delhi recorded the best average AQI in February and December 2024. August 2024 also recorded the best-ever average AQI since 2018.
But AQI also slipped to dangerously high levels in some months.
“Still and very low-speed wind conditions during January 2024 led to an abnormally high average AQI of 355, which is the highest for the month of January from 2018 to 2024,” the analysis read.
The month of May recorded the worst-ever average AQI in 2024.
“Despite the vagaries of meteorology and weather conditions, the average AQI for 2024 has been the second best, at par with 2021 and 2022, barring the COVID year,” the Commission said.
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