Pollution Control Report 2023: Know cleanest and most polluted cities in Uttarakhand

The air of Haldwani city is the cleanest in the state. Here the air quality index (AQI) has been recorded at 114.69 micro grams per cube. However, according to the standard, this quality is moderate. The standard of pure air is considered to be below 100 micrograms per cube.

Report issued by pollution control board

At the same time, the worst air quality has been recorded in Rishikesh. The AQI level here is 147.88 micrograms per cube. This has been concluded in the January 2023 report released by the Pollution Control Board.

The data is collected by the Pollution Control Board to monitor air quality. Based on these, weekly, monthly and annual reports are prepared. PCB has recently issued a January report, in which the air quality of Dehradun, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Haldwani, Rudrapur, Kashipur has been measured.

During this, the Air Quality Index (AQI) of all the cities has been recorded in the medium category. Apart from this, in the case of Particulate Matter-2.5, Rishikesh has recorded 76.84 and Haridwar 84.79, while it should not exceed 60 micrograms per cubic meter in 24 hours.

The air was the cleanest in the lockdown

During the Corona period, there was a lot of improvement in the air quality due to the lockdown. In the first lockdown, the air quality index of Dehradun was 72, Rishikesh 54, Haridwar 61, Kashipur 75, Rudrapur 72 and Haldwani was recorded at 71 micro grams per cubic meter, while in the second lockdown, Dehradun 82, Rishikesh 64, Haridwar 32, Kashipur 78, Rudrapur 78 and Haldwani’s air quality index was recorded at 69 micro grams per cubic meter.

AQI Standards

An AQI level of 0 to 50 is considered healthy, while an AQI of 51 to 100 is satisfactory, 101 to 200 is moderate, 201 to 300 is poor, 301 to 400 is very poor and  an AQI level of 401 to 500 is considered very severe.