NOIDA: Late-night showers on Tuesday brought some respite to residents of NCR as the air pollution level improved to ‘very poor’ category from ‘severe’ on Wednesday morning, according to the data collected by the Central Pollution Control Board ( CPCB ). Sources said the levels would remain in the ‘very poor’ category for the next few days.On Wednesday, the air quality index (AQI) in Noida was recorded at 332 while it was 436 on Tuesday. In Greater Noida , the AQI was recorded at 348, while the same was 411 on Tuesday.In Ghaziabad too, the AQI improved to 352 from 438 the previous day. In Gurgaon the AQI was logged at 254 (poor) while in Delhi, it was 312 by on Wednesday.“Even if the air quality improves, we will continue with the on-ground measures to control dust pollution. A sustained effort is being made to keep the pollution levels low,” regional officer of UPPCB, Noida, Anil Singh said.An analysis by SAFAR on Wednesday said the air quality improved significantly, mainly due to sufficient rainfall on Tuesday night that washed away bigger particles and created space for faster dispersion.“The AQI is back to ‘very poor’, and while a slight increase in it is predicted in the next three days, it is likely to remain the same. This is because the surface winds are still low and temperature is likely to cool down,” the analysis said, adding that the impact of stubble burning, too, had gone down significantly.Ashok Kumar, regional officer for pollution control for Greater Noida and Ghaziabad told TOI, “if the weather remains the same, and there is no drastic change, we expect the air quality to remain at ‘very poor’ level till November 19. However, both close monitoring of pollution levels and ground-level control of dust will continue.”The Supreme Court-appointed EPCA also said the air quality was likely to improve from Thursday with wind direction changing, adding that crop-residue incidents were also falling.“Currently, NCR has recovered in terms of air quality because of the rain. We are in the ‘very poor’ category, after several ‘severe’ days. However, we know that rain can also lead to increase in air pollution as the moisture traps pollutants. IMD has informed that on Thursday, wind direction will change and speed will increase along with the ventilation index. The combination may assist in improvement of air quality,” said EPCA chairman Bhure Lal on Wednesday, suggesting a number of preventive measures to CPCB taskforce.The CPCB’s central control room data showed a sharp decline in both the average PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentrations falling to two times the safe standard.The average PM 10 reading at 8pm was 232 mic-rograms per cubic metre, while PM 2.5 was 139 micrograms per cubic metre.The safe standard for both ultrafine particles is 100 and 60 micrograms per cubic metre, respectively.

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