Daily Times

The Federal Capital’s air quality on Friday was healthy as air polluting particles and pollution was recorded low in the atmosphere amid cold and dry weather and less anthropogenic activities.

The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) daily air quality report noted that the air pollutants ratio recorded were below permissible limits and the air quality was healthy. The air quality data was collected by Pak-EPA for 24 hours based on three intervals of eight hours of data collection from different locations of the federal capital.

The Pak-EPA data revealed that the air quality throughout the three intervals of data monitoring remained low as the ratio of pollutants was below the permissible limits of national environmental quality standards (NEQS).

The hazardous air pollutant particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM2.5), which was a lethal atmospheric contaminant, remained 29 micro grammes per cubic meter on average which is lower than the NEQS of 35 mic-programmes per cubic meter and denotes the air quality healthy.

The PM 2.5 is generated through combustion of an engine, industrial emissions, burning garbage or inflammable material and dust blown up by fast moving cars plying on non-cemented patches of the roads.

Moreover, the frequent forest fires in the federal capital also created high suspended particles, dust and particulate matter in the atmosphere. The nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) were recorded below permissible ratio as it were recorded 3.81 and 20.86 micro-grammes per cubic meter in past 24 hours in the atmosphere against the NEQS of 80 and 120 micro-grammes per cubic meter respectively. These effluents were mainly produced during the operational activities of industrial plants and factories that were already under control.