Contributed by Spilled Beans
Imagine a day where you wake up Cozy beside the person you love the most, see your favourite Cup of coffee beside the bed and have your first sip of coffee and walk towards the balcony to admire the morning freshness to experience a perfect start for your day. You open the balcony door and can’t see a bit because of smog filling up your vision and constant cough due to the pollutants in the air. The End could have been better right! But this possibly is a person’s story from Delhi, everyday. Delhi recently reached a stage, where the Air Quality has hit HAZARDOUS level, making it one of the biggest and worst situations a city could reach, With respect to Air pollution. Reports state that the level of Air Quality in Delhi has hiked to 40 times the Safe Limit, after Deepavali. Even after Supreme Court had ordered to burst the crackers between 8 PM - 10 PM, lot of people didn’t bother and most of them were arrested. Almost 300 arrests have happened yesterday. Government and activist groups are trying to raise awareness and are trying to make Delhi a safer place. This surely is a problem for the Inhabitants of Delhi, but if you are thinking that we are on the safer side, You are mistaken. We too are not that far away from reaching that stage. We have successfully reached the middle of this epidemic and have a half more to fall in the danger zone.
Important terms that matter right now:
1. Air Quality Index : An Index to know how polluted the air is.
2. Particulate Matter (PM) : Microscopic matter suspended in the atmosphere. These are the deadliest form of air pollution as they have the ability to penetrate deep into the lungs and blood streams unfiltered, causing permanent DNA Mutations, Heart Attacks, respiratory Diseases and Premature Deaths.
PM2.5 is the matter which are 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter. Similarly, PM10. These are the commonly found Particulate matters and represent how bad a pollution could be. Simply put, More the number of any parameter (aforementioned), The more is the danger.
How to check AQI :
There are sensors installed by the agencies at places, where the index is known. They live transmit data and are accessible to everyone though their websites.
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has installed the meters in 6 places in Telangana and 5 in Andhra Pradesh.
Real time AQI readings can be seen here
Another agency, AQI INDIA has installed a meter in Madhapur in Telangana. (check it here.)
Below are the details of the AQI at 10:00 AM on 9th November,2018.
The values hit maximum in the peak hours until 300
AQI value & Health impact:
We are already are oscillating between the Moderate and Poor region. And if no measures of precaution are taken, we are reaching the same as Delhi in 2 years. This Diwali has impacted us a lot according to the AQI pushing us to the VERY UNHEALTHY region of AQI 399. 0-50 is the desirable AQI, Else is still a danger.
It’s high time that we realise the intensity of the situation and devote time to make our cities a safe region for us and our future generations to BREATHE. Grow Plants, Move towards Public transport, Say no to Crackers, etc. If all these are taken care of, we could promise ourselves a healthy and beautiful life.
Imagine a day where you wake up Cozy beside the person you love the most, see your favourite Cup of coffee beside the bed and have your first sip of coffee and walk towards the balcony to admire the morning freshness to experience a perfect start for your day. You open the balcony door, see the sun’s horizon, listen to the bird’s chirping, Feel the cold breeze smoothly grazing over your body, Unreasonable happiness due to the morning and you INHALE and EXHALE. BREATHE.
