Scanty rainfall in June this year in Haryana has not only increased the humidity levels, but also adversely affected the overall air quality. People of the state are facing a tough time due to this. Monsoon in Haryana is now expected to arrive in the second week of July. The air quality improves only after the rains.
Meanwhile, the pollution level in Haryana has broken last year’s record. At present the pollution level in the state is far higher than what was recorded this month last year, said a senior scientist of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), Chandigarh.
Moreover, the data received from the Chandigarh Meteorological centre revealed that the total rainfall recorded in various parts of the state was below normal in June while in last year, normal rainfall was recorded.
As per the Met office data of rainfall between June 1 to June 30, showers have been recorded below 50 per cent in districts like Ambala, Chandigarh, Faridabad, Panchkula, Palwal, Panipat, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa and Yamuna Nagar.
Talking to The Pioneer, Surinder Paul, Director, Meteorological Centre, Chandigarh said that scanty rainfall upto below 55 per cent in Haryana has been recorded while rainfall last was recorded normal.
A Senior Scientist of HSPCB said that poor air quality was recorded in Ballabgarh, Fatehabad, Hisar, Karnal, Palwal, Panipat, Yamuna Nagar, Sonipat, Gurgram and Faridabad in June. The cities of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Sonepat, Panipat and Yamunagar are major industrial hubs of the state having hectic industrial as well as commercial activities and heavy vehicular movement.
The scanty pre-monsoon showers this month have not only increased the humidity levels, but also the overall air quality. Usually, during rain, the temperature and air pollution levels used to be low, he said, adding the rising temperature results in the Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) also increasing, thus heightening the air pollution in the area. RSPM is more harmful than suspended particulate matter because these particles are much smaller and penetrate deeper into the lungs making people more vulnerable to heart disease, chronic bronchitis, asthma, and lung cancer.
Moreover, the air quality in Haryana was reported bad to worse largely due to its vehicular population in many districts. The vehicular emissions are very harmful and chronic exposure to them causes respiratory disorders, he said, adding a moderate spell of pre-monsoon shower had in the last year resulted into the ‘satisfactory’ category of Air Quality Index (AQI). But due to scanty showers in June, pollution level has been increased this year. Haryana’s satisfactory AQI could be attributed to reduce PM2.5 and PM10 concentration in air. Rainfall settles down the particulate matter.
As per the report, in Ballabgarh, both PM10 (254µg/m3) and PM2.5 (121.37µg/m3) are recorded in ‘poor category’ on June 27, and it is expected to remain at least in the coming week due to delay in monsoon. In Sonipat, both PM10 (200.32µg/m3) and PM2.5 (65.92µg/m3) are in ‘poor category’. Both PM10 and PM2.5 are in moderate category in various districts including Ambala, Dhauhera, Fatehabad, Hisar, ind, Kaithal, Karnal, Mewat, Manesar, Narnaul Palwal, Panipat, Yamunanagar, Gurugram and Faridabad. During the long season of dust storms, AQI had slipped into severe category.
The senior scientist further said that the presence of pollutants in air beyond a certain limits has a detrimental effect on the human health as well as animals. Besides, it also has adverse effect on vegetation. The major sources of suspended particulate matter (SPM) pollutants in the ambient air in the state are vehicular emission, road dust, garbage and waste burning, construction dust among others which contribute about 70 percent of total air pollution and the rest is contributed by industrial air emissions. For monitoring the ambient air quality, the HSPCB has installed four continuous ambient quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) in the cities of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Panchkula. Three more such monitoring stations would be installed at Sonepat, Panipat and Dharuhera in Rewari as per HSPCB plans.