Mumbai's air quality continues to remain in 'moderate' category; AQI at 132

The overall air quality in Mumbai continued to remain in the 'moderate' category for the second consecutive day, with the AQI at 132 on Tuesday morning, as per SAFAR-India. On Monday, the air quality in Mumbai was recorded in the 'moderate' category with an AQI of 115. Meanwhile, Bhandup recorded an AQI of 120 (moderate) and Worli 114 (moderate).

Earlier this month, Mumbai was recording air quality under the 'good category'. However, the city witnessed a rise in the heat with an average daily maximum temperature ranging from 32 to 34 degrees for a week resulting in air quality slipping to the moderate category. Meanwhile, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the Air Quality Index in the overall Delhi region has been in the 'very poor' category at 303.

In the Delhi University area and Pusa of the national capital, the quality of air was recorded as 'very poor' and 'poor' with AQI at 335 and 242, respectively. Air Quality Index (AQI) is a tool for effective communication of air quality status to people in terms, which are easy to understand. It transforms complex air quality data of various pollutants into a single number (index value), nomenclature, and colour.

The AQI from 0 to 100 is considered good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as severe.