Mumbai’s air pollution level exceeds safe limit in February 2023: Report

In what comes as a cause of concern, most areas in Mumbai had PM2.5 levels exceeding the safe limits in February 2023.

However, few locations saw some improvement compared to previous years. A report by NCAP Tracker, which is a joint initiative of Climate Trends and Respirer Living Sciences highlights the need for measures to control air pollution in the city.

The daily permissible level of PM2.5 is 60 ug/m3. In February 2020, half of the monitoring stations in Mumbai did not report PM2.5 data.

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PM2.5 levels exceeded the permissible limit at eight locations, emphasising the need for improved monitoring and measures to control air pollution.

In February 2021, all 21 monitoring stations in Mumbai reported PM2.5 data, with an average uptime of 83.02%. While some stations reported lower uptime, PM2.5 levels at seven locations were below the permissible limit, but the average PM2.5 level remained high at 69.44 ug/m3.

In February 2022, 20 monitoring stations in Mumbai reported PM2.5 data, with only one station having 0% uptime. While some stations reported low uptime, PM2.5 levels at eight locations were below the permissible limit, but the highest level recorded was 2.39x the permissible limit at Mazgaon (IITM).

“In February 2023, all 20 active monitoring stations reported data, with an average uptime of 80.5%, and only three stations had PM2.5 levels within permissible limits. The average PM2.5 levels for the 20 stations was 83.41 ug/m3, considerably higher than the previous year, and the lowest level was recorded at Kurla (MPCB) station with an uptime of 92.75%,” the report pointed out.