The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) has declared the air quality of the federal capital as unhealthy as the air pollutants ratio in the atmosphere was beyond the permissible limits of the national environmental quality standards as dry and cloudy weather clouted the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
A daily air quality report of Pak-EPA on Tuesday indicated an increased ratio of air pollutants, recorded below permissible limits, and the air quality was unhealthy.
The Agency was responsible for ensuring the protection of the environment under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997.
The hazardous air pollutant particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM2.5), which was a hazardous atmospheric contaminant, remained at 61.4 microgrammes per cubic meter on average which was higher than the national environmental quality standards (NEQS) of 35 microgrammes per cubic meter and denoted the air quality unhealthily.
PM2.5 is generated through the 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.
The ratio of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide (NO2&SO2 respectively) also remained below the NEQS that were mostly produced during the industrial emissions from the factories involving complex and extraordinary chemicals’ use in production processes.—INP
