PM2.5 levels almost double from 2021 in Belagavi to 45
According to a report by Swiss firm IQAir released on Tuesday, Belagavi with an annual average PM2.5 of 45.0 µg/m³ is ranked 159 (out of 7,323 cities). The cause of worry is the drastic increase in the PM2.5 levels which were 28.1 in 2021 has now reached 45.0 µg/m³ which exceeds 7-10 times the allowed number.
Delhi is placed as the world’s fourth-most polluted city on the planet with PM2.5 levels of 89.1.
In 2021 Belagavi was placed at 4th place and in 2022 we topped the list.
In 2021 The PM2.5 for Belagavi (Annual Average) stood at 28.1 which is 6 times above the World Health Organization (WHO) prescribed limit.
The new guideline was released in September 2021 and cut the existing annual PM2.5 guideline value from 10 µg/m3 to 5 µg/m3.
Fine particle pollution, known as PM2.5, is commonly accepted to be the most harmful, widely-monitored air pollutant and has been found to be a major contributing factor to health effects such as asthma, stroke, and heart and lung diseases. PM2.5 leads to millions of premature deaths every year.
In Karnataka, Belagavi ranks 1 in the most polluted city with an annual PM2.5 of 45.
2 Kalaburagi 37.7
3 Nelamangala 33.7
4 Anagalpura 33.4
5 Dharwad 32.7
6 Hubli 32.1
8 Bengaluru 31.5
23 Mysore 20.2
The World Air Quality Report, 2022, classifies over 7,300 cities across 131 countries and ranked them on the basis of the average recorded annual PM2.5 concentration in micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3).
Over 2022, India recorded an annual PM2.5 of 53.3 μg/m3 – recording a marginal improvement from the average of 58.1 μg/m3 logged in 2021. This meant India improved by three ranks in the unenviable list – from the world’s fifth-most polluted country to eighth.
WHO’s annual safe limit for PM2.5 is just 5 μg/m3, while the national standards for the country are 40 μg/m3.