A whiff of fresh air
Dhaka’s air quality improves during Eid
With millions leaving Dhaka for Eid and less vehicles plying the streets, the capital’s air quality saw a significant improvement. Rain helped too, as it washed away pollutants.
According to AirVisual report yesterday, Dhaka ranked 20th among the most polluted cities in Air Quality Index (AQI).
Level of air pollution in Dhaka is so alarming that the city is often ranked among the most polluted ones. Brick kilns, unfit vehicles, dust from roads and construction sites, and toxic fumes from industries are the major sources of air pollution.
But during Eid holidays, brick kilns and industries remain out of operation, fewer vehicles ply the roads and construction activities stay suspended, which resulted in the improvement, said experts.
The city’s air is contaminated with not only metals like lead, chromium, cadmium, nickel, arsenic, manganese and copper but also with other poisonous particles, show studies of Department of Environment (DoE).
The presence of pollutant particles in the air even on a normal day, except for the rainy season, is more than three to four times the desirable limit.
The level of pollutants is higher in the city than other parts of the country, and it gets worse with the advent of winter, according to DoE officials.
World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018 said Dhaka was the world’s third worst city in terms of air pollution, behind Delhi and Cairo.
Continued exposure to poor quality air can cause heart diseases, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and respiratory infections, including pneumonia. It could also cause stroke, according to WHO.
Bangladesh National Ambient Air Quality Standard guidelines say the presence of particulate matters (PM) 10 in the air should remain within 150 microgram per cubic metre (mg/m3) within 24 hours and that of PM2.5 within 65 mg/m3.
In January this year, the average concentration level of PM10 was 104-401 mg/m3 and that of PM2.5 was 87-229 mg/m3 in the capital, according to the DoE, which measures the air quality under its Clean Air and Sustainable Environment (CASE) project.
Experts say these particulate matters may cause bronchial and kidney diseases and even lung cancer. A significant number of city dwellers suffer from respiratory diseases and asthma in the winter every year.
Ziaul Haque, DoE director for air quality management, earlier said in 2017-18 fiscal year, half the air pollution in Dhaka was caused by brick kilns while construction work contributed around 25 percent and vehicle emission 10-12 percent.