Malad, Kharodi, Borivali most polluted areas in Mumbai

As per Ambee, an environmental intelligence company that measures air quality at a postcode level has compiled a detailed analysis of the air quality in Mumbai, amongst other cities.

According to the press release shared by the company, the most polluted areas in Mumbai are Malad, Kharodi and Borivali West with average AQI above 175 and average PM2.5 of 120. Five least polluted areas were Bhandup east, Bandra, Khar Colony, Kherwadi and VP Road with average AQI of 100. Bandra had the lowest average PM2.5 content at 40 and areas such as Khar, VP road, International Airport had an average PM2.5 of 45. An AQI between 101 and 200 is moderate and poses a minor health risk to sensitive people. Just before the coronavirus-induced lockdown began, the AQI on March 18 was 172, and it dipped to 130 the next day. The AQI has been in ‘good’ to ‘satisfactory’ levels until recently.

Moreover, Ambee uses a multimodal approach to monitor air quality in an area by street levels. In addition to the government sensor data, Ambee uses satellite imagery, weather and meteorological data, to measure air quality. Ambee's proprietary algorithms carefully factor in human activities like garbage burning, vehicular traffic, construction and industrial emissions that play a major role in creating pollution, CO2 and GHG emissions, and other hyperlocal environmental factors.

On the other hand, Delhi, which has been in the news for the massive air pollution being recorded in the city, has clocked Rohini Sector 16, Mangolpuri, Sanoth, Prashant Vihar and Lampur as the most polluted areas with an average AQI above 350 throughout which can be extremely harmful to the human body. Moreover, areas like Bankner, Sanoth and Tikri Khurd recorded an average PM2.5 of above 300. Among the least polluted areas were Paprawat, Dichaon Kalan, Dindarpur and Gopalnagar with average AQI just above 200.