{"id":85,"date":"2019-07-07T19:12:59","date_gmt":"2019-07-07T19:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/preritkumar.com\/?p=85"},"modified":"2019-07-08T03:23:06","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T03:23:06","slug":"declining-air-quality-of-delhi-ncr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/preritkumar.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/07\/declining-air-quality-of-delhi-ncr\/","title":{"rendered":"Declining Air Quality of Delhi NCR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the recent years, every winters, the particulate matter and fog combine to make dense smog in Delhi NCR (National Capital Region). You can feel the heaviness in the air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The high particulate matter is not only a problem in winters though, it is a problem all around the year. One of my recent office was in a high rise building, and my desk was near a glass wall overlooking a large playground outside. The buildings across the playground were visible but the buildings further were usually blurry. Seemed usual. One day (not in winter), it had rained in the afternoon, and I happened to be at my desk just as the rain had stopped. To my surprise I could see the buildings across the playground very clearly but even the buildings which were few kilometers further were visible crystal clear. The rain had brought the particulate matter down with it. I was standing there looking out, when my boss stopped by and he also immediately noticed the enhanced visibility. We both stood there enjoying the view, discussing how this is now such a rare view in Delhi NCR, and how things have worsened over the years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In winters people start wearing pollution masks outside. Several companies have started distributing those N95 masks in winters, to their employees. But the worrying thing is that the air pollution is quite high even in other seasons. Nobody wears N95 masks in summers. I guess because there is no dense smog in summer. ‘Can’t see problem, so there is no problem’ seems to be the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to take a ‘data analysis’\/’data visualization’ approach to see what is happening. I started looking for datasets for analyzing. I found data available from 1987 to 2015, on a government’s ‘open data’ website. Unfortunately its quality was not great (I talk about it in the ‘quality’ section of my previous post titled ‘Data Discussion<\/a>‘). I kept looking elsewhere, and found some data on the ‘Central Pollution Control Board’ site. This data had better quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I live in a neighboring town of New Delhi, So I thought of analyzing the situation between my town (Ghaziabad) and New Delhi. Air quality <\/em>is usually gauged my measuring key air pollutants that pose health risks. The primary pollutants are, <\/p>\n\n\n\n