The rain that kept Lucknow’s roads wet for days also left the city breathing cleaner air, with its overall AQI dropping to 34 on Sunday, the lowest reading in available data since 2023.
Experts attributed the improvement to the continuous rainfall in the state capital over the past few days, which helped wash pollutants from the air.
The reading was among the lowest recorded for the city in recent years, with available data on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Sameer app dating back to 2023 showing no AQI reading as low as 34.
The city’s air quality remained in the ‘good’ category on Monday as well, although the overall AQI was slightly higher than Sunday’s reading.
As per CPCB standards, an AQI of 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’ and 101-200 ‘moderate’. Readings of 201-300 are categorised as ‘poor’, 301-400 as ‘very poor’, while those above 400 fall under the ‘severe’ category.
Most of Lucknow’s live monitoring stations continued to record ‘good’ air quality on Monday. BR Ambedkar University recorded an AQI of 38, Kendriya Vidyalaya in Aliganj 32, Lalbagh 37 and Talkatora 45.
The only station recording a slightly higher reading was in Gomti Nagar, where the AQI stood at 56, falling in the ‘satisfactory’ category.
The improvement came amid relatively clean air conditions in the city, with monitoring stations across Lucknow recording low pollutant levels.
