Delhi Records Cleanest July Air In A Decade; Monsoon Rains, Gov’t Efforts Debated | India News

New Delhi has seen its cleanest air in July in a decade, a welcome development for which overall rainfall throughout the month is largely responsible. The monthly average Air Quality Index (AQI) of the capital was 79 up to July 30, a level that falls into the category of “satisfactory,” data made available by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said.

Among 31 days in July, Delhi had rain on 23, which served as a natural purifier for the air in Delhi. Due to this pleasant weather trend, Delhi experienced 17 “satisfactory” air days and 14 “moderate” air days with a maximum AQI of 138 on July 11 and the lowest being 56 from July 8-9.

Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa had, on July 23, already indicated that July 2025 was set to be the cleanest in a decade, attributing the improvement to “Delhi’s multi-agency implementation model, continuous landfill action, intensified sweeping operations, and a clear commitment to outcome-based governance.” Officials had also highlighted that Delhi had already clocked 118 days of “good,” “satisfactory,” or “moderate” air quality by July 23, matching the total recorded for the entire year of 2024.

But air pollution specialist Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at the Centre for Science and Environment, doubted the government’s exclusive claim to credit. “The general enhancement in air quality is indeed a function of meteorological conditions. As it stands, the level of pollution decreases during monsoon months because of the washout effect, where pollutants evaporate owing to heavy rains. This year, we have seen regular bouts of heavy rains, which have definitely contributed,” Roychowdhury said.

She also warned against making final judgments on the long-term effect of the government during the monsoon season. “We do not have all the emissions data to be in a position to make such a comparison in such a short time frame. The monsoon season would not be the right time to make this sort of analysis. We need to observe how the level of pollution recovers during the winter months to determine if measures taken by the government are moving in the right direction.”

The Safdarjung weather office, the main meteorological observatory of Delhi, had accumulated 220.2mm of rain till 8:30 AM on Wednesday, which surpassed the long-term average for July of 209.7mm. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) added another 15mm of rain at Safdarjung till 5:30 PM on Wednesday. Other areas of the city too saw light to moderate showers, with the IMD predicting the same to prevail for the next couple of days in the form of very light to light rain and thunderstorms along with lightning from Friday onward. 28.3mm and 12.5mm were received at Palam and Pusa, respectively, between 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM on Wednesday.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}