| 148 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups on Saturday, Apr 20th 2024, 13:00 pm |  |
Cities with the worst air quality
| # | AQI | City |
|---|---|---|
158 | ||
156 | ||
152 | ||
139 | ||
138 | ||
- | ||
- | ||
- |
Cities with the best air quality
| # | AQI | City |
|---|---|---|
- | ||
- | ||
- | ||
- | ||
- | ||
138 | ||
139 | ||
152 |
Good | Moderate | Unhealthy for sensitive groups | Unhealthy | Very Unhealthy | Hazardous |
There is a good reason to worry about the Air Quality in Dhaka, as Bangladesh ranks 169th (out of 178 countries) at the Environmental Performance Index for Air Quality (2014 score).
Furthermore, according to the most recent World Health Organization data, the air quality in Dhaka reaches an yearly average of 90 µg/m3 of PM2.5, which corresponds to a 168 - Unhealthy Air Quality Index. Obviously, 168 - Unhealthy is just a yearly average, and the air pollution can reach much higher 300+ hazardous levels.
For more information, you can refer to this article about making bricks for Dhaka’s construction boom, which provides a very good insight about Dhaka's Air Pollution situation
Note that Air Quality Data for Dhaka is available since March 2016:
Click for the detailed Air Quality Index
National Monitoring Network
Back in 2009, the World Bank started a 7 years investement of US$ 62.20 million in the Clean Air and Sustainable Environment project (CASE) program. The objective was, among others, to get 11 Continuous Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAMS) installed in 8 cities to monitor major air pollutants and to generate real time air quality data including air quality index for major cities.
This was confirmed by this news from UNB which said that "A modern Air Quality Research and Monitoring Center (AQRMC) has been established at the center for Advanced Research in Sciences (CARS) of Dhaka University (DU)".
But yet, despite the good news from the World Bank, the Air Quality readings are not officially available, and the Air Quality Research and Monitoring Center (aqmcdu.edu.bd) is not giving much details... The website from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (পরিবেশ ও বন মন্ত্রণালয়-) moef.gov.bd is similarly not providing more information. As concerns the worldbank CASE project report, it is surprisingly laconic, despite having used more than $10 millions USD on the "Environment" sub-project[1].
Crowdsourcing a real Air monitoring Network that works
For this reason, we are now investigating with several Institutions, Universities, Schools as well as individual citizens living in Dhaka the possibility to setup an alternative and crowd-sourced Air Quality monitoring network, which would allow to broadcast free hourly AQI information for several locations in Dhaka, and later in other cities in Bangladesh.
The monitoring stations used for this network are the semi-professional GAIA A12 Air Quality monitoring stations. The Gaia A12 is much more affordable than the traditional monitoring station ($200 for the GAIA A12 while it is $10,000+ for the traditional ones), but yet with a data quality as good and reliable as the traditional stations.
If you are interested in knowing more about the project, about helping to host a station, or just about getting and rebroadcasting the real-time Air quality data, then please contact us with the form at the bottom of this page.
If you want to stay informed about the Air Quality monitoring project, please register with the form below:
The GAIA air quality monitor uses laser particle sensors to measure in real-time PM2.5 and PM10 particle pollution, which is one of the most harmful air pollutants.
It is very easy to set up: It only requires a WIFI access point and a USB compatible power supply. Once connected, your real time air pollution levels are instantaneously available in on our maps.
The station comes together with 10-meter water-proof power cables, a power supply, mounting equipment and an optional solar panel.
| | |
| or let us find your nearest air quality monitoring station |
Africa
🇧🇼 Botswana 🇧🇫 Burkina FasoAntarctica
🇦🇶 Antarctica 🇧🇻 Bouvet Island 🇹🇫 French Southern Territories 🇭🇲 Heard Island and McDonald Islands 🇬🇸 South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsAsia
🇧🇩 BangladeshEurope
🇧🇦 Bosnia and HerzegovinaNorth America
🇦🇮 Anguilla 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda 🇦🇼 Aruba 🇧🇧 BarbadosOceania
🇦🇸 American Samoa 🇦🇺 AustraliaSouth America
🇦🇷 Argentine Republic| AQI | Air Pollution Level | Health Implications | Cautionary Statement (for PM2.5) |
| 0 - 50 | Good | Air quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk | None |
| 51 -100 | Moderate | Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution. | Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion. |
| 101-150 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | Members of sensitive groups may experience health effects. The general public is not likely to be affected. | Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion. |
| 151-200 | Unhealthy | Everyone may begin to experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects | Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid prolonged outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion |
| 201-300 | Very Unhealthy | Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected. | Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid all outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit outdoor exertion. |
| 300+ | Hazardous | Health alert: everyone may experience more serious health effects | Everyone should avoid all outdoor exertion |
| Celcius | |
