Capital's air quality becomes healthy after repeated monsoon rainfalls.

ISLAMABAD -- The air quality of the federal capital on Monday became healthy after the recent heavy rainfalls turned the weather serene and pollution-free.

The air quality was healthy as suspended particles were recorded below permissible limits in the atmosphere along with the pollutants' ratio due to consistent rainy weather and reduced vehicular traffic on the roads.

The air quality data has been collected by Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) that monitors air pollutants ratio for 24 hours based on three intervals of eight hours data collection from different locations.

The Pak-EPA data revealed that the air quality throughout the three intervals of data monitoring remained low as the pollutants were below the permissible limits of national environmental quality standards (NEQS).

The hazardous air pollutant particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM2.5), which was a lethal atmospheric contaminant, remained 16.33 micro grammes per cubic meter on average, which is lower than the NEQS of 35 mic-programmes per cubic meter and denotes the air quality healthy.

The PM2.5 is generated through combustion of an engine, industrial emissions, burning garbage or inflammable material and dust blown up by fast moving cars plying on non-cemented patches of the roads. Moreover, the frequent forest fires in the federal capital also created high suspended particles, dust and particulate matter in the atmosphere.

However, a spike was witnessed during the peak hours of hot dry weather in the past week that was mainly due to congestion of automobiles plying on the roads after schools vans, office buses and public cars caused congestion on the main thoroughfares, an official...