Every winter, Dhaka transforms.
The wintry, crisp mornings must silent elevate respite from the relentless summer season heat.
As a substitute, town is wrapped in an unwelcome blanket – thick, choking, and laced with invisible dangers.
To its 23 million residents, that is no longer correct air; or no longer it is a toxic cocktail of pollutants that invades every breath.
Whereas Dhaka’s air quality is abysmal three hundred and sixty five days-spherical, winter is when the disaster peaks.
The honest lies in a lethal combination of environmental and human-made components.
At some stage in winter, a meteorological phenomenon known as “temperature inversion” traps pollutants closer to the ground.
Most regularly, heat air rises, taking pollutants with it. But in winter, a layer of wintry air will get trapped under a layer of heat air, effectively sealing pollutants in.
This inversion coincides with increased constructing assert.
Dhaka’s relentless urbanisation sees limitless constructing sites kicking up grime — one in every of the most predominant contributors to its polluted air. The swish particulate subject (PM2.5) from this grime no longer utterly taints the skyline but additionally penetrates deep into the lungs, causing respiratory and cardiovascular issues.
Adding to the mix are brick kilns, which characteristic in beefy swing all the arrangement via the dry winter months. These kilns, most regularly previous-customary and extremely polluting, are scattered around Dhaka’s outskirts. They release a valuable amount of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate subject into the atmosphere, worsening town’s air quality.
One more culprit is freeway grime, which is omnipresent in Dhaka.
With dry weather and inadequate rainfall to trim it away, the grime accumulates. Heavy traffic and poorly maintained roads churn it into the air, where it lingers, mixing with emissions from vehicles operating on low-quality gasoline.
Particles like PM2.5 and PM10 are so swish that they’re going to penetrate the bloodstream.
This publicity can lead to chronic harm to special organs, including the lungs, heart, and brain.
For young americans and the aged, the dangers are in particular acute. A 2022 be taught about revealed that air pollution ends in a upward thrust in bronchial asthma assaults, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), and even neurological points. Lengthy-timeframe publicity has been linked to a upward thrust in most cancers instances and premature deaths within town.
Curiously, no longer all of Dhaka’s pollution is homegrown. Experts utter “transboundary air pollution” as yet some other aspect.
At some stage in winter, wind patterns elevate pollutants from neighbouring regions, including India, where cleave residue burning contributes to excessive ranges of particulate subject. This external pollution provides to Dhaka’s already grim bother.
Experts agree that tackling Dhaka’s winter air pollution requires a multi-pronged attain. Better regulation of constructing sites and predominant grime administration measures could per chance tremendously reduce airborne particulates. Upgrading the technology feeble in brick kilns and switching to cleaner vitality sources are predominant steps.
Moreover, addressing transboundary air regional cooperation, including agreements with neighbouring nations to curb cleave burning all the arrangement via winter.
A city at crossroads
Air quality in Dhaka from November to February has consistently been dangerous over the last nine years, in step with the Middle for Atmospheric Pollution Reports (CAPS).
Fresh knowledge confirmed Dhaka ranked among the field’s most polluted cities, with AQI ratings of 234 and 160 on consecutive days.
Even nowadays (5 December) Dhaka has all once more topped the checklist of cities across the field with the worst air quality with an air quality index (AQI) ranking of 392 at 9am.
Diagnosis finds January is mostly the worst month for air quality, with a mean AQI of 250 over nine years.
Particularly, January 2023 recorded a mean AQI of 281, the worst in 106 months. In distinction, July 2021 had the cleanest air, with an AQI of 76. Annual averages also show a worsening vogue, with AQIs of 159 in 2021, 160 in 2022, and 171 in 2023.
For now, Dhaka stays a city at the mercy of its agree with disclose and the whims of winter weather. As the season deepens, the air thickens, and millions brace themselves for months of discomfort. But beneath the grime lies a sobering truth– with out drastic measures, town’s air will utterly grow deadlier with every passing three hundred and sixty five days.
It be no longer correct the air that is at stake— or no longer it’s the arrangement in which forward for a city struggling to breathe.
