Namrata D. Jain¹, Jay Bergi², Ratna Trivedi^1,

Now a day, India along with whole world is facing the worst phase of air pollution. All the metropolitan and smart cities air is suffering from various pollutants. Even though rural areas are not away from this severe problem. AQI, AQI Index, visuality and respiratory illness are some of the eye catching words in media today. Air quality is not dependent on any single parameter. Air quality gets affected by gases, particulate matters, topography, metrology, chemical compounds etc. This paper focuses’ the effect of criteria pollutants, volatile organic compounds and meteorological factors on the air quality of various cities. The Air Quality Index of those cities has been compared with parameters and whole AQI values have been categorized into five ranges mentioned by NAAQS. The data collected and analyzed in this paper entails that PM_2.5, PM₁₀, NO₂ and NOx are the key role players. Amongst VOC’s, toluene played the main role while in metrology solar radiations and wind degree influenced the air quality most. At certain locations the AQI index reached its severe category which results in respiratory ailments and ultimately death on prolonged exposure to this condition.

Air Quality Index (AQI), National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)