The 2.5 micron particulate matters rose to 157 AQI (air quality index) at 8am today. However, residents who are monitoring the air quality in HSR Layout tell us that even if the pollution is high during the day, you can beat it with some nifty measures.
Don’t want to invest in an air purifier as you don’t have people with breathing issues, no problem. “Just open your doors and windows during non peak hours for about 20 minutes,” says Shashank A. “The stale air goes out and the fresh air comes in. This itself drastically brings down the air pollution indoors to the safe levels.”
Another resident learnt this lesson the hard way. “We kept the doors and windows closed while switching on the air purifier,” says Uma K. “The PM2.5 levels have gone up to 184 AQI indoors both during the morning and night. Then, I read about how you should keep your doors open for a while in Residents Watch channel.”
The next day, she kept the doors open between 3.30pm-4pm, the time we had specified to be the best time for purer air compared to the mornings and nights. “It was like magic,” says Uma. “The AQI levels are now down to less 100 (which is ‘safe’) even when I keep the door to my room open. Which means, the AQI is he same across my house even without activating the air purifier.”
There you have it. You don’t have to use the air purifier often. However, if you have sensitive people with breathing disorders living in your house, an air purifier is a must. Otherwise, just aerating your indoors once in the day should be enough.
As you can see from the readings recorded at the Silk Board junction (the nearest place to HSR Layout has a government-certified pollution monitor), the levels are below 100 AQI, which are ‘safe’. So open your doors for a while and let the outside air purify your indoors.
