Air pollution reaches normal levels – NBRO
Air pollution in Sri Lanka has reduced considerably compared to the previous day and it has reached normal levels, the National Building Research Organization (NBRO) announced yesterday.
“There is a moderate level of air pollution in urban areas and the air quality in the rural areas is at a good level,” it said.
The air quality monitoring stations maintained by the NBRO had observed that the air quality level around Sri Lanka had decreased to unhealthy levels on December 7 and 8.
Strong winds from the direction of India due to the cyclonic storm “Mandous”, which was located over Southwest Bay of Bengal (300km north-east of Trincomalee) was the main reason for that occurrence.
Due to these cyclonic conditions, the wind direction had changed and air pollutants (Particulate Matter) were entering Sri Lanka’s atmosphere with the winds coming towards Sri Lanka through the Indian subcontinent. This situation is known as trans-boundary air pollution. The fog or misty skies were observed in many parts of Sri Lanka on Thursday (8) due to the influence of the cyclone.
Government and government-approved schools and Catholic Schools remained closed yesterday on a special holiday declared by the Ministry of Education due to the bad weather.