Air quality in Raiwind

Does Raiwind have higher levels of air pollution?

Raiwind is located in Lahore, the capital city of Pakistan, within Punjab province, the most populous of all provinces found in the country. Pakistan itself has many serious pollution issues that it currently faces, and has faced over the last few decades. Raiwind itself is no exception, coming in amongst the most polluted cities worldwide, with a sizeable reading of pollution on record for both 2019 and 2020, although of note is that a significant improvement was seen from one year to the next, possibly due to the massively reduced movement caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, which saw large amounts of anthropogenic activity to cease across the world.

However, despite these improvements, Raiwind still came in within the top 100 most polluted cities in the world in 2020, having a PM2.5 reading that placed it very poorly, indicating that many months of the year would see Raiwind having air that is permeated heavily by smoke, haze, smog and dangerous accumulations of particulate matter.

In late April of 2021, in the early hours of the morning, Raiwind was seen with a US AQI reading of 53, a decent reading that placed it into the ‘moderate’ pollution ratings bracket. Whilst this shows that the city can have more appreciable levels of air quality present (as was also shown in 2020, with several months coming in with extremely clean air, a stark contrast to the more polluted months), it still stands to reason that with sporadic spikes of air pollution present throughout the months, the citizens of Raiwind may need to take extra care in order to protect themselves from these higher levels of pollution, either via the avoidance of outdoor activity if possible, or the wearing of fine particle filtering masks. These up to date air quality readings can be found on the air quality map at the top of this page, as well as on the AirVisual app.

Whilst Raiwind had a good reading of US AQI in its early hours of late April (with US AQI being a composite measure of the air quality levels, comprised of a number of different pollutants that go into calculating the final number), it can be seen that days prior to this had extremely poor readings of US AQI, with numbers going as high as 193, classifying Raiwind as being ‘unhealthy’ on that particular day. Also of note is that sudden spikes were also present throughout the day, with even higher readings of numbers such as 216 coming in over the course of a single hour, pushing its pollution rating up even further into the ‘very unhealthy’ bracket.

What is causing these higher pollution levels in Raiwind?

In 2020, Raiwind came in with a PM2.5 yearly average of 56.6 μg/m³, placing it within the ‘unhealthy’ ratings bracket, which requires a reading of anywhere between 55.5 to 150.4 μg/m³ to be classified as such. As the name indicates, the air quality for much of the year would be detrimental to the health of its citizens, with certain months having extreme issues present. This reading of 56.6 μg/m³ placed Raiwind in 6^th place out of all cities currently ranked in Pakistan, as well as in 57^th place out of all cities ranked worldwide.

In order to achieve such a high ranking, Raiwind would need to have numerous polluting sources that cause these PM2.5 readings to skyrocket. PM2.5 itself refers to particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers in diameter, going down to sizes many microns smaller, as well as being comprised of a variety of different materials. Due to this small size and the many different harmful materials that are part of the PM2.5 collective, it is of great risk to human health, and a prominent measure of pollution in its own right (alongside the previously mentioned US AQI).

Sources include ones such as vehicles, with both smaller personal vehicles such as cars and motorbikes being of significant concern, as well as larger freight vehicles adding to the pollution. Many of these vehicles are extremely aged and thus should be removed from the roads, but due to lack of stringent regulations they stay in use, putting out far more hazardous particulate matter as well as gases and oil vapors than a newer or cleaner counterpart would.

Other main sources include dust blown into the city from surrounding areas, as well as pollution emitted from the numerous brick kilns found in Raiwind and Lahore. The open burning of waste and refuse also adds to the pollution levels, along with industrial emissions, many of which rely on the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or diesel.

When are the pollution levels at their highest in Raiwind?

Highest levels of pollution on record as seen over 2020 were in the months of October through to December, as well as January and February. This indicates a pattern whereby the air pollution levels skyrocket at the end of the year and continue on into the early months of the following year, before abating to somewhat more appreciable levels.

The last three months had the worst readings of pollution, coming in with respective readings of 152.7 μg/m³, 145.3 μg/m³ and 107.6 μg/m³. This made October the most polluted month of the year by a significant amount, with its sizeable reading of 152.7 μg/m³ placing it into the ‘very unhealthy’ ratings bracket.

When are pollution levels at their lowest in Raiwind?

As touched on briefly, whilst Raiwind has these disastrous levels of air pollution present, it also has some surprisingly clean months, an uncommon sight in cities across this region of the world, which tend to have consistently poor PM2.5 readings throughout the entire year.

The months of June through to August were all exceptionally clean, with readings of 7.9 μg/m³, 5.9 μg/m³ and 4.1 μg/m³ respectively, placing them all well within the World Health Organizations (WHO's) target goal of 10 μg/m³ or less, for the best quality of air.

What are some health risks associated with pollution in Raiwind?

Health problems that would arise during the previously mentioned bouts of higher pollution would be issues such as dry coughs, irritation to the skin and mucous membranes, as well as chest pain or infections, and heightened risk of cancer, both to the lungs and skin (as well as numerous other parts of the body due to the insidious nature of PM2.5 and its ability to enter the bloodstream and thus travel throughout the circulatory system).

Many respiratory and cardiac issues would present themselves, including ones such as ischemic heart disease, arrythmias and heightened risks of heart attacks, along with pulmonary diseases such as pneumonia, bronchitis, emphysema and aggravated forms of asthma.