We often notice the air we breathe only when it turns smoky, dusty or difficult to breathe. But air pollution does not always come with visible warnings. Clean air is essential to our health, yet we often take its importance for granted. While pollution is visible in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, it can also affect people in places where the air appears clear.
Changing air quality
Goa has also seen recent reports of deteriorating air quality. According to The Goan’s October 13 report, the AQI “peaked at 190 in the ‘Unhealthy’ category late on Sunday night” on October 11, before falling to 127 in the ‘Poor’ category by the afternoon of October 12. The readings raise questions about what is entering the air we breathe, whether construction and other human activities are contributing to pollution, and how changing weather patterns may be affecting air quality.
Dr Pradip Sarmokadam, Member Secretary of the Goa State Biodiversity Board and In-Charge Chairperson of the GSPCB, points to the transition from the monsoon to dry weather as one factor that can affect air quality. Dust accumulated during the rainy season through surface runoff and erosion can be stirred up by vehicular movement and wind, increasing particulate matter in the air. “Open burning and emissions from certain materials and industrial processes may also contribute,” he says. While the seasonal shift can contribute to dust in the air, mud architect and environmentalist Tallulah D’Silva points to ongoing construction and industrial activity as another major concern. “The poor air quality is mostly because of the increased amount of construction activity and the pollution caused by industrial regions,” she says. She draws attention to highway projects underway across different sections of Goa, from South to North, noting that “the highway project itself has been running for nearly a decade now.” Dust from construction sites and crushing units that produce aggregates, she says, further adds to the problem.
Monitoring air pollution
The extent of the problem, however, also depends on how air quality is measured. Sarmokadam says the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) monitors ambient air quality at 17 locations across the State. Monitoring is carried out for 24 hours twice a week, with four-hourly sampling for gaseous pollutants, eight-hourly sampling for particulate matter (PM₁₀) and 24-hourly sampling for fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅), in accordance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, 2009. Based on qualitative and quantitative analyses conducted on three monitoring days at each of the 17 locations during October 2026, the GSPCB recorded AQI values ranging from 56 to 92, within the Satisfactory category under CPCB norms. These figures differ from the higher readings reported earlier, making the monitoring source and method an important distinction. “Mere sensor-based and non-calibrated or non-validated monitoring equipment may capture even fog or mist and may not necessarily indicate suspended particulates like PM₂.₅ or PM₁₀,” he says. The GSPCB also plans to conduct sample-based monitoring in areas not currently covered, subject to the availability of space and electricity connections for mobile equipment.
Loss of green cover
While monitoring can help establish the extent of pollution, D’Silva says the activities contributing to it must also be examined. Alongside construction and industrial emissions, she points to the loss of tree cover due to tree cutting and hill cutting. Trees help absorb carbon and filter the air, making their removal another concern. “Trees are also a buffer, you know, they sequester carbon, they clean out the air in a way,” she says. “The more and more we cut trees, there is no other medium that can filter the air.” She adds that the loss of vegetation, combined with large-scale construction, contributes to the deterioration of air quality.
Impact of weather
Apart from human activities, weather patterns also influence the conditions in which air pollution develops. Sarmokadam says the shorter rainy season and lower rainfall this year, compared with the previous two years, have led to an earlier rise in temperatures usually associated with October heat. He adds that the Goa State Action Plan for Climate Change projects extreme rainfall events and heatwaves, while more automatic weather stations are being planned to improve local weather data. D’Silva, meanwhile, points to broader changes in weather patterns that are making conditions increasingly difficult to predict. “We are right now in the crisis of climate change,” she says, referring to storm-like situations, excessive rainfall within a day and flooding. “We don’t know when it’s going to rain, when it’s going to be suddenly hot, and we really have to do all we can to understand these climatic changes to be able to adapt to them,” she adds.
Need for regular monitoring
With both human activities and changing weather patterns potentially influencing air quality, establishing the causes of Goa’s recent AQI readings becomes important. The differing figures reported and those recorded by the GSPCB also highlight the need for consistent monitoring across the State to identify where air quality is deteriorating and what is contributing to it. Construction dust, industrial emissions and seasonal changes warrant closer assessment rather than attributing the readings to a single cause. Since pollution is not always visible to the naked eye, regular monitoring is essential to understand what people are breathing, even when the air appears clear.
