Moradabad Air Quality Index (AQI) & Air Pollution Today

Uttar Pradesh, India — Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI) and PM2.5

Moradabad AQI Right Now

80

Category: Satisfactory

Dominant Pollutant: pm10

PM2.5: 46.55 µg/m³

PM10: 79.22 µg/m³

Last updated: 2026-03-24 — Data source: Google Air Quality API (NAQI). Live NAQI values load when you visit the page.

Moradabad Pollutant Levels

PollutantConcentration
PM2.546.55 µg/m³
PM1079.22 µg/m³
O₃ (Ozone)9.59 µg/m³
NO₂11.5 µg/m³
SO₂17.23 µg/m³
CO606.75 µg/m³

Health Advisory — Moradabad

Satisfactory: Minor breathing discomfort to sensitive people.

Health Impact — Moradabad

Cigarette Equivalent: Breathing this air is equivalent to smoking 2.1 cigarettes per day (based on current PM2.5 levels).

Life Expectancy Impact: Sustained exposure at this PM2.5 level could reduce life expectancy by 0.24 years (AQLI estimate, relative to WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³).

Health Recommendations for Moradabad

  • General Population: Acceptable air quality. Unusually sensitive people should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
  • Elderly: Minor breathing discomfort is possible.
  • Children: Should be fine outdoors with normal activities.
  • Lung Disease Patients: Consider reducing prolonged outdoor exertion.

Understanding Moradabad Air Quality

Moradabad - Peetal Nagri (Brass City) - is home to India's largest brassware industry, with an estimated 5,000+ workshops and small factories concentrated in the old city areas of Peetal Nagri, Katghar, and Mughal Pura. The brass smelting, polishing, and electroplating processes release a distinctive cocktail of metallic particulates, copper-zinc fumes, and acid vapours that give Moradabad's pollution a unique industrial fingerprint unlike any other Indian city. Workers in these narrow-lane workshops operate furnaces and polishing wheels often without modern emission controls, creating localised PM2.5 hotspots that can exceed 250 µg/m³.

October through January marks Moradabad's severe pollution season. Situated on the flat Ramganga River floodplain in western Uttar Pradesh, the city falls squarely within the Indo-Gangetic pollution belt. Crop residue burning from surrounding sugarcane and paddy fields compounds the already-heavy brass industry emissions, while temperature inversions trap pollutants at ground level for weeks. Winter fog mixes with industrial smoke to create a dense smog that blankets the city, particularly in the densely populated old-city brass manufacturing quarters where ventilation is poor and emissions are highest.

The monsoon (July–September) provides Moradabad's only sustained relief, with 900+ mm of rainfall scrubbing out brass dust and agricultural smoke. Post-monsoon October is deceptively brief before stubble burning season begins. The Ramganga River corridor offers some wind channelling, but the overall flat terrain provides little natural dispersion advantage. Moradabad's air quality challenge is inseparable from its economic identity - the brass industry employs hundreds of thousands and drives the city's Rs 5,000+ crore export economy, making emission regulation a complex socio-economic balancing act.

Primary Pollution Sources

  • Brass industry emissions (metalworking)
  • Vehicle exhaust
  • Crop residue burning
  • Road dust
  • Waste burning
  • Construction dust

Geography: Ramganga River basin in western UP; India's Brass City, flat Gangetic terrain, part of western UP pollution belt

Peak pollution months: October, November, December, January

Frequently Asked Questions — Moradabad

How does the brass industry affect Moradabad's air quality?

Moradabad's 5,000+ brass workshops and factories are the city's dominant pollution source. Brass smelting at 900–1,000°C releases copper and zinc oxide fumes, while polishing and buffing operations generate fine metallic PM2.5. Electroplating uses acids that emit harmful vapours. Most workshops in the old city lack chimney scrubbers or ventilation systems, creating extremely high localised pollution that spills into residential areas.

When is the best time to visit Moradabad for clean air?

July to September (monsoon) offers the cleanest air in Moradabad, with AQI typically in the Good to Satisfactory range (NAQI 50–100) as heavy rainfall suppresses brass industry dust and washes out pollutants. March to May is moderately clean but hot. Avoid October–January entirely if you are sensitive to air pollution, as the combination of brass emissions, crop burning smoke, and winter inversions pushes AQI to Severe levels.

Air Quality in Nearby Cities