Jakarta's Air Pollution Worsens: A Look Back at the Past Month

Jakarta's air pollution is worsening. This is evident from IQAir data, which uses the US Air Quality Index (AQI US) standard to measure air quality in each region.

Over the past week, Jakarta's worst air quality was recorded on Tuesday (July 25, 2023), with a daily average of 164 points. The AQI US classifies this quality as unhealthy and in the red zone.

Two days later, on Wednesday and Thursday, the quality score reached 161 points. This air quality falls into the unhealthy category.

Today, Friday (July 28, 2023), Jakarta's air quality score is 156 points. This score still falls into the unhealthy category.

Over the past month, Jakarta's daily average air quality score has been predominantly unhealthy, namely in the orange and red zones. The orange zone indicates unhealthy air for sensitive groups, with scores in Jakarta reaching 113-146 points.

Meanwhile, moderate air quality occurred only twice: on Thursday (June 29, 2023) at 81 points and Sunday (July 9, 2023) at 100 points.

IQAir data also shows that the main pollutant in Jakarta's air is PM2.5, with a concentration of 47 µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic meter) on Friday (July 28, 2023). This value is 9.4 times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO)'s annual air quality guideline.

The WHO's ideal air quality standard has a PM2.5 concentration weight of between 0 and 5 micrograms per cubic meter.

In terms of regional distribution, Kemang V ranks first with the worst air quality in Jakarta, at 163 points on Friday (July 28, 2023) at 11:00 WIB (Western Indonesian Time). This is followed by Gordi HQ (162 points) and Gelora Bung Karno or GBK (161 points).

According to Liputan6.com, the Jakarta Provincial Environmental Agency (DLH DKI Jakarta) states that 70% of the poor air quality is influenced by the transportation sector. The DLH is urging the public to reduce their mobility using private cars.

The following are the air quality parameters based on the AQI US:

* Green (0-50): Good
* Yellow (51-100): Moderate
* Orange (101-150): Unhealthy for sensitive groups
* Red (151-200): Unhealthy
* Purple (201-300): Very unhealthy
* Maroon (over 301): Hazardous

(See also: Kurious Survey: Many People Feel Indonesia's Air Quality is Poor)