Unhealthy air quality in several areas

KLANG: The Air Pollutant Index (API) in several places was at an unhealthy level on Tuesday evening.

According to the Department of Environment data, the API had fluctuated in Cheras from 114 to 108 from 6pm to 9pm on Tuesday but returned to normal at 10pm that day.

The reading for Cheras was at 89 as at 5pm yesterday.

In Port Dickson, the API reading was at 101, which fell under the unhealthy category, at 8pm on Tuesday but returned to normal an hour later at 97.

However, the API in Seremban, which was normal the whole of Tuesday, took a dip to unhealthy level of 103 at 6am yesterday.

The API index in Seremban was at an unhealthy count of 130 at 5pm yesterday.

It is believed the situation in Seremban was due to quarrying as well as land clearing activities in nearby Nilai for some development projects.

Good air quality according to the API falls within 50, 51 to 100 is moderate, 101 to 200 is unhealthy, 201 to 300 is very unhealthy and beyond that is regarded as hazardous.