Air Quality
Weekly Air Quality Update in Sri Lanka
Here, we summarize the current air quality in Sri Lanka including our weekly summary and the archives of these and some basic explanations.
Summary (06 April – 12 April 2026)
During the past week, daily AQI levels ranged from ‘Good’ to ‘Unhealthy’. Digana recorded poor AQI values continuously from 6th to 11th April, including an ‘Unhealthy’ daily average AQI value of 156 on 8th April. Nuwara Eliya recorded ‘Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups’ daily average AQI values on 7th and 8th April, while Chilaw recorded the same on 6th April and Trincomalee on 7th April. ‘Moderate’ daily average AQI values were recorded in the majority of monitored areas.
Polluted air mainly entered Sri Lanka from the western direction via the Arabian Sea.
When considering weekly averages, Digana and Nuwara Eliya recorded ‘Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups’ weekly average AQI values, while other areas recorded ‘Moderate’ weekly average AQI values.
Weekly Air Quality Index (AQI) Levels:
- Unhealthy For Sensitive Groups(AQI 101-150): Digana, Nuwara Eliya
- Moderate (AQI 51-100): Kurunegala, Colombo, Mirihana, Negombo, Battaramulla, Chilaw, Kalawana, Ambalanthota, Mannar, Trincomalee, Jaffna, Anuradhapura
Weekly Air Quality Highlights
Weekly Air Quality Blog
This page is based on our more detailed descriptions available at www.cleanair.lk
What is Air Quality?
Air quality is a measure of the level of air pollution. Polluted air consists of both particulate matter of fine dimensions and gaseous matter. The presence of these impurities decreases the pureness of the air we breathe.
How is it Estimated?
United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) has set up a standard to measure the impact on AQ by the following 5 major air pollutants:
- Ground- level ozone (O3)
- Particle pollution (PM2.5 and PM10)
- Carbon monoxide (CO)
- Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
- Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
The AQI standard for ozone and particle pollution according to US EPA comprises of six categories. Each category is assigned a specific colour and corresponds to a different level of health concern. As the scale grows the air quality turns from good to extremely unhealthy.
© US EPA
Air Quality Monitoring
In Sri Lanka, the quality of air has been deteriorating in urban locales, in places close to industries and in places with biomass burning. The rate of deterioration is significantly high in areas of heavy traffic. This leaves communities residing in the areas vulnerable to the health impacts of air pollution.
Note, not all instruments shall be updating data due to connectivity issues. Above, you can find map based pointers to access these data.
In this page, we present real-time updates of air quality at:
- Akurana
- Colombo
- Digana
- Illanthandiya
- Nawalapitiya
- Norochcholai
- Puttalam
Our Contributions
We are:
- Diagnosing historical air pollution data for diurnal variations, seasonality and inter-annual variation for Colombo, Kandy, Puttalam and other urban areas
- Assessing the relationship with climate variation
- Modeling the transport of air pollution in Sri Lanka and the region
- Obtaining air quality data on particulates and carbon dioxide in 10 stations in real time in a network which covers Colombo, Kandy, Nawalapitiya, Puttalam so far
- Maintaining an online updated repository of air quality data
- Working with partners on assessing health impacts
- Developing an updated air quality map