Kuwait Air Quality Index (KAQI)

The Kuwait Air Quality Index (KAQI) is a simple and easy way for presenting to the public the status of air quality around the 13 air quality monitoring stations in Kuwait. The purpose of the KAQI is to help you understand what local air quality means to your health. The KAQI tells you how clean or unhealthy your air is, and what associated health effects might be a concern.

 

Think of the KAQI as a scale that measures from 0 to 500. A value of 100 corresponds to the Kuwaiti National Ambient Air Quality Standard for the pollutant, which is the level the Environment Public Authority in Kuwait (KEPA) has set to protect public health. The higher the KAQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern. To make it easier to understand, the KAQI is divided into five levels of health concern of different colors:

The KAQI is calculated for five major air pollutants regulated by the List of Executive Orders (210/2001) of the National Environment Law No 21 for which the Environment Public Authority of Kuwait has established national air ambient quality standards to protect public health:

 

1. Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)

2. Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)

3. Ground-Level Ozone (O3)

4. Carbon Monoxide (CO)

5. Particulate Matter-10 microns (PM-10)

 

When the KAQI value of any of the above pollutants goes above 100, then the air quality is considered to be unhealthy—at first for certain sensitive groups of people, then for everyone as KAQI values increase.