TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Mild to medium rain that fell on Riau helped improve the air quality on the region that has been shrouded by haze. The Pekanbaru Station of the Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) stated that the rain fell almost in all parts of Riau.
“The rain helped reduce the haze level in Riau regions,” said analyst of BMKG Pekanbaru Station Agus Widodo to Tempo on Saturday, September 20.
According to Agus, the improvement of air quality is seen on the pollutant standard index based on particulate matter 10 (PM10). The PM10 indicator has shown on Saturday that the pllutant has decreased from 150 Psi during last week, to 40 Psi.
Still according to Agus, the rain fell evenly on east, west and north parts of Riau but not in the south part.
“The rain potential in Tembilahan is very lacking. Hopefully the artificial rain made by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency will be helpful,” Agus said.
However, Agus continued, Terra and Aqua satelite still monitored 10 hot spots in Riau spread accross Bengkalis, Indragiri Hulu, and Indragiri Hilir.
RIYAN NOFITRA