Giving Compass' Take:

• This article discusses a policy in India to conserve water resources that led to the rise of a major source of air pollution, making breathing Delhi’s air as bad as smoking 50 cigarettes.

• What other countries are struggling with this problem? What can be done to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions? 

• Learn about India’s solutions to addressing poor air quality.

More than 20 million residents in Delhi’s metropolitan area are yet again facing some of the worst pollution on earth, with air quality degrading to dangerous levels this week as a mix of weather conditions, urban emissions, and rural smoke converge over India’s capital region.

Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal turned to Twitter to describe his city as a “gas chamber.”

The gray haze led to canceled flights, closed schools, and created a public health emergency. The government distributed 5 million face masks to schoolchildren.

On Monday, some air quality index monitors maxed out with ratings of 999 and pollution reached 50 times the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization. For Delhiites, breathing the air was like smoking 50 cigarettes in a day. The US Embassy in New Delhi maintains its own air quality monitor and reported Thursday that the air quality index improved to a rating of 255, merely “very unhealthy.”

Read the full article about India's air pollution by Umair Irfan at Vox.