CHINA: Government says air quality in declining in country's big cities

Record ID: 216813

  • Title: CHINA: Government says air quality in declining in country's big cities
  • Date: 30th July 2010
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JULY 28, 2010) (REUTERS) CARS DRIVING IN FRONT OF CHINA CENTRAL TELEVISION (CCTV) TOWER CARS ON ROAD TOP PORTION OF CCTV TOWER VARIOUS OF CONSTRUCTION CRANES AMONGST BUILDINGS SUN BUILDINGS IN DISTANCE VARIOUS OF CARS PASSING ON ROAD PEOPLE WAITING AT BUS STOP WOMAN AT BUS STOP COVERING HER MOUTH EDUCATION WORKER FROM SHAANXI PROVINCE, LI GUI, WAL
  • Embargoed: 14th August 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6IBS0PHQ39KVYA94DKQ7DB1UW
  • Story Text: Chinese authorities say the air quality in big cities is worsening again for the first time in five years, due in part to policies promoting economic recovery.
    The air quality in China's big cities worsened in the first half of 2010 for the first time in five years, the government said this week, partly blaming economic recovery policies that have helped the country power out of the financial downturn.
    The air quality in 113 cities tested reached or exceeded the national standard on 91 percent of days in the first six months of the year, a 0.3 percent drop compared with the same period in 2009, the state-run China Daily newspaper quoted a report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection as saying.
    Experts say a boom in construction, increased factory production and energy demand that have been spurred by the government's policies to boost the economy when the financial crisis hit, are partly to blame for the increased air pollution.
    The Beijing municipal tax office says the number of new cars registered in Beijing in the first four months of 2010 rose 23.8 percent to 248,000, thanks in part to government subsidies to stimulate consumption.
    A thick haze has been hanging over much of Beijing for much of the week as the city sweltered at 36 degree Celsius. Pollution levels have reached their highest in the hot summer months.
    According to official government monitoring stations, the air pollution index (API), a measure the pollution people are exposed to, was at 100 on Monday (July 26), the upper limit of what Beijing calls a "blue sky day".
    The United States embassy reading of smaller, more dangerous particular matter 2.5 (PM2.5), which China does not monitor, said the levels were between "unhealthy" and "very unhealthy" throughout the day.
    Li Gui (pron: Lee Gway), an education worker residing in the capital, said the air pollution could get a bit overwhelming.
    "For some time now, it's become a little more difficult to breath around here. I like to get out to the suburbs because the air there is less polluted than in the city," she said.
    The air quality in many larger cities like Beijing have seen significant improvements in recent years, with levels of nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and other harmful pollutants dropping since 2005, authorities have said.
    Ye Xingsheng (pron: Yeh sing-shung), an office worker who came to Beijing before a slew of measures to reduce air pollution for the 2008 Olympic Games, said he has seen some progress.
    "Compared with five or six years ago, Beijing's air has improved a lot. Of course the current environment is not the best, and is very different to some of China's other cities, so the government needs to do more to improve the environment. But I don't feel it has got worse," he said.
    Of different forms of air pollution, inhalable particles, which are much smaller than many others, are considered to be amongst the most damaging to health.
    Duan Lei (pron: duan lay), vice-dean of the air pollution control division at Tsinghua University, said the link between respiratory diseases in China and air pollution from inhalable particles was now indisputable.
    "In some areas of China where particle pollution is more serious, including windy cities, it definitely has a very negative effect on people's health. Because of the effect on their health, some people may die early," he said.
    China's monitoring system is criticised by scientists as it omits two dangerous pollutants -- ozone and fine particular matter.
    It monitors the concentration of PM10 - particulate matter 10 microns in diameter, about a seventh the thickness of a human hair.
    But Duan said smaller particles such as PM2.5, measured by the US Embassy, and PM1 - just one micron in diameter - are believed to damage the lungs and be easily absorbed into the bloodstream, making them much worse for health.
    Smaller particles are often a form of "secondary pollution", where pollution is transformed by reaction with other substances once emitted, as opposed to "primary pollution", which represents harmful gases in the form in which they were emitted.
    Experts like Duan are urging authorities to pay more attention to secondary pollutants, which are increasingly the most serious pollutants found in the air of big Chinese cities.
    "The most serious problem is secondary pollution, we have to take it more into consideration than just primary pollution. Now, if you want to reflect this problem, then PM2.5 is definitely a better measurement than PM10. As researchers, we hope the government can keep up with this trend," he said, adding that he believed authorities may start checking the PM2.5 level within a couple of years.
    Duan said he hoped China would speed up the modernisation of old industries so that its 10 percent annual GDP growth might come at smaller cost.
    But with economic expansion at the top of the agenda, residents of cities like Beijing may have to wait some time for a breath of fresh air.
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