BEIJING - China plans to release hourly air pollution monitoring data in 74 of its biggest cities starting on New Year's Day, state media said on Sunday, in a sign of increasing responsiveness to quality-of-life concerns among prosperous urban people.
Choking pollution and murky grey skies in Chinese cities is
a top gripe among both Chinese and expatriates.
Microscopic pollutant particles in the air have killed about
8,600 people prematurely this year and cost $1 billion in
economic losses in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi’an,
according to a study by Beijing University and Greenpeace that
measured the pollutant levels of PM2.5, or particles smaller
than 2.5 micrometres in diameter.
The new monitoring will include not only PM2.5, but also
sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and carbon monoxide, the
Xinhua news agency said, citing a Friday announcement by the
Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Data will be collected from 496 monitoring stations, it
said.
First Beijing, then other cities have become more public
about their air quality data since the U.S. embassy in Beijing
began publishing hourly data from a pollution monitor installed
on embassy grounds in Beijing.
The embassy’s monitor often diverged with official air
quality readings, adding to public pressure for the city to come
clean about the state of its air.
The United States has extended its monitoring programme to
its consulates in China.
Sunday was a clear and sunny winter day in Beijing, with the
levels of ozone and PM2.5 declared “moderate” or “good”,
according to embassy data. The Beijing Municipal Environmental
Monitoring Center (www.bjmemc.com.cn) rated PM10 concentrations
as “excellent”.
Many Chinese cities have removed belching smokestacks and
coal-burning factories from their centers in the past few years,
but a rise in the number of cars during the same period has
created new air quality problems.
