Air in many China cities remains highly polluted
By Dong Zhen |
November 8, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Nearly 40 percent of major Chinese cities, including the capital of Beijing, had air pollution exceeding the country's official limits during the first six months this year, according to a wide-ranging environmental report from the state environmental watchdog.
Shanghai's air quality reached the national "fair quality" standard but the results were not comforting. The report showed that inhalable particulates measuring less than 10 microns in diameter, a benchmark airborne pollution indicator, rose by 25 percent in Shanghai during the first half of this year from a year earlier.
The fine particles are small enough to lodge in people's lungs, causing great health risks. The other major air pollutant indicators - sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, components in acid rain - increased about 17 and 16 percent, respectively, in Shanghai, the report said.
The checks covering 113 major cities found air quality in 68 of them, including Shanghai, reached the "fair level," or second tier, by the China environmental watchdog's standards. Beijing was among the 45 cities with air pollutants exceeding the national standards. The air in 44 of them was rated at the third tier, indicating alarming pollution, while the far western city of Urumqi had the sole distinction of "worse than third tier" air quality.
Not one city had air clean enough to qualify for the best-quality level, or first tier, according to the report.
It said the average amount of sulfur dioxide among the 113 cities improved by 2.2 percent from the first six months of last year while the average nitrogen dioxide volume increased by 5.7 percent. The level of inhalable particles on average was about the same from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, a chief engineer with the national environmental watchdog warned that about one tenth of China's farmland is polluted by lead, zinc and other heavy metals to "striking" levels.
Wan Bentai, the chief engineer for China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, told a forum in Guangzhou that the country faces "serious environmental pollution," with at least 10 percent of farmland polluted by heavy metals and 20 percent of waters failing quality standards.
The farmland pollutants included metals coming from smelter chimneys, water run-off and mine tailings. Exposure to lead and other heavy metals can damage people's nervous systems, reproductive systems and kidneys, as well as create other health complications. Children are especially vulnerable to such pollution.
Wan said that in recent years, outbreaks of heavy metal pollution have been frequent. "From January to August this year, there were 11 such reported incidents while nine involved lead pollution," Wan said.
The central government has stressed that protecting farmland from pollution is a priority and is stepping up measures to curb soil pollution, but many rural governments still support operations that discharge pollution into the soil and water systems.
Shanghai's air quality reached the national "fair quality" standard but the results were not comforting. The report showed that inhalable particulates measuring less than 10 microns in diameter, a benchmark airborne pollution indicator, rose by 25 percent in Shanghai during the first half of this year from a year earlier.
The fine particles are small enough to lodge in people's lungs, causing great health risks. The other major air pollutant indicators - sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, components in acid rain - increased about 17 and 16 percent, respectively, in Shanghai, the report said.
The checks covering 113 major cities found air quality in 68 of them, including Shanghai, reached the "fair level," or second tier, by the China environmental watchdog's standards. Beijing was among the 45 cities with air pollutants exceeding the national standards. The air in 44 of them was rated at the third tier, indicating alarming pollution, while the far western city of Urumqi had the sole distinction of "worse than third tier" air quality.
Not one city had air clean enough to qualify for the best-quality level, or first tier, according to the report.
It said the average amount of sulfur dioxide among the 113 cities improved by 2.2 percent from the first six months of last year while the average nitrogen dioxide volume increased by 5.7 percent. The level of inhalable particles on average was about the same from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, a chief engineer with the national environmental watchdog warned that about one tenth of China's farmland is polluted by lead, zinc and other heavy metals to "striking" levels.
Wan Bentai, the chief engineer for China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, told a forum in Guangzhou that the country faces "serious environmental pollution," with at least 10 percent of farmland polluted by heavy metals and 20 percent of waters failing quality standards.
The farmland pollutants included metals coming from smelter chimneys, water run-off and mine tailings. Exposure to lead and other heavy metals can damage people's nervous systems, reproductive systems and kidneys, as well as create other health complications. Children are especially vulnerable to such pollution.
Wan said that in recent years, outbreaks of heavy metal pollution have been frequent. "From January to August this year, there were 11 such reported incidents while nine involved lead pollution," Wan said.
The central government has stressed that protecting farmland from pollution is a priority and is stepping up measures to curb soil pollution, but many rural governments still support operations that discharge pollution into the soil and water systems.
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