Beijing takes deep breath as smog season sets in

[robert99]

Appalling air quality: Beijing takes deep breath as smog season sets in
Beijing was hit by serious smog on Sunday as forecasters warned people living in the capital to brace for more days of poor air quality with the arrival of autumn.

Autumn and winter are usually the seasons when air pollution in Beijing turns for the worse.

The authorities issued the first yellow alert – the lowest in the three-tier system – for poor air quality on Sunday and said the smog had ushered in the start of the pollution season, according to the official Weather.com.cn.

Despite showers over the previous two nights which usually help clear the air, the air pollution remained poor.

The air quality index reading was 229 at 6pm, categorised as very unhealthy.
The average PM2.5 reading in the first eight months was 63 micrograms per cubic metre, Xinhua reported.

Beijing is aiming to keep average PM2.5 levels below 60 micrograms per cubic metre next year.

Levels were 80.6 micrograms in 2015, down from 95.7 micrograms in 2012, the report said.
(Where I am in Stockholm, PM2,5 is about 15 on weekends and max 30 on workdays. See your own levels where you live at Air Pollution in the World )
(So what are people supposed to do, stop breathing?)

 

[robert99]

Severe health warning for young and old as serious levels of air pollution chokes Hong Kong
Severe health warning for young and old as serious levels of air pollution chokes Hong Kong
There was something in the air on Monday as parts of the city saw a return to “serious” levels of air pollution, particularly to the west, with the haze expected to remain until Wednesday.

The Environmental Protection Department said the condition was caused by a nearby tropical cyclone which created favourable conditions for the formation of air pollutants.

The department warned the pollution levels would remain high on Tuesday but said cloudier weather and a few showers on Wednesday may see it ease.

At 4pm on Monday, the air quality health index in Yuen Long and Tuen Mun soared to 10+, the most severe warning on the scale, meaning a “serious” health risk.

During a serious health risk, children, the elderly and people suffering from heart or respiratory illnesses are advised to stay indoors as much as possible.

 

[robert99]

A quarter of China’s children at risk from polluted indoor air at home, survey finds
China’s environment ministry has released its first survey on the exposure of the country’s infants and adolescents to environmental risks, showing how seriously children are threatened by indoor air pollution, unsafe drinking water and hazardous emissions from factories and vehicles.
...
Pollution victims have frequently complained that authorities are reluctant to admit that their problems are the result of industrial emissions.

They also found it difficult to prove the link when taking polluters to court.

Earlier this year, in a soil pollution scandal in Jiangsu province, city authorities in Changzhou insisted a school campus was safe even though more than 500 students reported various symptoms after moving into the new campus, close to a contaminated site.

The progress of an official assessment of the public health impact of the country’s notorious smog problem was painfully slow, as it involved several ministries, sources said.

In one of the few official studies on health and pollution, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention for the first time confirmed the link between “cancer villages” along the Huai River and heavy pollution in the river basin in 2013, after three decades of study.