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A particulate matter sampling device was installed at Fort Herriman Middle School on Monday to help state officials and local experts understand the roles location and elevation play in air quality.
The school was one of four along the Wasatch Front that will be housing and operating the air sampling devices through early March. The collaborative effort between Breathe Utah and the Utah Division of Air Quality also will place devices at Morningside Elementary in Holladay, Glendale Middle School in Salt Lake City and Scott M. Matheson Junior High in Magna.
Breathe Utah, a group of local air quality experts, is hoping the four locations will provide state officials with air quality data that correlate with differences in topography across the valley, according to Erin Mendenhall, the organization\’s executive director.
“I think, logically, we’re going to see that lower elevations have increased pollution and upper elevations see those effects later in the inversion,” Mendenhall said. “We need to acquire this kind of data in order to approach the problem on a very specific level where we look at individual communities.”
Kevin Hart, a Division of Air Quality environmental scientist, said there are about 25 similar monitoring stations throughout the state. The data collected from the monitors are used to inform the Environmental Protection Agency and the public about the levels of Utah’s air pollution.
Science teachers from the schools will maintain the monitors by installing filters that will collect particulate matter, known as PM 2.5, every Tuesday and Thursday, Hart said. The filters will later be taken to a state lab to measure how much particulate matter was collected during those time periods.
Localized air quality information provided by the monitors is useful in determining what mitigation efforts are necessary in certain locations, Hart said.
“Each area is different,” he said. “Obviously, if pollution levels are high in Cache County, it’s not going to do much good to tell the industry in Salt Lake that they need to cut back on pollution, because the pollution that’s created here isn’t necessarily going to go up there, and vice versa.”
To Hart and Mendenhall, the schools are more than just convenient locations for the monitors.
It’s important to get “the younger generation involved with air pollution because they’re the ones that are going to have to deal with it in the future,” Hart said. “If we can teach the younger generation that pollution is here to stay and that we all have to do something about it, then hopefully they will step up and take an active part in it.”
“There is a lot of momentum to do what we can to protect our community health and improve our air,” Mendenhall said. “There is momentum … to approach this problem from as many angles as we can, and I think more data will help that.”
Hart said he hopes the data will bring further awareness to the problem of air quality.
“I think the main concern is getting people to realize that it’s not everybody else’s problem,” he said. “It’s a problem for all of us. We all have to do our part to keep pollution levels down.”
via Four Utah schools to house, operate air quality monitoring devices | Deseret News.
Roadside pollution worsened in Hong Kong’s Central district last year as vehicular emissions helped send nitrogen dioxide concentrations to near-record levels, an environmental advocacy group said.
Citywide levels of the pollutant, linked to damaged lung function, were the second-highest on record, according to Clean Air Network Ltd.. Particulate matter levels at all monitoring stations exceeded World Health Organization guidelines by two to three times, the group said in a report on Jan. 10.
Hong Kong’s legislators on Jan. 10 approved HK$11.4 billion ($1.5 billion) in funding to replace old diesel vehicles. Aging buses and trucks have led to a worsening in air quality since 2007. Nitrogen dioxide levels are getting worse because of local emissions, rather than from China’s Pearl River Delta region, the environmental group said.
“As you can see from the air quality in 2013, end-of-pipe solutions are not enough considering the time it takes,” Sum Yin-Kwong, chief executive officer of Clean Air Network, said in a statement. “To speed up the improvement in air quality, we hope to see the government look into the problem from a comprehensive transport management perspective in this year’s policy address.”
The city will use the approved subsidies to phase out 82,000 pre-Euro IV diesel commercial vehicles in a program that will begin on March 1, according to an e-mailed government statement citing the Environmental Protection Department. The plan should lead to a cut in levels of respirable suspended particulates and nitrogen oxides by 80 percent and 30 percent respectively, the department said.
Roadside Monitors
Hong Kong has three roadside pollution monitoring stations in the busy districts of Central, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay. The Central monitor, sandwiched between the Asian headquarters of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and a Tiffany & Co. outlet, recorded nitrogen dioxide concentration levels of 126 micrograms per cubic meter last year, according to the environmental group report.
The Central roadside gauge stood at 10, the highest level in the “very high” health risk range, at 4 p.m. today. The reading at the Causeway Bay roadside station, located in a busy shopping area, hit 9, according to data posted on the department’s website. The Mong Kok gauge was at 8. A reading above 10 indicates “serious” health risk.
Hong Kong introduced an air quality index on Dec. 30 pegged to pollution-induced hospital admission risks. Readings on the index are calculated based on health risks from inhaling concentrations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. Air pollution in the city contributed to 3,183 premature deaths last year, according to the group.
via Central Hong Kong Sees Near-Record Pollution Levels in 2013 – Bloomberg.
The equivalent of the population of Bristol dies each year in China because of lethal air pollution, according to Chen Zhu, who was the country’s Health minister until last year.
Mr Chen, who is also a professor of medicine and a leading molecular biologist, is the most senior government official to put a human cost on the smog that regularly clouds Chinese skies.
Until recently, any mention of deaths relating to pollution was strictly censored.
Mr Chen’s claim came in a commentary in December’s issue of the Lancet, co-written with Wang Jinnan, Ma Guoxia and Zhang Yanshen from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
“Studies by the World Bank, WHO, and the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning on the effect of air pollution on health concluded that between 350 000 and 500000 people die prematurely each year as a result of outdoor air pollution in China,” Mr Chen and his fellow authors noted.
He added that air pollution has become “the fourth biggest threat to the health of Chinese people” (behind heart disease, dietary risk and smoking) and that lung cancer is “now the leading cause of death from malignant tumours in the country”.
Mr Chen said China “now produces the largest number of major pollutants in the world”, and accounts for half the world\’s coal consumption.
The estimate that the authors quoted, however, is lower than the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study, also published in the Lancet, which estimated that airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) caused 1.2 million premature deaths in China in 2010 alone.
Mr Chen’s commentary said the Chinese government has now enacted “tough measures” in order to fight the smog.
“According to research results from the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, 200,000 people will be prevented from dying prematurely each year if the annual level of PM in Chinese cities reaches the first level standard of 40 micrograms per cubic metre, as set out in the newly revised China National Ambient Air Quality Standards,” he wrote.
Between 2002 and 2011 the incidence of lung cancer in Beijing near doubled. Nationwide, deaths from lung cancer have risen 465 per cent in the last three decades.
Smoking remains the leading cause of lung cancer, but the number of smokers is falling while lung cancer rates are still rising.
Mr Chen’s commentary is particularly notable because in 2007 Chinese censors removed a claim that air pollution caused 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths from a joint report between the World Bank and the Chinese government.
via China’s ‘airpocalypse’ kills 350,000 to 500,000 each year – Telegraph.
Areas including Hope Street and Charing Cross are pockets of bad air which could have a long-term impact on people’s health.
The Evening Times, working with environ-mental charity Friends of the Earth, identified hot spots where levels of the dangerous particulate PM2.5 accumulate.
We joined campaigners for a cycle round the city centre using a pollution pack designed to measure the most dangerous type of pollution.
The World Health Organisation claims any exposure to PM2.5 is dang-erous and levels in Glasgow are currently much higher than recommended.
Last year the air monitoring station on Hope Street recorded pollution levels well above govern-ment recommended levels.
The Scottish Government has committed to an annual mean of 12 micrograms per cubic metre (¼g/m3 ) but, last year, the Hope Street station had an average level of 16.4 ¼g/m3, according to provisional data analysed by Friends of the Earth.
The charity’s director Dr Richard Dixon said levels in Hope Street were “simply not good enough”.
Data collected during a six-mile cycle showed major peaks of pollution in busy areas, while quieter areas with less traffic recorded much lower levels.
Levels of pollution were at their highest in queues of traffic. The major peaks in the study were at Hope Street, Argyle Street and crossing onto Sauchiehall Street at Charing Cross.
Dr Dixon said: “The data shows cyclists and people exposed to busy traffic are exposed to PM 2.5. Scien-tists have found these fine particles are the pollutants of most concern. This is dangerous for our health.”
THE cycle route started in George Square before heading to Glasgow Green then back to the city centre.
It went up Hope Street and to Kelvingrove Park before going via Sauchie-hall Street to Renfield Street.
Dr Dixon described PM 2.5 as an “invisible killer” and urged the Government to change the law to force councils to slash its levels. Currently, the commitment to an annual mean of 12 ¼g/m3 is only a guideline which local authorities have no obligation to meet.
This type of pollution is responsible for the deaths of 29,000 people a year in the UK – equivalent to five people a day in Scotland dying early – according to the Committee on the Medi-cal Effects of Air Pollution.
People with pre-existing heart and lung problems, the elderly and children are especially vulnerable to the particles, which are small enough to cross through the lungs into the blood stream, affecting the heart and blood vessels.
DR Dixon said: “Pollution can affect cyclists, pedestrians and people in cars and we need urgent action to reduce the levels in hot spots in Glasgow.
“The last thing we want to do is put cyclists off.”
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “The Hope Street monitor is deliber-ately at the kerbside of a busy road with an unusually high proportion of more polluting vehicles, such as diesel buses and taxis.
“Technical guidance on air quality monitoring is clear that it should not be used for direct compar-ison against the annual mean objective, as it does not represent relevant exposure.”
The Scottish Government is working closely with the city council on the issue, a spokeswoman said.
She added: “Glasgow City Council has produced an air quality action plan containing a range of measures to deal with air pollution.”
China’s media today is reporting a list compiled by Greenpeace of the country’s cities ranked by highest air-pollution levels. Hebei Province, a key center for heavy industry in the country, has the dubious distinction of leading the list with seven of top 10 spots. Xingtai (1), Shijiazhuang (2), Baoding (3), Handan (4), Hengshui (5), Tangshan (6) and Langfang (8) all made the top 10.
Hebei Province, adjacent to Beijing, leads a new list of cites with China’s dirtiest air in 2013. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Among China’s international business centers, Beijing was the worst at No. 13, Qingdao ranked No. 47, and Shanghai came in No. 48. Heavy pollution in Beijing contributed to a 10% drop in the city’s inbound tourist arrivals in the first 11 months of 2013 (see related story here).
Greenpeace used data from China’s Environmental Protection Ministry website, as well as from environmental protection bureaus in 74 cities, according to a report in the government-published Shanghai Daily today. The national standard is an average PM2.5 density of 35. PM2.5 refers to particle matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter.
Here’s the full ranking below. (City, province, average annual PM2.5 density, peak PM2.5 reading)
1. Xingtai, Hebei: 155.2, 688
2. Shijiazhuang, Hebei: 148.5, 676
3. Baoding, Hebei: 127.9, 675
4. Handan, Hebei: 127.8, 662
5. Hengshui, Hebei: 120.6, 712
6. Tangshan, Hebei: 114.2, 497
7. Jinan, Shandong: 114.0, 490
8. Langfang, Hebei: 113.8, 772
9. Xian, Shaanxi: 104.2, 598
10. Zhengzhou, Henan: 102.4, 422
11. Tianjin: 95.6, 394
12. Cangzhou, Hebei: 93.6, 380
13. Beijing: 90.1, 646
14. Wuhan, Hubei: 88.7, 339
15. Chengdu, Sichuan: 86.3, 374
16. Urumqi, Xinjiang: 85.2, 387
17. Hefei, Anhui: 84.9, 383
18. Taizhou, Jiangsu: 80.9, 474
19. Huai’an, Jiangsu: 80.8, 513
20. Changsha, Hunan: 79.1, 325
21. Wuxi, Jiangsu: 75.8, 391
22. Harbin, Heilongjiang: 75.7, 756
23. Changzhou, Jiangsu: 75.6, 322
24. Nanjing, Jiangsu: 75.3, 312
25. Xuzhou, Jiangsu: 74.9, 304
26. Taiyuan, Shanxi: 74.2, 416
27. Huzhou, Zhejiang: 73.5, 414
28. Shenyang, Liaoning: 72.7, 464
29. Zhenjiang, Jiangsu: 71.6, 263
30. Yangzhou, Jiangsu: 71.1, 312
continue reading Xingtai Leads List Of China’s Cities With The Worst Air Pollution In 2013 List – Forbes.
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Campaigners are calling for urgent action to reduce exhaust fumes in the capital, as research showed that air pollution contributes to four of the biggest causes of death.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics, commissioned by campaign group Clean Air in London, ranked the main causes of death in each London borough over the last 12 years.
It found that air pollution contributed to the four biggest cause of death among men and four of the five main causes for women.
The main causes of death for men were heart attacks, chronic lower respiratory disease, stokes, dementia and lung cancer – despite lower smoking rates than other parts of England.
For women they were heart attacks, dementia, lung cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases and strokes.
Simon Birkett, director of Clean Air London, said the findings have been sent to the London Health Commission, created by Boris Johnson last year, and urged politicians to take action.
He said: “Politicians and officials must stop saying behind closed doors that they don’t want to frighten the public about air pollution and do something to reduce it quickly.”
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