Pollution down in red alert cities

Despite effective measures, smog to linger until midweek

The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) announced Sunday that the 23 cities which activated red alerts last week to address severe smog have all seen a drop in pollution levels.

Although about one-third of the cities have since reduced their pollution alert to a lower level, due to lingering unfavorable weather conditions, the first peak in air pollution is expected to arrive from Sunday to Monday, followed by another spike on Wednesday, the MEP said in a statement sent to the Global Times Sunday.

According to China Meteorological Administration data, on Saturday the smog affected areas in North China and along the Yellow and the Huaihe rivers, covering about 10.1 million square kilometers, about one-ninth of the country's territory.

Wang Zifa, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Atmospheric Physics, told the Global Times on Sunday that "taking the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region for example, in the fourth quarter of the year, many meteorological factors have been the least favorable for pollutants dispersion since 2000, especially in December."

"Factors including high humidity and low air pressure at ground levels in the past decade have caused heavy smog," Wang noted.

Wang Jinnan, vice president of the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, told the Science and Technology Daily that "emissions reduction is the key and core matter in combating air pollution."

Emissions of sulfur dioxide and PM 2.5 particles, the most prevalent air pollutants, remain high in the country, at 20 million tons annually, close to or even above what the ecosystem can handle, Duan Guangming, a research fellow with the MEP's atmospheric environment quality management department, was quoted as saying by the Science and Technology Daily on Sunday.

Only if emissions drop to less than 1 million tons per year will people notice a significant improvement in air quality, Duan noted.

The MEP has vowed to strengthen its supervision over the governments of these cities, making sure that they all effectively carry out emissions reduction measures.

The measures include restrictions on the number of vehicles on the road, suspension of construction projects and classes for kindergartens and primary schools as well as shutting down some factories.

According to the capital's newly revised extreme weather emergency response mechanism which became effective on Thursday, more than 1,200 factories in Beijing were stipulated to either suspend or cut output after the first red alert for smog this year, the China Securities Journal reported.