This week’s bad pollution – a sign of what’s to come this autumn?
This week’s API exceedances bode ill for this autumn
Two days ago, there was an API exceedance at Tap Mun, indicating increasing emissions from the mainland. (“API” is the Hong Kong government’s official ”Air Pollution Index”.) Tap Mun is a rural area close to the Chinese border, with virtually no roadside emissions, meaning that, when an exceedance occurs, the exceedance is due to mainland ambient, rather than local, pollution. The exceedance at Tap Mun was followed, yesterday, by three exceedances, at Hong Kong’s 3 roadside stations, Central, Mongkok and Causeway Bay. Then, today, early this morning, the roadside pollution at Central caused the API to go over 100. On top of that, there are high levels of pollution, right now, at all three roadside locations plus Tap Mun, Shamshuipo, Tung Chung and Yuen Long. (You can easily check this information at any time by visiting our home page, which prominently features all 14 monitors’ real-time readings at the top of the home page. You can also sign up for our email air pollution alerts so that you can be aware of API exceedances as they occur in real time.)
Air Pollution at 5:30pm today
Considering that our air has always been cleanest during the month of August, due to seasonal wind patterns, this week’s air pollution incidents bode ill for the autumn.
This unseasonably dirty air is probably attributable to high levels of pollution in mainland China. In fact, the Chinese government reported this past week that air pollution in mainland China has worsened for the first time since 2005 due to increased economic and industrial activity. This is an alarming development which affects Hong Kong obviously. Quite possibly, the pollution this year will be even worse than this past year’s, which already experienced the worst 2 quarters ever (Bloomberg).
This bleak prognosis means that we must strive to mitigate local pollution urgently, beginning with the idling law, then getting our oldest commercial diesel vehicles off the road. Roadside nitrogen dioxide has been increasing steadily over the past three years. On top of even worse ambient pollution this fall, the combination will be deadly for HK’s pedestrians and outdoor workers.
Audrey Eu: We cannot wait for untested technologies like Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) retrofits to clean up our bus fleet
In RTHK’s recent Letter to Hong Kong program, leading Civic Party legislator, Audrey Eu, made it clear that the government must not depend on SCR retrofits to franchised buses to tackle Hong Kong’s roadside pollution problem. The SCR trial alone will not be completed for 18 months. In the meantime, how many more people will suffer or die from air pollution? It is therefore incumbent on the government to take immediate steps, such as passing a subsidy to purchase cleaner replacement buses, to abate roadside emission.
