Several southern municipalities saw record air pollution levels last year, the Taiwan Healthy Air Alliance said, citing its annual report on PM10 — particulate matter up to 10 micrometers in diameter — levels released yesterday.
In light of the elevated annual average of PM10 levels recorded throughout the nation, the group called on the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to set stricter standards for regulating such air pollutants.
According to the report, which based its statistics on measurements taken at regional survey stations, Greater Kaohsiung’s Fongshan District (鳳山) had the highest PM10 levels last year, with an annual average of 77.2 micrograms per cubic meter.
Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮) had the second-highest annual average at 76.7, followed by Chiayi County’s Puzih City (朴子) at 76.1, the report showed.
New Taipei City, whose annual average was 44.4, fared best among the seven special municipalities, followed by Taipei City’s 47.3, Greater Taichung’s 52, Greater Taoyuan’s 52.6, Greater Taichung’s 65.2 and Greater Tainan’s 66.8.
All seven special municipalities performed poorly compared with a list issued by the WHO, which ranked 1,600 international cities according to their annual average PM10 levels, in which New Taipei City would have ranked No. 1,056 and Greater Tainan No. 1,242.
Alliance founder Yeh Guang-peng (葉光芃) said that PM10 can have a range of detrimental effects on human health over extended periods of exposure, including worsening conditions of asthma, respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular diseases and allergies.
He criticized the maximum annual and daily average PM10 levels set forth by the EPA at 125 and 65 micrograms per cubic meter, saying they are too loose compared with the recommended values — 50 and 20 respectively — in the WHO’s air quality guidelines.
He added that Taipei, despite having a fleet of air quality survey stations has only one that monitors traffic-related pollution, which might not accurately reflect actual PM10 concentration levels, because the fumes emitted by vehicles is a major source of the pollutant.
Saying that particulates produced during construction is another major source of PM10, he called on newly inaugurated Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to streamline efforts among the city’s Department of Transportation, the Construction Management Office and other relevant agencies to curb PM10 emissions.
In response, EPA Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management Director-General Chu Yu-chi (朱雨其) said Taipei has three survey stations for air pollution caused by traffic — one established by the agency and two other set up by the city.
He said that the agency’s aim is to obtain data that represents an area’s overall emissions, and that the type of station Yeh has recommended establishing only reflects real-time emissions and is therefore only a fragmented representation of the actual situation.
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