The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on Thursday said it has launched six mobile air quality monitoring stations for transportation pollution in 11 municipalities, with Taichung being the first to publish its results.
They are to complement the six existing stationary monitoring stations for vehicle emissions, with two installed in Kaohsiung, two in New Taipei City, and one each in Taoyuan and Taipei.
To improve the monitoring of transportation pollution, the agency purchased six mobile stations at a cost of NT$5 million (US$165,006) each that can move around the nation, Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management Director-General Chang Shuenn-chin (張順欽) said.
The first report, conducted from May to this month, found that air quality in Taichung is poor during peak hours on workdays, with concentrations of carbon monoxide and PM2.5 rising significantly during that period, he said.
The top three areas with the worst pollution levels are all in the city center: Wensin Road Sec 3, Jingwu Road and Taiwan Avenue Sec 2, he said.
For example, on Wensin Road Sec 3, the traffic from 8am to 9am averages 1,800 cars, with carbon monoxide levels growing 1.8 times and PM 2.5 levels increasing 25 percent compared with off-peak hours, the report found.
“Vehicle emissions are one of the major sources of air pollution in urban areas,” Chang said, encouraging people to use mass transportation systems more often to reduce air pollution from mobile sources.
The mobile stations are to travel to Nantou County next month, followed by Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi counties, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taoyuan, New Taipei City and Taipei until July next year, he said, adding that the six stations would stay in a municipality for two months at a time.
The plan does not cover eastern Taiwan and outlying islands because transportation pollution is not a problem in those areas, he said.
The EPA is to review the air pollution monitoring plan after the six mobile stations complete their run next year.
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