The air quality in most of southern Taiwan was worse last year than in 2016 as the average density of fine particulate matter exceeded twice the acceptable level in certain areas, Air Clean Taiwan (ACT) said in a report released on Wednesday.
At 24 of the 76 monitoring stations across Taiwan, the average density of airborne particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) last year showed an increase from the previous year, the organization said in its report, which it presented at a news conference held in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Most of the 24 stations were in Kaohsiung and in Pingtung County, where PM2.5 levels already far exceeded acceptable limits, ACT said.
In Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營) the annual average PM2.5 density last year was 40.1 micrograms per cubic meter, far exceeding the WHO’s recommended annual mean of 12 micrograms per cubic meter, and more than twice the local guideline of 15 micrograms per cubic meter, ACT director Yeh Guang-peng (葉光芃) said.
He said PM2.5 levels in Zuoying soared to more than 70 micrograms per cubic meter for 661 hours last year, triggering “purple” alerts, the highest on Taiwan’s four-color coded air quality scale.
In comparison, Keelungan recorded PM2.5 purple alerts for only 2 hours last year, Yeh said.
In terms of daily levels of PM2.5, Kaohsiung exceeded the WHO’s recommended highest daily mean concentration of 25 micrograms per cubic meter for 57 percent of last year, Yeh said.
Tainan recorded daily levels in excess of the WHO standard for 51 percent of last year, Yeh added.
In general, air pollution in southern Taiwan was a lot worse than in the north, Yeh said.
Other places in Kaohsiung where the monitoring stations recorded higher pollution levels were Siaogang (小港), Cianjhen (前鎮), Renwu (仁武), Nanzi (楠梓), Qiaotou (橋頭) and Meinong (美濃) districts and Fusing Road, the report said.
Pingtung County, Hengchun Township (恆春), Pingtung City and Chaozhou Township (潮州) showed increases as well as in Mailiao (麥寮) and Taixi (臺西) townships in Yunlin County, it said.
In addition, greater levels of pollution were recorded at stations in Yonghe (永和), Sijhih (汐止), Linkou (林口), and Wanli (萬里) districts in New Taipei City; Jhudong Township (竹東) in Hsinchu County; Puli (埔里) and Jhushan (竹山) townships in Nantou County; Guanshan Township (關山) in Taitung County; and in Hualien, Kinmen and Penghu counties, the report said.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS