Air quality in northern Taiwan has improved as pollutants are carried away by stronger winds, but it is forecast to be poor in central and southern regions, the Environmental Protection Administration said yesterday.
On Thursday, air pollution in the nation was at its worst this autumn, mainly due to domestic pollutants that were hard to disperse in the absence of wind, Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management Director-General Chang Shuenn-chin (張順欽) said.
While air pollutants produced by sources near the ground can spread to an altitude of up to 2km, they were trapped under 400m on Thursday, he said.
Photo: Copied by Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
As the speed of a northeast monsoon increased slightly yesterday, air quality in the north has improved, but southern regions — especially Yunlin, Chiayi and Pingtung counties, as well as Tainan and Kaohsiung — might still experience poor air quality tomorrow, as the winds are not strong enough to carry away pollutants in those areas, he added.
Wind speeds are forecast to fall over the weekend, which might lead to pollutants accumulating again, Chang said, but added that the air quality would improve again, as the northeast monsoon is forecast to strengthen from Monday to Thursday next week.
Asked about allegations that it tries to downplay the effect of domestic pollution, Chang said that the agency issues three air quality forecasts every day and does not put more emphasis on air pollution from China.
The agency did not issue an early warning for air pollution on Thursday because local pollution takes time to accumulate and is more difficult to predict, while overseas pollution carried by cold fronts from northern China is more predictable, he said.
In related news, two parades demanding clean air are to take place in Kaohsiung tomorrow and in Taichung on Sunday next week.
The parades are to demand that the government propose schedules to decommission the coal-fired Sinda Power Plant (興達電廠) in Kaohsiung and the Taichung Power Plant, organizer Air Clean Taiwan said.
The issue of air pollution should not be politicized and used to attack political enemies, Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday, adding that the Taichung City Government last year required the Taichung Power Plant to reduce its coal use by 5 million tonnes.
Additional reporting by Chang Hsuan-che
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