Most of the nation’s air quality monitoring stations are using outdated equipment, and some stations have high rates of failure and inaccuracy, a Control Yuan report issued earlier this month said.
Most of the 77 stations are using equipment that has been in service more than 16 years as of September last year, although the legally stipulated lifespans is five years, the report issued on March 4 said.
These include the sulfur dioxide analyzers, nitrogen oxide analyzers and PM10 monitors at 71 stations, the carbon monoxide analyzers at 70 stations and the ozone analyzers at 69 stations, the report said.
The monitors for fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) at 71 stations have been in use for more than 14 years, it said.
The stations in Hsinchu, Hualien, Chiayi and Taichung’s Situn District (西屯) had the highest failure rates, with their out-of-operation hours representing 2.5 to 9.1 percent of their annual operating hours, it said.
The Situn station, as well as those in Kaohsiung’s Fusing District (復興), Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) and Nantou County’s Jhushan Township (竹山) have the highest inaccuracy rates, ranging between 3 to 6.3 percent, the report said.
Stations established by local governments have similar problems, including one in New Taipei, five in Taichung, two in Tainan and three in Kaohsiung, it said.
Control Yuan member Peter Chang (張武修), who conducted the investigation, said that the stations are supposed to collect data 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but data collection goes unsupervised when the locations are not staffed overnight and on weekends.
Data completeness and accuracy is also threatened because some stations are on school campuses or inside government facilities with guarded entrances, so technicians might not be able to respond immediately to equipment failures or abnormalities, Chang said.
He also questioned the practicality of the government’s air quality index (AQI) standards.
Although the law stipulates that school classes below tertiary level should be suspended when the AQI exceeds 400, that threshold has never been passed, he said.
In Malaysia, schools can suspend class when the AQI in the region is more than 200, which is considered “extremely unhealthy” in that nation, he said.
In the US, schools and libraries are required to close if the ground-level ozone concentrations exceed 0.5 parts per million (ppm), while the threshold in Taiwan is 0.505 ppm, he said.
Taiwan “lags behind” other countries when it comes to air quality standards for class suspensions, which there is room and a need for improvement, he added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS