Chinese cities asked to upgrade air pollution monitoring system

BEIJING - Chinese authorities have been asked to check and upgrade their air quality monitoring system in urban areas after its 20 cities failed in standard pollution indicator test, a media report said.

The standard indicator is used to aware general public about the air pollution’s effect on their health.

China Daily quoted a report of 21st Century Business Herald, which said China lagged behind other major world cities in the Air Quality Information Transparency Index (AQTI) which measures the comprehensiveness of air quality indicators used in monitoring and public reporting.

According to the report, released Wednesday by the Law School of Renmin University and the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, 20 out of 30 cities in China failed to make the grade.

Beijing city scored highest in China with 38 points on a scale of 100, but still it was found way below the score of other international cities tested.

The other Chinese cities Shanghai and Guangzhou scored 37 and 33.2 points respectively with Urumqi in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region scoring the lowest in China with 15 points.

Other big international cities like Paris, New York, London, and Los Angeles received an average score of nearly 80 points.

At 89.2 points, the air quality information transparency in Paris is considered the best and Hong Kong ranks 6th at 76 points.

“While some Chinese cities have carried out air quality information release, overall the domestic urban air quality information publicity is still at a primary level, lagging far behind the cities of developed areas,” said Zhu Xiao, the project leader and law professor with Renmin University of China.

The report suggests China should develop monitoring on fine particles as soon as possible and promote the disclosure of air quality information as well as scientifically increase the monitoring stations in order to meet the needs of the public and better protect their health.