Taking control of city air and water pollution

[Fu Lai]

By Tiffany Hoy (Xinhua)
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/102774/8142832.html

 

SYDNEY, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- As China searches for ways to clear the smog from its cities, it need look no further than Australia, its Asia-Pacific neighbor, as a leader in air quality management.

Australia has some of the cleanest air in the world, thanks to legislation and management strategies working to reduce emissions and improve air quality since the 1960s.

Over the last 15 years in particular, government controls on industry, motor vehicles and fuels, as well as backyard burning, have made a positive difference in cleaning up the cities' air. Today, air in Australian cities is generally better than in cities in most parts of the world.

"We certainly are leaders in the world in good air pollution management control approaches and procedures," Professor Howard Bridgman, president of the Clean Air Association of Australia and New Zealand (CASANZ), told Xinhua.

"I've been working on air pollution problems in Australia since I came here in 1977, and over those years I've seen lots of positive developments in air pollution management," he said.

However, the nation also has one of the highest per capita emissions rates from burning fossil fuels. In 2011, Australia recorded 17.3 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per person, on par with the United States.

To cut fossil fuels and other harmful emissions -- fighting both climate change and city smog in the process -- Australia is encouraging its citizens and industries to further reduce their contribution to air pollution levels.

The Gillard government recently signed up to a second period of the Kyoto commitment, legally binding Australia to its target of cutting greenhouse emissions by at least 5 percent by 2020.

Perhaps the most controversial step towards this goal in 2012 was the introduction of a price on carbon emissions -- to become a fully-fledged emissions trading scheme (ETS) in 2015.

In November's Energy White Paper 2012, Australia also made a strong financial commitment to capturing and storing carbon, expanding renewable energy, and creating a Clean Energy Finance Corporation to invest in clean, renewable and energy-efficient technology.

These federal directives are continuing Australia's strong history in air quality and pollution management.

In 1998, the federal government's National Environment Protection Measure for Ambient Air Quality (Air NEPM) set standards for six key air pollutants: carbon monoxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead and particles.

The Air NEPM, along with other legislation set by each state government, laid the groundwork for clearing Australia's air.

To meet the national standards, the New South Wales state government introduced a 25-year air quality management plan called Action For Air, which has now been running for ten years.

In Sydney, NSW's largest city, concentrations of many of the most dangerous pollutants have been reduced by 30 percent over these ten years -- despite the city's rapid population growth and the number of cars rising by nearly 60 percent over the past 20 years.

To achieve its goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent in the Sydney, Lower Hunter and Illawarra regions before 2050, NSW still needs to work on reducing ground-level ozone and particle pollution.

One of its heaviest sources of this kind of pollution is traffic fumes, a problem which China can relate to.

Motor vehicles are one of Australia's largest contributors to city air pollution: in Sydney, one of Australia's most traffic- congested cities, petrol-run passenger cars are responsible for more emissions than all other vehicles combined.

Bridgman says this is a common problem for many cities worldwide, including Beijing and Shanghai; and the problem tends to escalate during traffic jams when people are driving to and from work.

"From the traffic you get nitrogen oxides and various types of hydrocarbons. When that occurs under the right conditions, particularly in the summer time when you have warm weather and lots of sunshine, then you'll get photochemical smog," he said.

"For cars, some of the developments include better ways of controlling emissions through catalytic converters, and cars that are more efficient in burning fuel.

"Unfortunately, that's often offset with an increasing number of cars in urban areas," he added.

Keeping cars tuned and driving less immediately reduces exhaust pollutants; well-maintained cars are likely to emit between 9 and 25 percent less pollution than poorly maintained vehicles. Greater fuel efficiency is an added money-saving benefit.

To combat the problem of traffic emissions, NSW introduced a " Cleaner Vehicles and Fuels Strategy" in 2008 to promote cleaner cars and fuels, and improve roads, housing and public transport " to reduce vehicle dependence and traffic congestion."

The state raised vehicle emissions standards and upgraded their own fleet of cars and buses to lead by example. This plan aimed to save substantial costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 55,000 tons over three years through increased fuel efficiency, with a 20% improvement in overall environmental scores.

NSW also introduced an environmental rating for heavy vehicles, with a fuel rebate scheme to encourage retrofitting of diesel engines to reduce dangerous particle emissions.

For a better insight into the problem, remote sensors were installed on roadsides -- revealing that older vehicles were responsible for a disproportionate amount of pollution. Solving this kind of issue would require greater public awareness.

Community awareness and behavior-change programs promoted fuel efficiency, buying cleaner vehicles, properly maintaining vehicles and active transport such as walking and cycling. Annual cycle, bus or walk to work days were also introduced, to encourage people to break the habit of relying on their cars for transport.

According to Bridgman, part of Sydney's success in raising its air quality is attributable to greater public awareness of the health and environmental risks that accompany city smog.

"They've become more knowledgeable about the sources of pollution, and they're becoming more vigilant in terms of watching what's going on. And they've also become more noisy -- more willing to complain," he said.

Through the online National Pollution Inventory, concerned citizens can check the levels of monitored pollutants in real time in their local area. And in NSW, residents can sign up to receive SMS or email alerts for high pollution days.

"We have a whole range of monitoring stations in Australia, in different states and different cities ...and it's in real time -- you can actually look and see what's happened over the last hour or the last day in emissions of the major pollutants," said Bridgman.

NSW also set up an online system to allow the public to report smoky vehicles, encouraging owners to properly maintain their cars and trucks with defect notices and fines.

Both state and federal governments also introduced measures to encourage cleaner fuels.

NSW investigated and promoted alternative fuels such as liquid petroleum gas, compressed natural gas (CNG), ethanol-petrol blend and biodiesel, and researched fuels that evaporate less quickly.

In 2006, as part of an overall tightening of National Fuel Quality Standards, the Australian federal government introduced a limit on benzene (a toxic, flammable liquid) in petrol to greatly reduce community exposure.

At the pump, vapours from fuel storage tanks were captured and recycled, instead of being allowed to escape into the atmosphere.

The government regards the cost of all of these programs as an investment to avoid the exorbitant health costs of air pollution in the future -- such as China is experiencing now with several people confined to hospital for asthma and respiratory problems.

Industry and small businesses are another major source of city air pollution in Australia, and so also received tighter regulations.

In cities, "you've got small establishments -- like printers, bakers and chicken joints -- that are burning or creating something that releases hydrocarbons into the atmosphere," said Bridgman.

"These are mostly the responsibility of local governmental; ideally working in collaboration with the state government to try to reduce those emissions.

"It's easier to handle all those small sources on a local scale than try to handle it on a state-wide scale," he added.

For larger industry emitters, including power stations and mining (mostly in rural areas), the state government is responsible. These companies are required to submit annual reports about their emissions, and their levels are added to the National Pollutant Inventory -- a record of 93 toxic substances and their sources and locations, available online.

Domestic households are also a direct contributor to air pollutants, mainly from using solvents (such as paints), and burning wood and coal for heating and cooking. In metropolitan Sydney, 93 percent of airborne particle pollution -- a brown haze - - comes from wood heaters. Community education has helped reduce these emissions.

Announcing a five-year plan to reduce air pollution to protect the environment starting in 2012 is a good start, says Bridgman. " Over the last twenty or thirty years, China has taken the approach that it needs to develop very rapidly in terms of its industries and transport systems. And, as in the past in places like Europe and the USA, that development has taken priority over the environment."

"The key thing now for China is to work out a way to balance their development needs and the need to protect and control air and water environments, so that pollution is reduced but development can go ahead -- at least in some kind of modified form. "

"I think that China is moving in the right direction, in trying to at least begin to reduce its air quality. And there are good reports coming out of China in being able to reduce air quality problems. We look for more positive reports in the future," Bridgman said.

 

Edited February 25, 2013 by Fu Lai (see edit history)

[Fu Lai]

Oh, and water...

 

Water quality a concern
China Daily, http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/8142202.html

 

Facing up to the country's ever deteriorating environmental conditions is the first step in dealing with them.

In its plan to control environmental risks during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-15), the Ministry of Environmental Protection admits that some places face drinking water risks and cancer rates are increasing in some villages.

It is to be applauded that the country's top environmental watchdog has acknowledged the harsh reality and is willing to tell the public that environmental risks are threatening our existence.

In less than 10 years, the quality of groundwater had deteriorated rapidly. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Land and Resources from 2000 to 2002 found that 40 percent of the country's groundwater was below the third standard level. By 2009, the quality of 73.8 percent of groundwater was only at fourth and fifth standard levels.

If this trend continues, Chinese people will have no clean water to drink in the near future.

With reports of some chemical plants and paper mills directly discharging polluted water underground or into limestone caves, despite claims by some environmental protection experts that the chances are slim that industrial plants will be able to drill wells of more than 1,000 meters to discharge toxic wastewater underground, it is obviously sensible for environmental watchdogs to maintain heightened vigilance against such possibilities.

But it is not just the polluters that are to blame for the rapid deterioration in the quality of groundwater. The environmental watchdogs' inaction and poor performance have also contributed to the situation.

We have a water pollution control law, but it does not protect our groundwater because it is not effectively enforced.

This is because few local governments attach enough importance to the issue.

The investment in environmental protection is only around 1.5 percent of the gross domestic product, much lower than it needs to be.

Clearly, there is no time for foot-dragging if we are to safeguard the quality of our water and air. Local government leaders must be made to realize that the pursuit of unsustainable economic growth without enough thought being given to environmental protection will only further contaminate the water we drink and pollute the air we breathe.

[amberjack1234]

It all boils down to money, money to clean it up and prevent it. Then the price of producing goods to be exported will rise and then the Americans greedy companies will go to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Africa or perhaps back to Mexico where there is talk of dong just that right now. Certainly the technology exist to clean up all of their pollution BUT THEY CHOOSE NOT TO because it will hit them billionaires/government officials there in the pocketbook and they will no longer be as competitive in the world labor market.

 

Weren't that simple?

 

Larry

[chilton747]

It all boils down to money, money to clean it up and prevent it. Then the price of producing goods to be exported will rise and then the Americans greedy companies will go to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Africa or perhaps back to Mexico where there is talk of dong just that right now. Certainly the technology exist to clean up all of their pollution BUT THEY CHOOSE NOT TO because it will hit them billionaires/government officials there in the pocketbook and they will no longer be as competitive in the world labor market.

 

Weren't that simple?

 

Larry

Yep that's purdy much it. Had this conversation with the wife the other day.

[Fu Lai]

It all boils down to money, money to clean it up and prevent it... BUT THEY CHOOSE NOT TO...

 

Sounds familiar... oh yeah, like the country of my birth. Something will be done over here, has to happen and steps are being taken. We will see. I am not that pessimistic.

[tsap seui]

Larry, you bring up a darn good point. The industrialized world is so highly competitive that they cut every corner they can....and pay the price in other ways for it.

I remember on my 2nd or 3rd trip back to the Shenyang airport seeing tall smoke stacks blowing black smoke out...the old route from Fushun to Shenyang used ot take you by the tall Tosihba tower off on your right and these cmoke stacks were on our right. I pointed to the billowing black smoke and said to Wenyan, "American official make business clean air"....she looks at me and says, "China have too, but one official give another official money and no care about black."

 

I feel China will slowly fix their problems, maybe not as quick as some Americans feel they must, but they will. Change is at work in China, at their own pace.

 

I remember seeing pictures of Pittsburgh back in it's heyday, or walking in New York City and feeling some grimy I felt like I needed to take a shower just after a walk of several blocks. You look at Pittsburgh these days, at the remaining buildings there and in Johnstown, Pa where the remains of America's proudness and industrial leadership lay in waste...or bulldozed over for apartments. I can only laugh and think, many folks would give up some of their clean air for those lost jobs.

 

Well, that is the way of the world, and corporate business. You dod a good thing for the environment, and sadly lose your ass for doing it.

 

China will change for the better, I hope they don't lose their new found success and their people don't lose their jobs over it. Maybe they will learn from our problems and figure out a way, (if there is one) to have their cake and eat it too. I wish we could have found that answer...one that would please the environment, and the corporations.

 

I have grown to love ol' picture post card scenic and grand Pennsyltucky, at least the middle and western parts. I am an outsider here, I find myself talking with people who lived here their whole lives that there was a past, and a lingering sadness for that past, of lives and simple people who lost so much when those steel mills, and the businesses who supported them, down to the local corner mom and pop stores who went out of business as well, closed their doors for the final time.

 

That's progress I tell myself...and who wants to be a crab on the prick of progress. Just a shame an answer couldn't have been found to clean up industrial America, the strength and greatness of the America of ago, that wouldn't have come at such a huge cost. A cost in our greatness, and monetarily wiht the lost jobs and dreams of so many.

 

I don't wish that cost on China. May they find the answer we couldn't.

 

Boy, I can testify to the cleanliness of Australia and New Zealand citys. I've been down under 6 or 7 times, mostly staying my full legal visitor's time of 3 months on each trip. I can only testify to the citys I spent time in like Sydney, Brissie, Adelaide, Cairns, and the smaller towns around them...but WOW.....they are CLEAN. Same thing with Christ Church and Wellington in NZ where I lived for months at a time in.

 

It amazed me when I was over in those countries. I am by no means a city person in any way, shape, or form. I used to think you've seen one, you've seen em all. But I was floored by how clean those cities and their air is. Sydney gets hit in the dry season sometimes when the forests out towards the Blue Mountains burn, but for as large and crowded as that beautiful city is there is just a joy in sitting at an outdoor cafe along CIrcular Quay, or in one of the parks and taking in the sights and feel the fresh air waft over you. Same thing with a picnic on South Bank in Brissie.

 

Give me the wop wop out past the old black stump any day of the week to live in, but if you have to be in a city....those down under folks are blessed.

 

Our home in China is on the outskirts of Fushun. While Fushun is rust belt I have grown to like it because that is where my wife and son and my in-laws and family live...I'm not recommending anyone take a visit to ol' Fushun unless you have a desire to peer down into the world's largest, active to this day, open pit coal mine where the train cars look like ants down in the bottom.

 

For years I thought I was going to be forced to live my life out in China (forced by the dadgum American government)...not a bad thing in many ways, but my wife is a city girl, it was her way of life for 48 years and I'd never entertain the thought of trying to change her. Sadly, Fushun is not clean. For short excursions I like the people and excitement of the atomsphere you feel crushed in with all the people going their ways in the inner city. I even laugh at the loud noise of the constant horns blowing, busses, and music blaring from shops. It's a city, baby.

 

With our endless, and direct, discussions getting to know each other Wenyan felt it in her bones that I was no city person. When she looked around for a place to buy her home she found this place literally on the other side of the train tracks, as it were, that took us out of the loud noise and traffic of the city. Yet, you can still catch the occasional bus and grab the occasional taxi. Her friends and family tried their best to find out why she would want to live outside of walking distance to everything. Even though we are only 15 or 20 minutes from inner city they acted like she was buying a home out in the distant countryside. lol

 

Her friends and family couldn't understand the concept that Wenyan was tired of the crunch and noise, as well, that she was buying a home with her country bumpkin laowei in mind. Fortunately, our home is away from the worst of the pollution, 99% of the constant racket, and there is probably 20,000 less people per block out here on the otherside of the tracks...lol When I was in-country with her as we awaited those long months and years, I would take over her self given job of mopping the floors once a day, and dusting off the coal dust of ledges twice a day.

 

I feel China will change, I don't find it in me to complain about their pace of change....it is THEIR country. Even if we move back in 2014 I will be a visitor....not a harsh observer.

 

Alright now boyz, smoke em if you got em.

 

tsap seui

[Mick]

Tsap, as I read your post it brought back a memory from the old days of the early 70s. A group of us nefarious characters went down to Birmingham for a Joe Walsh concert. Birmingham is Joe's home stompin' grounds, so whenever he came back to town it was a show not to be missed. The concert was at Legion Field and it was packed out to the rafters and then some. Anyway, we made it back to the hotel (one of the old places in downtown B'ham) about midnight or so. We quickly discovered the air conditioner didn't work, so I called the front desk. They told me to:

 

"Open the window".

 

We were on the 17th floor and Birmingham was by far the most polluted city in the southeast, with all the steel mills running full blast 24/7. It made Pittsburgh look like paradise. Within fifteen minutes we were all gagging and coughing like crazy. We ended up leaving at about 2 am and drove the 100 miles back to Huntsville. Birmingham and its surrounding cities eventually closed all those steel mills and the air down there is really fine now. But back then it was a nightmare.

[Fu Lai]

"Have you ever been

to the dead end?

Have you ever seen

East Chicago scene?

Smokestacks burning,

choking life.

Long trucks exhausting,

the pink sky.

The grey and brown

of faces in town.

You can't pretend

you've never been

to the dead end

of Gary, IN."

 

Now I live in what is called the industrial home of China and I can witness that, folks, this ain't no Gary. Things like looking out my window and seeing solar power machines dotting every rooftop gives me a glimmer of hope that the end of the coal and nuclear era is approaching. The fact China became the largest wind energy provider worldwide to go along with their "biggest in the world" solar farms is also promising. Sure there are payoffs, money brings greed and that's poison everywhere so I hope the results will bring progressive change on this pollution disaster.

[Fu Lai]

Air Quality Indexes

Recently read an informative article (http://www.livefrombeijing.com/2013/01/demystifying-air-quality-numbers/) about how the air quality rankings work. As most everyone knows, China's standards are less stringent than America's, but that's not all there is to know about how it works.

Here are the pertinent facts:

http://www.livefrombeijing.com/wp-content/uploads/images/aqi-iaqi-comparison-new.png

 

Observations:
1) The US is more strict at low concentrations.
2) The systems are identical above a concentration of 150 (AQI of 200).
3) Neither system is linear, which is annoying and non-intuitive.
4) It is also very annoying that the numbers are so close (as opposed to a 1-10 index, for example). This means it is very easy to confuse AQI and concentration.

Summary
- Concentration is the most accurate way of describing air pollution, but isn’t good for public awareness and comparing multiple pollutants.
- Both the US and China use AQI systems. Both systems go from 0-500, and are not technically defined above 500.
- The US and Chinese systems are identical above an index value of 200 (PM2.5 concentration of 150), but slightly different below this level.
- Because the systems aren’t identical and have different slopes, you have to be very careful when saying something like “PM2.5 is 150.” The meaning of this statement is different depending on if you mean concentration OR US AQI OR Chinese AQI.

http://www.thebeijinger.com/files/u93526/2.jpg

[Doug]

We could sure reforest a lot of the world, particularly in the USA where wore out farms are now owned by some docotor or lawyer for a weekend place. I hate to cut any of my trees but have and still have the cover, just not quite as dark. Cleared land of old is very seldom replanted. Song birds need it too.

[Randy W]

From the Smithsonian -

 

What Does the Unbelievably Bad Air Quality in Beijing Do to the Human Body?

 

 

Beijing’s terrible air quality is currently in the news, and for good reason: The level of pollution present in the air there is unprecedented for a heavily populated area, and several times worse than what any U.S. resident has likely ever experienced.

[amberjack1234]

How about a little extra protein added to you tap water? Free of charge of course.

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/03/2-800-dead-pigs-in-a-shanghai-river-how-did-this-happen/273892/?google_editors_picks=true

 

Larry

Edited March 11, 2013 by amberjack1234 (see edit history)