Air Pollution in Shanghai - Local vs. Non-Local

More than a quarter of the PM 2.5 pollutants in Shanghai in 2012 and 2013 originated from outside the city, new research shows. The Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau released its most comprehensive study on the sources of PM 2.5 last Wednesday, revealing that PM 2.5 or fine particulate matter is the main air pollutant in the city. Based on weather data collected in 2012 and 2013, researchers at the air quality watchdog revealed that 74 percent of PM 2.5 came from local pollutants and the remaining 26 percent came from neighboring areas.

Most of the fine particles in the city air came from transport exhausts - cars, buses, trucks, ships, aircraft and off-road motors (like construction equipment or locomotives) and accounted for 29.2 percent of the pollution. The other major sources involved industrial waste (28.9 percent), coal burning (13.5 percent), dust (13.4 percent) and agricultural waste, straw and other biomass burning as well as domestic pollutants (15 percent).

Vehicle exhausts produce the most pollutants, accounting for more than 9.7 percent of the fine particles measured in the city, much more than in some of the cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. But the researchers found that Shanghai was less affected by coal burning than northern cities, where people rely on it for heating in winter. Researchers also found that Shanghai was less affected by dust than northern cities, because of the moist air and the city government's work in combating dust.

Read more @ Global Times