The concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Beijing's atmosphere was measured at an average of 37 μg/m3 in July, decreasing 15.9% year-on-year and setting a record low for the month since the city began tracking the data. The number of days with air quality that meets the city's standard was 12, and there were no days with heavy air pollution.
The Beijing Ecological Environment Bureau released the new sets data on Monday.
According to the report, Beijing's average concentration of PM2.5 has been "30+" for three consecutive months since May; and from January to July, the cumulative concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing was 45 μg/m3, down 13.5% year-on-year. The accumulated number of days with good air quality was 125; and the number of days with heavy pollution was three, down from eight days over the same period of last year.
The concentration of PM2.5 in July in Beijing was between 28 and 42 μg/m3, with lower numbers in Miyun, Yanqing, and Huairou districts and higher ones in Tongzhou, Xicheng, and Dongcheng districts.
The environment bureau attributes the improvement in air quality to efforts from Beijing's municipal government in prevention and control of mobile sources of pollution since July. The public transportation and sanitation industries are implementing the National VI Emission Standards ahead of schedule to curb emissions by heavy-duty gasoline vehicles and heavy-duty diesel vehicles; 16,000 heavy diesel vehicles, including buses, taxis, and new heavy-duty diesel engines, have been documented in the emission remote online monitoring platform to ensure law enforcement and supervision. A total number of 28,500 National III emission standard diesel trucks have been decommissioned.
At the same time, the authorities in Beijing have strengthened the control of dust pollution. From January to July, the average dustfall in Beijing was 7.0 tons/km2 per month, down 23.9% year-on-year.
In addition, the city has shut down 342 general manufacturing and polluting enterprises. Yanshan Petrochemical's nine storage tanks have been rebuilt or decommissioned, and its two fluidized bed boilers with circulation of 310 tons per hour have completed NOx treatment. Moreover, Beijing has launched about 2,500 exhaust gas purification projects for the city's restaurants.
As of the end of July, authorities have inspected 1.52 million heavy-duty diesel vehicles on the road, conducting further investigation and processing of 139,000 vehicles. The urban management law enforcement department has filed 16,671 cases dust-related illegal construction activities, a year-on-year increase of 61.8%.
To address the seasonal causes of pollution during the summer, the Beijing eco-environment departments carried out special law enforcement inspections of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in key industries, inspected 501 printing and pharmaceutical (pesticide) enterprises, and found 37 environmental violations, resulting in penalties totaling 2.58 million yuan.
According to the environment bureau, Beijing will accelerate its annual Blue Sky campaign and make a rational plan for the coming autumn and winter seasons so as to continuously improve the air quality.
