Source: Qinhuangdao Evening News
On November 2, the press conference on the air pollution prevention and control was held by the Information Office of the Municipal Government. In order to improve air quality and reduce the impact of polluted weather, Qinhuangdao City has taken actions and achieved good results. Qinhuangdao has seen more days with excellent air quality. The reporter gets the information from the conference.
As of November 1, the comprehensive air quality index was 4.42, a year-on-year decrease of 16.3%. The average concentration of PM2.5 was 34.1 micrograms/m3, a year-on-year decrease of 14%. 241 days with excellent air quality were realized, an increase of 18 days compared with the same period last year, with the proportion of 79%, marking a good beginning.
This year, Qinhuangdao insisted on managing the coal, enterprises, vehicles, dust, and port, and conducting the clean heating renovation for 138,200 households; carrying out the replacement project of 13 sets of 1,015 steam-ton central heating boilers in Haigang District, Shanhaiguan district, and Funing district; completing 1,019 key governance projects such as industrial kilns, ultra-low boilers, and deep VOC governance; reducing thermal power production capacity by 48,000 kilowatts; discarding more than 1,300 heavy diesel trucks of National III standard and below; fully implementing road cleaning mode of “high pressure washing + mechanical wet sweeping + 18-hour cleaning”; requiring 278 construction sites to strictly implement the relevant regulations, and surface mines to recover 88 green space with an area of 4,894 mu; finishing 2 high-voltage shore power projects construction of 4 berths; further improving the pertinence and effectiveness of the project’s emission reduction. They controlled the haze in the precise, scientific, and legal way, focusing on the pollution reduction of key enterprises. 61 key industrial enterprises formulated special plans to precisely reduce emission. The accurate control of pollutant emissions in the entire production process of industrial enterprises has been achieved, and the key industrial enterprises have reduced pollutant emissions by more than 30% year-on-year.
Since the end of September, Qinhuangdao City has taken emergency measures in response of 5 rounds of pollution weathers, and the polluted weather has been reduced by 11 days through strict implementation of control measures.
The press conference on pollution weather response work was held to answer reporters’ questions on traffic restriction based on even-and-odd-numbered license plates and other measures
Recently, in order to reduce motor vehicle exhaust emissions and prevent and control air pollution, Qinhuangdao has implemented corresponding measures such as traffic restriction based on even-and-odd-numbered license plates and other measures, which has aroused widespread public concern. On November 2, the press conference on pollution weather response work was held by the Information Office of Municipal Government to answer reporters’ questions on the formulation and implementation of these measures.
Reporter: In the past few days, a series of control measures have been implemented to prevent and control air pollution, which has aroused public concern. What are the considerations of the municipal party committee and the municipal government for these measures?
Wang Xiangyong, deputy secretary-general of the Municipal Party Committee and director of the supervision office: On October 28, proper authorities predicted a severely polluted weather from Oct 29 to 31, the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government attached great importance to it and took actions immediately, requiring all construction sites with the exception of major livelihood projects to stop earthwork operations, enterprises such as Qinhuangdao Port, Anfeng Iron and Steel, Hongxing Iron and Steel to suspend or restrict production, and private cars to abide by the traffic restrictions. The control measures have achieved remarkable results, and the air quality on Oct 29, 30, and 31 was better than expected.
On the other hand, we have found some problems during the restriction period. We should have clarified the starting time as well as the ending time of the traffic restriction; we should have strictly banned the straw burning in counties and districts. We should have implemented the control measures in a more scientific, precise and efficient way. We will pay more attention to these aspects in the following work.
Reporter: Why did polluted weather occur from October 29 to 31? What role did the measures have played in the improvement of air quality?
Wang Tongmeng, chief researcher of the expert team of the Municipal Office of Atmospheric Administration: From a perspective of geographical location, Qinhuangdao City is located in the Liaoxi Corridor area, with Yanshan Mountain in the north and Bohai Sea in the south. The terrain is high in the north and low in the south, featured distinguish sea-land breeze and valley breeze, the air blows from the ocean to the land during the daytime, and is blocked by the Yanshan Mountains, making it difficult to circulate to the north. At night, it blows from the land to the ocean. Without the influence of a strong weather system, it is difficult for the air to renew quickly. The Bohai Sea is a closed inland sea, the atmospheric circulation activity is relatively weak. The natural topographical conditions result in a relatively small environmental capacity in Qinhuangdao City.
In autumn and winter, the temperature drops, the precipitation decreases, and the vertical convective activity weakens. The northerly wind prevails in winter, which is blocked and weakened by the northern mountains, and the atmospheric environment capacity is reduced. Generally speaking, the environmental capacity of Qinhuangdao City in winter is less than half of that in summer. Therefore, the polluted weather will occur if the same amount of pollutant is discharged as in summer. Moderate and heavy pollution weather will occur when extreme weather with continuous small wind, high humidity, or low altitude temperature inversion appears, the height of the atmospheric mixed layer is only 200 to 300 meters, the sky is like a big cover, and the atmospheric environment capacity will be reduced by two-thirds, coupled with the regional transmission of the Bohai Rim city group. Therefore, pollution emissions must be reduced when extreme weather conditions occur, to alleviate pollution and improve air quality.
According to the analysis of PM2.5 sources in 2019, the exhaust emissions of motor vehicles and non-road mobile machinery accounted for about 30% of the comprehensive contribution of PM2.5 in Qinhuangdao City. During this polluted weather response period, the muck trucks and non-road mobile machinery operations were suspended except for the key projects. Measures to control mobile sources have been implemented including remote diversion of diesel vehicles across the border on National Highway 102 and traffic restrictions. According to statistics, nearly 35,000 diesel vehicles per day are diverted at the remote end, effectively reducing the impact of diesel vehicles on the urban area of Qinhuangdao City. The control measures for mobile sources are expected to reduce the PM2.5 concentration by about 9 micrograms/m3.
According to the 2019 air pollution source inventory, there are about 350,000 gasoline and diesel cars in the main urban area of Qinhuangdao City, which emits 144 tons of particulate matter, 6,035 tons of nitrogen oxides, approximately 390 kilograms of particulate matter, and approximately 16,500 kilograms of nitrogen oxides. The traffic restriction can reduce motor vehicle emissions by approximately 40%, a reduction of about 185 kg of particulate emissions per day, 3,017 kg of nitrogen oxide emissions, and an average reduction of PM2.5 concentration by 3 micrograms/m3 .
The suspension of earthwork operations of non-key projects can reduce the emission of 5515.1 kg of particulate matter per day, and an average of 3 micrograms/m3 of PM2.5 concentration.
Tangshan, Shijiazhuang, and Baoding have also launched orange signal warning for heavy pollution weather, the secondary emergency response. Regional joint prevention and control played a certain role in mitigating the degree of pollution.
The overall response to this pollution process has achieved good results. According to the weather forecast, from October 29 to 31, there will be moderate and severely polluted weather processes in our city with PM2.5 as the primary pollutant. The air quality index (AQI) ranges from 90 to 120, 150 to 180, and 130 to 160. It is predicted that there will be two days of mild pollution, one day of moderate pollution, and severe pollution in some areas in a short period of time, the average PM2.5 concentration will reach 90 micrograms/m3.
In fact, the air quality in our city was good on October 29 and 31, with slightly polluted due to the influence of large-scale sand and dust weather on Oct 31. The average PM2.5 concentration was 58 micrograms/m3, which was 35% lower than the forecast, which proves that our management and control direction is correct, and the measures are effective.
Reporter: It is the heating season now, and the pollution weather will increase. How will the government deal with it to keep our sky blue?
Lu Zhen, deputy director of the Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau: We will deal with it from three aspects.
1. Study and determine by multiple parties and initiate early warning in time.
2. Formulate scientific plans and implement precise measures to reduce emissions. Implement differentiated control measures for industrial enterprises, highlighting scientific control, precise emission reduction, and people’s livelihood; strengthen supervision on construction site and road dust control, reduce vehicle exhaust emissions and the impact of transit vehicle exhaust on urban air quality, prohibit transit vehicles to pass through the downtown area, reduce the frequency of vehicle transportation of major workplaces in polluted weather, and implement traffic restriction in urban areas according to the degree of pollution.
3. Strengthen command and dispatch, and strictly enforce the administration and supervision. High-limit penalties for environmental violations will be imposed during the pollution period.
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