Breathing easy continues to be in the air for Zhuhai

Air quality in Zhuhai from January to September was rated fourth among 74 major cities in China, one notch higher than last year, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The city Environmental Protection Bureau revealed on Oct 30 that the ratio of days up to national standards in Zhuhai was 95.6 percent in the first nine months, an increase of 0.7 percent over last year. Of the total, 141 days were recorded with excellent air quality, 117 with fine air, nine with lightly polluted air, and three with moderately polluted air.  

Fine weather in Zhuhai [Photo courtesy Zhuhai Daily]

The average concentration of PM2.5 increased by 8.7 percent to 25 mcg per cubic meter, while that of PM10 decreased by 7.9 percent to 35 mcg per cubic meter. The O3 and SO2 concentration decreased by 10.5 percent and 25 percent to 128 and 6 mcg per cubic meter respectively. The average concentration of CO leveled off to last year and that of NO2 increased by 3.4 percent to 30 mcg per cubic meter.

Monitored jurisdictions include the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, Yangtze and Pearl river deltas, municipalities directly under the central government, capital cities, and other places specifically designated in state plans.

The 10 cities with the best air quality during the past nine months were Haikou, Lhasa, Zhoushan, Zhuhai, Lishui, Huizhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Guiyang, and Fuzhou. The top 10 in September alone was Haikou, Lhasa, Zhoushan, Guiyang, Kunming, Taizhou, Xiamen, Lishui, Fuzhou, and Harbin.