BEIJING – After several days of remarkably blue skies and clear visibility, Beijing was back to its normal smog and haze today.
Oddly enough, the Beijing authorities insisted that it was a “Blue Sky Day.”
By their own official measurements, the air quality was adequate – even though the visibility was so poor that entire buildings seemed to disappear into the murk from just a few hundred metres away.
Independent tests by the BBC found that the level of particulate matter in the air of Beijing was 292 micrograms today. That's almost six times the recommended target of the World Health Organization, and almost triple the “blue sky” maximum by Beijing's more lenient standards.
The heavy smog rolled into Beijing despite a host of harsh measures, including factory closures and drastic traffic rules that took half of the city's 3.3 million cars off the road.
There is growing evidence, in fact, that China's official environmental numbers cannot be trusted. The actual level of air pollution in Beijing is worse than what China promised, and worse than China's official claims.
In its latest issue, Science magazine has an interesting investigation of China's attempts to “shift the goalpost” on its anti-pollution promises. In 2001, when it won the right to hold the Olympics, China promised that four major pollutants in Beijing's air would be reduced to WHO target levels by 2008. Three years later, China quietly decided that two of these four pollutants – particulate matter and ozone – would not have to meet the WHO standards. Instead it set new goals that would be easier for Beijing to meet.
The article in Science says Beijing has reduced the level of two pollutants – sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. Both are now within WHO limits, and China deserves credit for this. But in the meantime, China has actually raised its limit for ozone, and it continues to have problems in limiting particulate matter.
Another investigation, published in the June issue of a journal called Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health, found that the actual levels of ozone and particulate matter in Beijing's air during two months of last summer were 33 to 50 per cent higher than what Beijing claimed.
If you believe the official measurements, Beijing's air quality has gradually improved over the past few years. But an article in the Far Eastern Economic Review suggests that the official count of “Blue Sky Days” is a “misinformation campaign.” It notes the huge number of days when the pollution index is officially listed as 96 to 100 (marginally good enough to be a “Blue Sky Day”) and it suggests that the numbers were manipulated to keep them under the limit of 100.
Another problem is that China does not even bother to do any regular monitoring of ozone and small particulate matter – two of the worst pollutants in Beijing's air.
The only good news on this front was the announcement today that China will begin monitoring those two pollutants next year. A senior Chinese official said the monitoring next year “would lead to measures to deal with them.”
