Environment     

Air pollution in Shanghai worst since records began

Shanghai Daily, December 3, 2013

• Shanghai endured another choking day yesterday with the air quality index surging past 300 into the highest range of severe pollution in a six-level system for the first time since official AQI records began a year ago.

  A foreign jogger frowns as she does her morning exercise on The Bund in Shanghai on Monday morning.

  Heavy pollution is forecast to continue this morning but alleviate later in the day.

  By 5pm yesterday, the city's air had been in the severely polluted zone for 10 hours, making it the worst day for air pollution since the index was launched last December.

  The average AQI peaked at 317 at noon, with the highest recording of 329 in Yangpu District.

  PM2.5 density stayed above 280 micrograms per cubic meter overnight until 9am, more than 3.7 times the nation's limit of 75, which made the tiny particles that are hazardous to health the main pollutant.

  The density of the larger PM10 particles peaked at 360 micrograms per cubic meter from 8am to 9am, 2.4 times the nation's limit of 150 micrograms.

  The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau upgraded its yellow haze alert, issued at 8pm on Sunday, to orange at 7:20am yesterday. It was the city's first orange haze alert, the second-highest in a three-tier system that includes red.

  Shan Yadi, a sanitation worker who was wearing a mask, said her company had told workers about the smoggy conditions in advance. "Every day we are exposed to dust and air pollutants so we need to protect ourselves from that," she said.

  But most people didn't seem to be wearing masks or taking any protective measures against the pollution.

   

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