By John Duce
Dec 23, 2010 7:55 PM PT Hong Kong will record the worst year for roadside pollution since the city started collecting readings in 1999, according to calculations made by Bloomberg based on government data. Roadside smog reached “very high” or “severe” levels on the city’s air pollution index, triggering government health warnings, at least 12.6 percent of the time at monitoring stations this year, even without including data collected this month, Bloomberg calculations show. That compares with very high or severe roadside pollution recorded 10.62 percent of the time during the whole of 2009. Business leaders including the General Chamber of Commerce have said pollution is harming the city’s ability to recruit top executives to Hong Kong. About 25 percent of respondents to a survey published earlier this month said smog has led them to consider leaving the city because of concerns over their health. “It’s obvious from the roadside pollution we’ve seen this year that efforts to tackle this problem need to be redoubled,” said Joanne Ooi, chief executive officer of the advocacy group Clean Air Network. “The chief executive and government have acknowledged that this is a problem, but quicker and stronger action needs to be taken,” she said by telephone. The pollution index topped 100 at all three of the city’s roadside monitoring stations today, as it has every day since Dec. 20. “Very high” or “severe” levels of roadside pollution were recorded 1.86 percent of the time in 2000, the first full-year of publicly available data, according to calculations made by Bloomberg. The higher incidence of roadside pollution is due to an increase in levels of nitrogen dioxide, created by older vehicles’ exhaust emissions and higher levels of ozone in the atmosphere, a statement from the government’s Environmental Protection Department said. …
Hong Kong’s 2010 Pollution Level Is Worst on Record
