|
Beijing achieves target of 227 clean days
By Li Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-12-31 08:43
Beijing has finally reached the year's clean air target.
Wednesday's crisp and clean weather was a blessing to the city's air
guardians. It marked the 227th day with good air quality, said Zhao Chengyi, an
official with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection. That was
the target set for 2004.
Two months ago when there were still some 40 days to go, the target seemed
unattainable because winter had started and coal-fired boilers were belching
smoke every day to keep homes warm.
Zhao said the hard-earned reward is owed to intensive inspections on various
pollution sources, as well as co-operative weather that blew away pollutants out
of the city.
Air pollution, which sometimes envelops Beijing in smog, is a key concern for
the city's decision makers and a hot topic for local residents.
Some people questioned whether measuring good air quality days was a
realistic measuring stick.
They argued that some atmospheric monitor stations were located in places
where the air quality is constantly good, such as remote outskirts and gardens
with many trees. The argument was that since air quality is measured as an
average of the indices collected from various monitoring stations, counting good
air quality days is not truly representative of actual atmospheric conditions
across the city.
But others said the city's air quality has indeed improved since the city set
annual targets for the number of clean days.
"The most impressive point to me is that when I took photos in the late
1990s, the pictures looked like they were covered by a thick layer of dust. But
now, the trees are greener and the sky is bluer," said Lu Peihong, a Beijing
resident living in Haidian District.
Regardless of the arguments, the local government has indeed made some
breakthroughs in fighting against air pollution.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top China
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
