by: LI Xiaonan
update: Dec 20, 2015 10:22 GMT+8
PM 2.5 density in Beijing decreases despite more red alerts: Official
The PM 2.5 density is decreasing in Beijing year on year, although more red alerts for smog have been issued recently, said a senior engineer from the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center on Saturday.
"The PM 2.5 density for the previous 11 months in Beijing has dropped 16.9 percent year on year. And, for the whole Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the PM 2.5 density in the past 11 months decreased 22 percent compared with that of last year," said Pan Benfeng, a senior engineer of the Atmospheric Air Office of the environmental monitoring center.
Beijing issued the second red alert for smog on Friday, only more than a week after the first one issued on Dec 7. Considering the frequency of red alerts, some fear that pollution is increasing in Beijing. But Pan said that on the contrary, the standard for red alert has been lowered.
In the past, the red alert could only be issued when there was going to be a three-day heavy smog reaching the severe pollution level (air pollution index higher than 300). Now the standard for issuing red alert has been lowered when the air pollution index is higher than 201.