Chiang Mai third most polluted city

By THE NATION

 

 

Sky in northern capital turns brownish as Air Quality Index gives it ‘unhealthy’ reading.

 

CHIANG MAI yesterday ranked third on the global list of cities with worst air pollution, based on Air Quality Index (AQI) records, by an internationally recognised AirVisual platform. 

 

Chiang Mai’s AQI scores stood at 194 as of press time, a level considered “unhealthy”. Any figure beyond 200 is very unhealthy. Across the world, Chiang Mai’s severe air pollution was just behind the Indian capital of New Delhi (AQI 215) and Pakistan’s Lahore (AQI 197). AirVisual prides itself for making the world’s largest air-quality data available at one’s fingertips. 

 

In Thailand, Chiang Mai is one of many provinces in the North struggling with smog, including Lampang, Phrae, Lamphun and Nan.

 

In Chiang Mai, the sky turned brownish yesterday due to the haze. The Chiang Mai Air Quality Health Index (CMAQHI) Centre cited Mae Rim and Doi Lor districts as having the worst pollution with PM2.5 particles in a cubic metre of air recording 151 and 106 micrograms respectively. Hang Dong district had 99 micrograms of PM2.5, while Muang district had 73 micrograms, the centre reported.

 

PM2.5 are particles of 2.5 micrograms or smaller in diameter. According to the Pollution Control Department (PCD), when the amount of PM2.5 exceeds 50 micrograms per cubic metre of air, it is not safe to breathe. 

 

Prof Dr Khuanchai Supparatpinyo, who heads the Chiang Mai University’s Research Institute for Health Sciences, said yesterday that the smog had hurt people’s health, the environment, tourism and the economy. 

 

“People of all ages are adversely affected,” he said. 

 

According to him, outdoor fires are among the major causes of air pollution. Researchers from his institute have developed small sensors to detect the amount of dust particles in real time so as to issue timely advisories and warnings.

 

Fighting outdoor fires

 

“We believe public awareness will nudge people to stop outdoor fires and monitor behaviour in their communities,” Khuanchai said.

 

His centre’s initiative has been extended to some educational institutes in nearby provinces too, so students and teachers there know how to protect themselves against polluted air.

 

Long-time exposure to air pollution can cause many health problems, and in extreme cases, it can be linked to death.

 

Air-quality problems are now posing major concerns, as residents in many northern provinces have recently been breathing air containing more than double the country’s official safe limit of PM2.5. 

 

For instance, the amount of PM2.5 peaked at between 106 and 136 micrograms per cubic metre of air in various Lampang districts yesterday. Chiang Mai’s Muang district had 77 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic metre of air, while in Nan’s Muang and Chalerm Phrakiat districts, the amount of PM2.5 hovered at around 64 micrograms and 51 micrograms per cubic metre of air respectively.

 

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told the Cabinet yesterday that efforts to fight smog must become a part of the national agenda. 

 

“The prime minister has instructed all relevant authorities to provide guidelines to engage all sectors in finding a sustainable solution to the prevention of smog,” Deputy Government Spokesman Lt-General Werachon Sukondhapatipak said.

 

Phrae Governor Pongrat Piromrat said a long-running public awareness campaign on the dangers of smog would help reduce outdoor fires – which are widely blamed for the haze. 

 

“As for short-term measures, we are now spraying water to bring down the dust,” he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30364016

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-02-13

Yeah Dr Khuanchai your nudge should be sufficient to solve the problem... 

As much as I love Chiang Mai this is the issue that would keep me away for half of the year ... and yet when this topic is mentioned on TV you get plenty resident ex pats on here suggesting that it’s not much of a problem. Sorry, but it is the major drawback for anyone considering settling there.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

According to the Pollution Control Department (PCD), when the amount of PM2.5 exceeds 50 micrograms per cubic metre of air, it is not safe to breathe. 

WHO standard is 25 micrograms per cubic metre; why is thailand double ? people breathe differently here ? or because thais realize they could never achieve the world standard ?

TAT: get your goggles on, it's head in the sand time again

 

 

this could be a beginning for strict law enforcement of reasonable law. Get police in every village and fine them for every fire in thair area.

I personally find it difficult to believe one word in articles like this when they are so wrong.

 

PM2.5 has nothing to do with weight as is being reported. It is to do with the particle size which is measured in microns, or micrometers depending on where you come from.

 

If they can't get that little fact right I wonder what else they are spouting off about.

The PM2.5 can be measured in metres and yards right now its appalling????

Third??!!

Give us a chance...we still have 2 more weeks of burning...surely we can get to number 1 ????

I've said it many times before, but why does any farang choose to live there? To be bored AND choked to death by choice I just can't get my head around.

 

Just now, jesimps said:

I've said it many times before, but why does any farang choose to live there? To be bored AND choked to death by choice I just can't get my head around.

You have a point but where do you live? Thailand, Ah well there you go. ...  unless on an island, with trade winds then you have an air pollution problem and it can be bad. Who would have thought huh. Bangkok two weeks ago, Pattaya last week. I used to work in Thailand 35 years ago and I reckon it was just as bad or worse back then in upcountry isaan and the north. A lot more burning than today. Funny, no one mentioned it much back then. People are strange like that. 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

We believe public awareness will nudge people to stop outdoor fires

Well, nudging the police didn't work, so now they are nudging people.

Next year they will discover that nudging is pointless and they will form a committee.

The committee will recommend nudging.

52 minutes ago, grumbleweed said:

TAT: get your goggles on, it's head in the sand time again

 

 

They don't need to stick their head down. Above ground it is pretty much the same consistency as sand ! Goggles come in handy though.

LOP (Land of Pollution)

56 minutes ago, chrisinth said:

I personally find it difficult to believe one word in articles like this when they are so wrong.

 

PM2.5 has nothing to do with weight as is being reported. It is to do with the particle size which is measured in microns, or micrometers depending on where you come from.

 

If they can't get that little fact right I wonder what else they are spouting off about.

There's another thing – the brownish haze is usually attributed to nitrogen oxides (NOx) which is gaseous and not particulate. NOx results from combustion of fuels, such as at power plants and from motor vehicles. NOx is an irritant and is probably a major cause of the burning eyes and inflammation that is being reported.

 

So is Chiang Mai doing anything about NOx emissions from motor vehicles? 

Finally a topic that makes me feel better about the air in bkk. Although today it appears I am sitting in a fog while drinking my morning coffee.

Too far north of Bangkok for anyone in power to care?

As far as I can see it is a matter of not giving a **** about it, so what if Chiang Mai is the hub of air pollution, does it matter...

If Thailand wanted to tackle this surely they could.

22 minutes ago, bubba said:

There's another thing – the brownish haze is usually attributed to nitrogen oxides (NOx) which is gaseous and not particulate. NOx results from combustion of fuels, such as at power plants and from motor vehicles. NOx is an irritant and is probably a major cause of the burning eyes and inflammation that is being reported.

 

So is Chiang Mai doing anything about NOx emissions from motor vehicles? 

We all know the answer to that - don't we?

1 hour ago, jesimps said:

... why does any farang choose to live there? To be bored AND choked to death by choice I just can't get my head around.

 

 

Your head is too big for the noose.

 

~o:37

58 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

You have a point but where do you live? Thailand, Ah well there you go. ...  unless on an island, with trade winds then you have an air pollution problem and it can be bad. Who would have thought huh. Bangkok two weeks ago, Pattaya last week. I used to work in Thailand 35 years ago and I reckon it was just as bad or worse back then in upcountry isaan and the north. A lot more burning than today. Funny, no one mentioned it much back then. People are strange like that. 

Agreed. I remember Bangkok in the late eighties/early nineties. Take a tuk tuk or motorcycle taxi any distance and your face would literally be black. Up until recently the Bangkok air quality has been pretty good.

1 hour ago, grumbleweed said:

TAT: get your goggles on, it's head in the sand time again

 

 

No need to remind them. They start the day with their unique morning roll call:

 

I use to have a fee friends move from CM to Khon Kaen at this time of year, now they are either dead or don't come as KK is as bad.

Wow.  Third worst in the World--that's damning. Should be super embarrassing to the leaders.  Should be spurring an all-hands-on-deck large-scale emergency response.  But, just another relaxed day of business as usual.  Throwing water in the air will continue--along with the talk, talk, talk.

I was thinking yesterday CM unusually had the ambience/"atmosphere" of India yesterday...now I know why...haha.

We all want cheap rice, corn and sugar. 

29 minutes ago, car720 said:

yea but 50 years ago it was only burn off smoke, people were more normal without their head up their collective jacksies.  Chiang Mai was a beautiful place.

Years ago, you didn't get the massive collections of smoke/haze in the atmosphere as you do now. Everything stayed pretty much localised.

Scale of cars, scale of construction, decrease in green space would all be contributing to the scale of the pollution.

1 hour ago, LomSak27 said:

A lot more burning than today. Funny, no one mentioned it much back then. People are strange like that. 

 

And before "Silent Spring" was published no one mentioned the fact that DDT was annihilating wildlife.

 

People are strange (ignorant) like that.

 

Silent Spring - Wikipedia

 

 

29 minutes ago, SoilSpoil said:

We all want cheap rice, corn and sugar. 

I agree with you. Much easier to complain, criticize and moan that pull a dollar out of your pocket. This forum is full of guys like that. All the answers, daily critics, easy solutions in their minds, and no contribution to make anything better or willingness to pay more for environmental enforcement and change. Their theme of life is as long as it costs someone else money and not me I am all for it and have the solution. 

 

Same guys that gripe about rising prices. You want quality environmental food to feed the world then we all will need to pay much much more for it. Majority of voters and TVF critics are not willing for change to cost them personally anything. So nothing changes because the solutions  hurt our wallets but would protect our lives and the earth. ???? Kudos to the French which do impose reasonable food standards better than the rest of the world for a variety of reasons. 

1 hour ago, jesimps said:

I've said it many times before, but why does any farang choose to live there? To be bored AND choked to death by choice I just can't get my head around.

 

If you by “boring” refer to hookers and bars, then you are completely right.

 

But besides that, CM offers way much to see and experience than e.g. BKK or Pattaya.

 

I guess CM attracts people, that can live without drinking and the daily company of bar girls.

5 hours ago, AlexRich said:

As much as I love Chiang Mai this is the issue that would keep me away for half of the year ... and yet when this topic is mentioned on TV you get plenty resident ex pats on here suggesting that it’s not much of a problem. Sorry, but it is the major drawback for anyone considering settling there.

A lot of the problem is localised- which is why so many do not see it as a huge problem. There certainly is a MASSIVE difference between where I am and the air around the City. It also depends a lot on the local weather too. I certainly would not make excuses for it, it is terrible and I would hate to be bringing up a young kid in that atmosphere. As far as me personally, it has only really ever bothered me twice in more than 10 years, where I found my eyes watering due to the smoke. I am a pack a day smoker so I probably do more harm with cigs than what I get from the pollution. Whhat can be done? Around our village there is a burning ban with a fine and USUALLY it is effective, Chiang Mai is supposed to be the same, but the law is enforced arbitrarily at best. People with young kids must have a really grim time, you cannot get babies or youngsters to go around in N95 masks 24/7. The law needs enforcing across the board, no excuses, not that I ever expect that to happen.