City Hall stresses Bangkok air quality meters up to standard

[webfact]

City Hall stresses Bangkok air quality meters up to standard

 

   

BANGKOK (NNT) - Skeptics are now questioning why the air quality index readings provided by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the Pollution Control Department, and other platforms don’t match. Officials from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) have confirmed the meters used by them are accurate, and up to global standards.

 

The acting director of the BMA’s Environment Department, Wirat Manassanitwong disclosed that City Hall and the Pollution Control Department (PCD) are using the same model of devices to measure air quality in the capital.

 

Both agencies are currently using the beta ray attenuation method to measure air quality. The BMA’s acting environment division chief said City Hall is using imported U.S. devices that have been certified for compliance with global standards.

 

He said the values provided by the BMA differ from those provided by the PCD, as the BMA values are calculated with a 24-hour average, to measure health effects, while the PCD values reflect real-time information of airborne particulate matter at a given time.

 

The BMA and the PCD have already reached an agreement on a mutual method to calculate and report the values.

 

Mr Wirat added that the general public can now easily own devices that can measure air quality. However these consumer devices can only make basic measurements, and their accuracy may be impacted by factors such as humidity and location. He urged the public to continue to refer to official data from the BMA or the PCD.

 

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration currently operates 70 air quality measurement stations, located in the capital’s 50 districts, and another 20 in public parks, plus five mobile measuring stations.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2020-12-11

 

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[samtam]

 

AQI today in Sathorn. 

[grantbkk]

He is either lying or stupid. Perhaps if he looked out his office window? You don't need a device to know the air is killing people.

[yellowboat]

41 minutes ago, samtam said:

 

AQI today in Sathorn. 

The official data looks rather bad.  If you don't get corona, you might get sick from the air

[Venom]

It looks like bloodyhell out there. Best to avoid outdoor activities for the next few months until the burning season is over. ????

[Surelynot]

11 minutes ago, Venom said:

It looks like bloodyhell out there. Best to avoid outdoor activities for the next few months until the burning season is over. ????

Thought it didn't kick in till February?

[Surelynot]

Regardless of the accuracy of the measurements, as the photos show, you can see by eye how bad the pollution is. 

 

We live in central Bangkok and haven't seen it this bad for a longtime.

 

The sad thing is......nothing is being done about it.

 

Maybe do what China has done on occasions ......only odd or even number cars on certain days......Only for the non-hi-sos of course.

[samtam]

31 minutes ago, Venom said:

It looks like bloodyhell out there. Best to avoid outdoor activities for the next few months until the burning season is over. ????

Yes, always looks worse (real) at a higher level, than from the ground, where it looks like a potentially blue sky. I have developed a cough, and that's also another sign of how bad it really is for our respiratory systems, and I don't spend a huge amount of time outdoors because of the pollution.

 

After Covid lockdown in March the skies cleared. I assumed that was due to no air travel, but I think it was mostly due to much less vehicular traffic. Even today, when the traffic is much less than on a normal day because of the long weekend, the AQI is bad.

 

I only remember it getting this bad in winter in the last 3 (or 4 years). Previously winter weather was the clear skies, cool temperatures we all cherish.

 

But whatever the reasons, the government seems uninterested in any measures to alleviate it. If it wants to renew its premier position as a tourist hub, it could help those endeavours by making serious attempts at curtailing the main causes.

 

Wash, rinse, repeat. Who am I kidding?

Edited December 11, 2020 by samtam

[spidermike007]

Nearly every year it seems to start in mid to late November and continue through at least May, when the rains start. As much as I love Bangkok, I would not want to live there during those months. And it does seem to be getting worse, rather than better, as there seems to be very little in the way of forward thinking, or progressive policy, to address this airborne killer.

 

There is so much that could be done, if only the policy makers were less indifferent and more concerned about the health and welfare of their people. 

[Sweet Swede]

Bangkok has actually much better air quality than the north, but who cares? I measure it every day and the last week we had approximately 6 hours below 25 aqi and the average is in the 51to150 aqi area. This Government is only good at denying and hiding reality. We had 5 fairly good months, but it looks like we have to live with 7 months with terrible and hazardous air quality. The current government is an embarrassment. Failures like  Prayuth an Prawit  are totally useless rulers and that is also the opinion on most Thais in my village.

Edited December 11, 2020 by Sweet Swede

[Captor]

7 hours ago, Sweet Swede said:

Bangkok has actually much better air quality than the north, but who cares? I measure it every day and the last week we had approximately 6 hours below 25 aqi and the average is in the 51to150 aqi area. This Government is only good at denying and hiding reality. We had 5 fairly good months, but it looks like we have to live with 7 months with terrible and hazardous air quality. The current government is an embarrassment. Failures like  Prayuth an Prawit  are totally useless rulers and that is also the opinion on most Thais in my village.

Hi, where are you located?

[samsensam]

9 hours ago, Surelynot said:

Regardless of the accuracy of the measurements, as the photos show, you can see by eye how bad the pollution is. 

 

We live in central Bangkok and haven't seen it this bad for a longtime.

 

The sad thing is......nothing is being done about it.

 

Maybe do what China has done on occasions ......only odd or even number cars on certain days......Only for the non-hi-sos of course.

 

The sad thing is......nothing is being done about it.

 

au contraire, bangkok has installed these amazing, state of the art, and clearly extremely efficient air cleaning machines!