Air Quality Getting Worse

[shroomer]

Is it my imagination, or is air quality getting progressively worse all year round in Chiang Mai. I know the burning season has been bad the last couple of years, but I cannot remember the air quality being as bad as this out of burning season. It seems we don't get many even get semi OK days very often now- only if there is a decent wind blowing, which does not happen much.

Is there any online air quality monitoring site which covers Chiang mai year round?

[Lordfoul]

http://www.pcd.go.th/AirQuality/Regional/G.../createaqi2.cfm

The Air Quality is very good right now

[Ajarn]

One of the things right now is visible humidity, which sometimes can be mistaken for pollution. Otherwise, good clean weather at the moment

[StevieH]

quite enjoying the clean, crisp, springesque mornings as it goes. all the more so when i hear that back home it's minus five and the roads are frozen.

Edited December 4, 2008 by StevieH

[Ulysses G.]

Thank God someone besides me thinks that the air quality is quite good. I was really wondering!

[sceadugenga]

Nothing wrecks a good moaning about the air pollution thread quicker than facts, General.

[lannarebirth]

Except for around the moat and inner city I'd say the air quality is quite good. Inner city seems to be bad all year now.

[bjohn34]

I have only been here for a couple months after living in China. I was telling a friend there how great the air here is comparatively.

[Drew Aitch]

Except for around the moat and inner city I'd say the air quality is quite good. Inner city seems to be bad all year now.

That’s true enough. Black toxic smoke spewing out the arse end of bikes, cars, trucks, and man-made contraptions, discharge their lethal noxious waste whatever the weather, and have no respite for seasonal changes. But that said, at this time of the year, the pollution does tend to lift, rather than linger, and that’s always nice

Aitch

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

I have only been here for a couple months after living in China. I was telling a friend there how great the air here is comparatively.

it's great now. Like being in the Swiss Alps compared to what it's like in March and April. In some ways I think its getting better for vehicle emissions because the older vehicles are being replaced by new cleaner models. Of course there are more vehicles unfortunately.

When the air gets really bad its mostly farm and forest burning which I would think preferable to breathing in industrial byproducts. Still it pretty nasty for two months and this year its back California from Mar 15th to May 15th. I learned my lesson :-)

Where in China were you living?

[shroomer]

Well guys, One of the reasons I brought it up is I fly ultralights here on a regular basis and if you saw the general smog over the city from the sky, it is something like living covered in a blanket of the stuff. It was not like that even a few years ago, it was visibily less for a lot more of the time. I can also feel it in my chest at a lot of the time which I did not do before . There is certainly an element of haze to it, but thats just the veneer.

[Jamesjimmy]

Well guys, One of the reasons I brought it up is I fly ultralights here on a regular basis and if you saw the general smog over the city from the sky, it is something like living covered in a blanket of the stuff. It was not like that even a few years ago, it was visibily less for a lot more of the time. I can also feel it in my chest at a lot of the time which I did not do before . There is certainly an element of haze to it, but thats just the veneer

There was a news clipping last week (or the week before?,,,,, in the Bangkok post or the Nation that the pollution in Chiang Mai is much worse at night time then during the day,,, and the level of pollution was higher then normal....

IMHO..after five years of living here its been worse each year,,,,,,,,,,,, the burning of garbage along the canal rd going out towards Hang Dong is non stop 24/7 ...

[Mapguy]

Thank God someone besides me thinks that the air quality is quite good. I was really wondering!

Ah, UG, I guess it all gets down to what you mean by the word "quite!" You didn't think I was going to pass that comment up, did you?! [For those of you who are just tuning in, there has been an ongoing (totally boring to many) discussion about air pollution in Chiang Mai. All you have to do is keep keywording phrases like "Air Quaility" and some not so obvious terms, such as "Is It Raining?" (Or something like that) and have a lot of patience reading what you find. There actually is decent stuff posted with very serious references!! Just slog through it!]

Anyway, for now (Simply because I, too, have been surprised by relatively high pollution rates in recent days for the season):

What are Pollution Standards? Well, the current standards are quite forgiving, primarily for economic reasons, so if you look at what's going on, the safe standards set might not have been breached, but that doesn't mean that there's not a problem. It is, as the phrase has been coined, an "inconvenient truth."

What's the situation in Chiang Mai compared to Beijing or another town in Thailand? The situation is better in Chiang Mai than in a lot of cities. So what?! We are here. Parenthetically, Chinese industry is unfortunately upwind of Chiang Mai during the winter and dry seasons.

Why Chiang Mai? It isn't just Chiang Mai; it is Northern and Central Thailand, principally, during late February - early April. Really grusome air pollution is seasonal here. In Chiang Mai, topography makes things worse: Chiang Mai is in a narrow valley not cleared easily by the winds. There is also a broader regional problem including Burma and Laos --- and Asia generally.

Are some people more affected by air pollution than others? Yes, of course. The hospital visits for respiratory problems in Chiang Mai skyrocket during the nasty season! Some can barely breathe. Others, like UG, seem never to mind.

Seasonal pollution? Noxious traffic pollution and trash burning in Chiang Mai make air pollution more than a seasonal concern, but it is the burning of rice straw in the surrounding fields that often make it brutal from late February - early April. Some say that burning rice straw is a "cultural" issue. This is bull hockey! There are other ways to fertilize the fields for replanting. Burning fields is not universal in Thailand. But positive economic incentives are necessary to stop it as well as schooling farmers out of old habits. That does take time.

Morning mist, humidity in the air --- not pollution? This is a silly argument. Sure, there is something called morning mist which can indeed be, well, just water vapor. But what does that mean? To do a test, just steam up your bathroom, then blow several large farts. Does the air clear? Or might you gasp and turn on the fan to clear the air? Moist air holds pollution. Anyway, lately, in Chiang Mai, you'll see that the "morning mist" tends to last rather long into the day, like all day! --- and rather beyond the rainy season. Like today! It is should now be naturally clear in the morning in Chiang Mai on Doi Suthep. And throughout the day. Is it? Take a look!

Is something being done about all this locally and regionally? Check out the work of the Institute of Social Research at CMU (focusing on making Chiang Mai a sustainable city) and the Public Health School at CMU.

In closing, just to refer to our ultralight pilot shroomer's post above. I recall landing in Sao Paulo, Brazil (also, like Chiang Mai, a city in a valley) over which there was literally a brown dome of polluted air. You worried that the airplane might bounce off it, unable to reach the ground! On the ground, the day would be sunny, but your throat would be dry and scratchy, your eyes would water, and you might cough. And that was pretty much what everyone experienced. Never mind those with respiratory problems! Does this sound familiar to anyone in Chiang Mai?

[Ulysses G.]

Over to you Priceless!

[Drew Aitch]

Is it my imagination, or is air quality getting progressively worse all year round in Chiang Mai.

Think you've just answered your own question in post 11

Aitch

[Ulysses G.]

Are some people more affected by air pollution than others? Yes, of course. The hospital visits for respiratory problems in Chiang Mai skyrocket during the nasty season! Some can barely breathe. Others, like UG, seem never to mind.

The funny thing is that I have become quite uncomfortable in Manilla and coughed up soot for a week after leaving, so I know that I am not immune.

[chiang mai]

Wheeee, a Chiang Mai air pollution thread, can I play too?

[Mapguy]

Are some people more affected by air pollution than others? Yes, of course. The hospital visits for respiratory problems in Chiang Mai skyrocket during the nasty season! Some can barely breathe. Others, like UG, seem never to mind.

The funny thing is that I have become quite uncomfortable in Manila and coughed up soot for a week after leaving, so I know that I am not immune.

Oy! Manila! I had very similar experiences in Manila. Don't know about it these days, but it used to be one of the armpits of the world.

[Drew Aitch]

Wheeee, a Chiang Mai air pollution thread, can I play too?

You are already, simply by reading and responding

Aitch

[SomNamNah]

Dont know if its worse or not, but I have a shop by neimenheimen. In the rainy season there was a permanent black soot on the pavement. I notice because i have to wash away the stuff every day lest the customers bring it into my lovely clean shop...

Now that its the dry season, i guess the black soot particulates are still there, but not being caught in rain drops?

Not as bad as London in the 90's. Black bogies in your nose after every trip up to the big smoke.

I blame Gasohol. not because i know anything about it, just because the stuff is EVIL. dripped a bit of it onto my shiny new motorbike... melted the paintwork in seconds. bugger.

Edited December 5, 2008 by SomNamNah

[chiang mai]

Come on Priceless, tell us the facts.

[Rasseru]

Not as bad as London in the 90's. Black bogies in your nose after every trip up to the big smoke.

That would be the 1890's?

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Come on Priceless, tell us the facts.

it is smokier lately. My guess is because of the cold weather people are building more fires to stay warm. Also with the bad mojo of the protests Thai people use smoke to ward off bad spirits. I guess that's better than sacrificing virgins or falangs.

The PCD website does not look like it has updated one of the two monitoring stations in a few days. For all we know the sensor could be located indoors or under water.

With a lot of the rice harvested then the farmers will start burning the straw when it dry's out to provide nitrogen and other minerals back to the soil.

hopefully the winds keep up to prevent it from settling in the valley.

[Ulysses G.]

I think that Priceless has been a little down since his favorite cat thathe had many years passed on a few months ago. He is a real cat guy!

[adjan jb]

Move away from the city or you're all going to die!

[lannarebirth]

Come on Priceless, tell us the facts.

it is smokier lately. My guess is because of the cold weather people are building more fires to stay warm. Also with the bad mojo of the protests Thai people use smoke to ward off bad spirits. I guess that's better than sacrificing virgins or falangs.

The PCD website does not look like it has updated one of the two monitoring stations in a few days. For all we know the sensor could be located indoors or under water.

With a lot of the rice harvested then the farmers will start burning the straw when it dry's out to provide nitrogen and other minerals back to the soil.

hopefully the winds keep up to prevent it from settling in the valley.

That's not it. It's almost solely vehicles causing the increased pollution. Lots more vehicles on the road lately. More vehicles, more traffic, more emissions.

Edited December 5, 2008 by lannarebirth

[satiariyan]

... deep breath and sigh ... - Nah, didn't feel any different than sighing at any other air-pollution thread since the ones that were alive about 1 1/2 years ago where widespread forestfires all over SE-asia made Chiang Mai hit the top news because Chiang Mai were the place where not only the pollution were metered, but also reported in a language that news media and local farang ghetto inhabitants could understand.

So, there are toxic fumes coming out of the exhaust pipes of motor vehicles in Chiang Mai? - Is that what this thread is about? - Or is it about some jerk, sitting in his thing high above the rest of us, with a memory playing tricks?

Edited December 5, 2008 by satiariyan

[SomNamNah]

That would be the 1890's?

seriously, as im sure every Londoner can tell you. Back Snot every single bloody day. Then it stopped. I think it was to do with unleaded petrol. anyway... yawn.. The air down the road in San K is just fine. If i were a rich man... etc...

[ajarnpim]

That would be the 1890's?

seriously, as im sure every Londoner can tell you. Back Snot every single bloody day. Then it stopped. I think it was to do with unleaded petrol. anyway... yawn.. The air down the road in San K is just fine. If i were a rich man... etc...

that mignt be the catalysimic conbulototators

seriously the air here is awful. If you compare it to dhaka, saraburi, mumbai, et al its great,,,,,,,, but come from any coastal town anywhere and then back to this lovely place youll notice the difference.

[satiariyan]

That would be the 1890's?

seriously, as im sure every Londoner can tell you. Back Snot every single bloody day. Then it stopped. I think it was to do with unleaded petrol. anyway... yawn.. The air down the road in San K is just fine. If i were a rich man... etc...

... You're talking nothing but nonsense. Do you mean anything of relevance? --- Then please feel free to elaborate, otherwise, why waste yours and our time?