The Ministry of Environment yesterday announced more stringent air pollution control zone criteria, meaning that five cities and counties would no longer meet the standard.
Based on the higher standards, New Taipei City, Taichung and the counties of Changhua, Nantou and Chiayi are to be reclassified from “meeting the standard” to “non-compliant” for PM10, the ministry said.
It is part of the ministry’s proposed amendments to the Air Quality Standards first announced in September.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
PM10 refers to inhalable particulate matter 10 micrometers or less in diameter found in dust and smoke.
According to the new guidelines, all air quality monitoring stations within a municipality must meet the threshold for particulate matter, rather than the previous system of averaging the results from all stations for a given area.
The stricter criteria means that the five municipalities expand the list of Class 3 zones to 11.
This does not indicate a decrease in air quality for these areas, but reflects the higher standards being used, the ministry said.
On the contrary, the five municipalities have seen decreases in PM10 concentrations in line with the rest of the country since 2016, including a 35 percent reduction for New Taipei City, 36 percent for Taichung, 29 percent for Changhua County, 40 percent for Nantou County and 42 percent for Chiayi County, the ministry said.
For PM2.5, 14 counties and cities remain Class 3 control zones, the ministry said.
For ozone, Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties are Class 2 control zones, while all other municipalities are Class 3.
The control zone classification allows for local governments to take more proactive measures to control pollution by collecting fees and tightening control of emissions from sources such as construction and road dust, the ministry said.
The higher fees then incentivize businesses to invest in lower-emission or pollution prevention technology, causing air quality to improve further, it added.
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