City's environmental report points to progress
The concentration of PM2.5 particles in the first four months of this year was 37 micrograms per cubic meter, 17.8 percent lower than the same period in 2019, said Bai Guoqiang, chief engineer at the Shanghai Ecology and Environment Bureau.
The ratio of days with air quality index (AQI) marked as good or excellent reached 88.4 percent, increasing by 7.6 percentage points.
More than 96 percent of major rivers and water areas in the city have met water quality standards, 15.6 percentage points higher than last year. No black and foul waters were reported in these areas.
The city's annual report on ecology and the environment, released by the bureau on Thursday, showed that last year Shanghai saw both its air and water quality improve, but problems like ozone pollution in the air and nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the water still exist.
According to the 2019 Shanghai Ecological and Environmental Bulletin, the city's concentration of PM2.5 last year was 35 micrograms per cubic meter, 1 microgram lower than 2018.
Lat year there were 309 days with the air quality index reaching the level of excellent or good, and the rate of excellent or good accounting for 84.7 percent of the total. Lightly polluted air was seen on 48 days, with seven days of moderate air pollution. Only one day was marked as heavily polluted.
In the 56 polluted days, there were 26 days with ozone as the main pollutant and 25 days whose major pollutant was PM2.5. Another three days had PM10 particles as the primary pollutant and that for other two days was nitrogen dioxide.
The average concentration of PM10 in Shanghai last year was 45 micrograms per cubic meter. Data collected over the past five years showed that this index has been going down and met the National First Ambient Air Quality Standards (NFAAQS) for five years in a row.
The spatial distribution of the concentration of PM10 in Shanghai had a downward trend from west to east.
In 2019, the average concentration of ozone in Shanghai was 151 micrograms per cubic meter, also meeting the NSAAQS.
The average concentration of road dust particles in Shanghai was 0.105 milligrams per cubic meter, 0.006 milligrams lower than that of 2018. This varied between 0.095 and 0.113 milligrams per cubic meter in different districts.
The average pH value of rainfall in 2019 was 5.34 and the occurrence rate of acid rain was 44.5 percent, 9.3 percentage points lower than 2018. Data from the past five years showed that the occurrence rate of air pollution caused by acid rain in Shanghai had a downward trend.
Meanwhile, the quality of the water environment also improved compared with 2018 and the proportion of black and foul water monitored in major rivers and creeks dropped to 1.1 percent.
Compared with 2018, water quality in main rivers improved slightly in 2019. The average concentration of permanganate index was 4.4 milligrams per liter, 4.3 percent lower than 2018. The average concentration of ammonia nitrogen and total phosphorus was 0.61 and 0.191 milligrams per liter, respectively, 35.1 and 7.3 percent lower than a year earlier.
Shanghai is served by four centralized sources of drinking water: the Qingcaosha Reservoir, Dongfengxisha Reservoir and Chenhang Reservoir in Yangtze River, and the Jinze Reservoir in Huangpu River. In 2019, these reservoirs were all in full compliance with the national standards for drinking water (at or above the Category-III water quality standards).
Last year the intensity of regional ambient noise in Shanghai was controlled within a good range. Road traffic noise was reduced.
In 2019, 33 units in Shanghai were licensed to deal with comprehensive disposal of hazardous waste, which are divided into six categories: landfill, incineration, physical chemical treatment, comprehensive utilization, collection and used-packaging containers treatment. Annually, 914,500 tons of hazardous waste were disposed and 1,719,000 used-packaging containers were treated.
There were three landfill enterprises with a total approved capacity of 126,200 tons of hazardous waste annually and 10 incineration enterprises with a total approved capacity of incinerating 349,900 tons of hazardous waste (excluding medical waste).
In terms of legal implementation, last year 2,427 cases were investigated and dealt with by the ecological and environmental authorities, while a total amount of nearly 340 million yuan was issued in fines.
