China Releases New Air Monitoring Protocols
CNTV, March 2, 2012 Adjust font size:
Revised "Air Quality Standards" were released in China on Wednesday.
The new standards include measurements of PM2.5 and ozone according to a statement from the State Council issued following a meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.
PM2.5, or airborne particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, is particularly harmful to human health.
The government plans to monitor PM2.5 in four municipalities, 27 provincial capitals, and three key regions -- east China's Yangtze River Delta, south China's Pearl River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area in the north in 2012.
In 2013, the monitoring will be extended to 113 cities on the state environmental protection list and to all cities at prefecture level or above in 2015.
