Taking Control of City Air Pollution

Through the online National Pollution Inventory, concerned citizens can check the levels of monitored pollutants in real time in their local area. And in NSW, residents can sign up to receive SMS or email alerts for high pollution days.

"We have a whole range of monitoring stations in Australia, in different states and different cities ...and it's in real time -- you can actually look and see what's happened over the last hour or the last day in emissions of the major pollutants," said Bridgman.

NSW also set up an online system to allow the public to report smoky vehicles, encouraging owners to properly maintain their cars and trucks with defect notices and fines.

Both state and federal governments also introduced measures to encourage cleaner fuels.

NSW investigated and promoted alternative fuels such as liquid petroleum gas, compressed natural gas (CNG), ethanol-petrol blend and biodiesel, and researched fuels that evaporate less quickly.

In 2006, as part of an overall tightening of National Fuel Quality Standards, the Australian federal government introduced a limit on benzene (a toxic, flammable liquid) in petrol to greatly reduce community exposure.

At the pump, vapours from fuel storage tanks were captured and recycled, instead of being allowed to escape into the atmosphere.

The government regards the cost of all of these programs as an investment to avoid the exorbitant health costs of air pollution in the future -- such as China is experiencing now with several people confined to hospital for asthma and respiratory problems.

Industry and small businesses are another major source of city air pollution in Australia, and so also received tighter regulations.

In cities, "you've got small establishments -- like printers, bakers and chicken joints -- that are burning or creating something that releases hydrocarbons into the atmosphere," said Bridgman.

"These are mostly the responsibility of local governmental; ideally working in collaboration with the state government to try to reduce those emissions.

"It's easier to handle all those small sources on a local scale than try to handle it on a state-wide scale," he added.

For larger industry emitters, including power stations and mining (mostly in rural areas), the state government is responsible. These companies are required to submit annual reports about their emissions, and their levels are added to the National Pollutant Inventory -- a record of 93 toxic substances and their sources and locations, available online.

Domestic households are also a direct contributor to air pollutants, mainly from using solvents (such as paints), and burning wood and coal for heating and cooking. In metropolitan Sydney, 93 percent of airborne particle pollution -- a brown haze - - comes from wood heaters. Community education has helped reduce these emissions.

Announcing a five-year plan to reduce air pollution to protect the environment starting in 2012 is a good start, says Bridgman. " Over the last twenty or thirty years, China has taken the approach that it needs to develop very rapidly in terms of its industries and transport systems. And, as in the past in places like Europe and the USA, that development has taken priority over the environment."

"The key thing now for China is to work out a way to balance their development needs and the need to protect and control air and water environments, so that pollution is reduced but development can go ahead -- at least in some kind of modified form. "

"I think that China is moving in the right direction, in trying to at least begin to reduce its air quality. And there are good reports coming out of China in being able to reduce air quality problems. We look for more positive reports in the future," Bridgman said.