Hanoi’s fine dust pollution index is the highest in the country

At the conference `Current status of PM2.5 dust in Vietnam in the period 2019-2020 and Application of satellite data in pollution monitoring and research` held on the morning of December 1, the research group of the University of Technology,

Dr. Nguyen Thi Nhat Thanh, University of Technology, a team member, said that the report uses multi-source data.

National standard QCVN 05:2013/BTNMT stipulates that the average annual concentration of fine dust is 25 μg/m3.

In 12 urban districts, dust concentration ranges from 31.5 μg/m3 to 32.9 μg/m3, the highest in Hai Ba Trung district (32.9 μg/m3) and the lowest in Ha Dong (

The air quality map at 9 a.m. on December 1 shows the PM 2.5 dust concentration in Hanoi as 40.6 μg/m3.

On a national scale, data shows that in 2020, the North had 10/25 provinces and cities (accounting for 40%) with the average annual PM2.5 dust concentration in the province exceeding national standards, including Bac Ninh and Hung Yen.

The Central and Southern regions do not have any province or city with the province’s annual average PM2.5 dust concentration exceeding national standards.

Compared with WHO recommendations in 2021 (5 μg/m3) and 2005 (10 μg/m3) for public health, PM2.5 dust concentrations of all provinces and cities nationwide during the period

The research team proposed applying a multi-source approach and model data calculated from satellite images in air quality monitoring, thereby building a detailed PM 2.5 dust distribution map for each district and town.

Hanoi sky one day in mid-December 2019. Photo: Gia Chinh

Dr. Hoang Duong Tung, Chairman of the Vietnam Clean Air Network, said that 40% of Northern provinces and cities have air pollution indexes exceeding standards, putting pressure on policymakers.

According to Mr. Tung, Vietnam is preparing to conduct an emissions inventory and identify emission sources to have solutions to overcome the current serious air pollution situation.

Previously, the World Bank (WB) took 80 fine dust samples from August 2019 to July 2020 at the measurement point of the Environmental Protection Department headquarters in Cau Giay and the Northern Regional Environmental Monitoring Center in Cau Giay.

To Hoi