Air Pollution Risks Announced in Advance

Gyeonggi Province has decided to sequentially introduce a fine dust forecasting and warning system, eco-stations, and air pollutant emission total management system to address air pollution issues.

According to the province on the 1st, it will first implement a "fine dust forecasting and warning system" starting from the 21st, which automatically measures fine dust concentration at 60 monitoring stations throughout the province and issues forecasts and warnings when concentrations exceed certain levels.

The province will issue a "caution advisory" when fine dust concentration sustains above 200㎍/㎥ average per hour for 2 hours, and a fine dust "warning" when it reaches 300㎍/㎥ average per hour or higher, and will notify the public through mobile text messages and other means.

In addition, to address garbage odor problems in single-family residential areas, the province will pilot "eco-stations" starting June 1st in 12 villages across three municipalities—Suwon, Yangpyeong, and Gimpo.

Eco-stations are facilities where various types of garbage are collectively disposed of by village, and by disposing waste at designated collection points rather than in front of homes, they have the advantage of reducing odors and unsanitary conditions while also reducing garbage collection personnel.

Additionally, starting July 1st, the province will implement an "air pollution total management system" for 131 emission business establishments in the first phase, selected from approximately 14,000 emission businesses throughout the province that exceed annual emission thresholds of 30 tons of nitrogen oxides, 20 tons of sulfur oxides, and 1.5 tons of dust.

The air pollution total management system is a regulatory system that regulates based on total emission volume rather than concentration standards in order to significantly reduce pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and dust emitted from each business establishment in the Seoul metropolitan area.

The province plans to expand the system from July 2009 to approximately 1,000 class 2 and 3 business establishments that exceed annual emission thresholds of 4 tons of nitrogen oxides, 4 tons of sulfur oxides, and 0.2 tons of dust.

A provincial official stated, "The fine dust forecasting and warning system and emission total management system are intended to allow individual residents to protect their health by alerting people in advance to the dangers of air pollution and restraining emissions."