VietNamNet Bridge - Environment data from automatic monitoring equipment shows that Hanoi has bad air quality. The machines have sometimes discovered suspended mercury in the air.

According to Hoang Duong Tung, deputy general director of the Environment Directorate General, the air pollution levels in Hanoi vary in different seasons, and the pollution index is now lower than other moments of the year. 

However, the AQI (air quality index) measured on April 14 was still at 54-140, which shows the bad air quality. With the level, sensitive people are advised not to go out regularly.

Six weeks before, in early March, the AQI in Hanoi once climbed to 388, which meant a very high pollution level. The AQI was measured by a monitoring machine set up at No 7 Lang Ha Street in Ba Dinh district. With the level, people are advised to stay indoors.

Environment data from automatic monitoring equipment shows that Hanoi has bad air quality. The machines have sometimes discovered suspended mercury in the air.

Meanwhile, the fine dust PM2.5 was three times higher than the national standard on air quality and seven times higher than the level recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Commenting about the AQI, Tung said the index was 1.5 times higher than the allowed level. The pollution level has decreased only because of weather conditions.

Tung warned that if Vietnam cannot apply drastic measures to control air quality, the air in Hanoi may become as polluted as Beijing's.

Explaining the differences in the pollution levels measured at different monitoring stations, Pham Ngoc Dang from the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment (VACNE), said the PM2.5 was just the index at a certain moment, when strong wind brought high concentration dust to the measuring equipment. 

Therefore, this must not be seen as the average index based on which scientists can measure the air pollution level.

However, Dang affirmed that the air in Hanoi has become polluted. That is the reason why he lives in Nha Trang City in the central region in winter and summer, and only comes back to Hanoi in spring and autumn.

Tung from the Environment Directorate General has revealed that monitoring equipment recently discovered mercury in the air in Hanoi, a heady problem to the world’s scientists.

“However, since it was found in only one place, we do not sufficient evidence to come to a conclusion on the matter,” he said.

“What we need to do now is to find the pollutants,” he said.

Kham Pha