Air quality gets better test (2)

Fu also said assessment results would be announced more often. "They will be updated once an hour, while the old system only gave results once a day," she said.

"We'll offer more comprehensive assessment results as we've got a more stable system and more monitoring stations to collect data," Fu said.

In June, Shanghai became the first city in China to post readings for PM2.5 from 10 monitoring stations scattered across the city. But air quality assessments by the Shanghai authorities and by the United States Consulate General in the city showed a discrepancy because they used different standards, environmental officials said.

Qian Hua, director of the research institute of atmospheric environment under the Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences, said the difference in readings stemmed from the evaluation standards adopted by the two countries, which are at different stages of economic development and environmental protection.

The US consulate said its readings indicate air quality in the area surrounding its downtown offices, and are published to make health data available to the US community in the municipality. However, the 10 monitoring stations set up by the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center are in different districts, ranging from downtown areas to suburbs.