Daily report on PM 2.5 density soon

SHANGHAI - Pilot monitoring showed the density of PM 2.5 in Shanghai exceeded the national standards of grade II air quality from 2006 to 2010. A daily report on PM 2.5 level in Shanghai will likely be published from next year.

PM 2.5, known as the smallest and most hazardous airborne pollutant, is smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter. Getting these inside one's lungs is harmful. Since autumn, when consecutive smoggy days severely disturbed people's lives in Beijing and other big cities in China, it has become something of a household word associated with health concerns.

Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center (SEMC) said on Friday that they have been carrying out pilot monitoring of PM 2.5 since 2005, and now had 24 monitoring spots in Shanghai. Monitoring results showed that the level of PM 2.5 failed to reach the national standards for grade II air quality.

The national standards refer to a draft standards released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in November, which includes a five-grade classification of air quality on the basis of pollution indices, with grade I being the best and grade V the worst.

According to monitoring statistics released by SEMC, since 2005 to 2010, the average annual density of PM 2.5 was 0.044 - 0.053 milligrams per cubic meter, failing to reach the level of grade II air quality, which is 0.035 milligrams per cubic meter. The statistics also showed PM 2.5 density in Shanghai was about the same or down slightly in the last five years.