Comparing Air Pollution Actions: Beijing vs. New Delhi

COMPARING AIR POLLUTION ACTIONS Beijing New Delhi V.S. POPULATION (2012) POPULATION (2012) 20.7 million 22.0 million POPULATION DENSITY POPULATION DENSITY 1,300/km? 11,297/km? MONITORING MONITORING 35 stations 11 stations TWITTER: "Air Quality" & "China" TWITTER: "Air Quality" & "India" 58,200 tweets 10,900 tweets WEIBO: "Air Quality" & "China" ORKUT: "Air Quality" & "India" 96,588,783 posts 2,800 posts GOOGLE NEWS: "Air Quality" & "China" from Jan 29, 2007 to Jan 29, 2014 GOOGLE NEWS: "Air Quality" & "India" from Jan 29, 2007 to Jan 29, 2014 8,840 results 1,180 results TIMELINE 1981 Prevention and Control of of Pollution Act begins regulation of air quality. 1980s Start 1982 National Ambient Air Quality Standards are enacted. Air quality regulations begin. Start 1984 National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Network starts, with 7 stations. 1990s 1994 National Ambient Air Quality Standards updated. 1996 Monitoring begins for PM10. PM10 98 New Delhi's five-year air quality action plan begins. 1999 The US. begins comprehensive national monitoring and reporting of PM25 levels. PM25 early 2000s PM0 2000 Monitoring stations begin reporting ambient PM10 in New Delhi. NOVEMBER 2009 U.S. Embassy in Beijing first publishes its own hourly PM25 measurements through the @BeijingAir Twitter account. FEBRUARY National Ambient Air PM25 Quality Standards updated to include PM2 5. 2010 NOVEMBER U.S. Embassy in Beijing's PM25 measurement exceeds the range of monitoring (500ug/m'). The Embassy described the exceedance as "crazy bad" on Twitter. 2010s 2011 US. Embassy in Beijing starts Twitter controversy. OCTOBER NOVEMBER Government starts 2012 Right before Chinese New Year Beijing monitoring PM25 at select locations. JANUARY Environmental Monitoring Bureau stats releasing "trial" PM25 data for one station in PM25 western Beijing. National Ambient Air Quality Standards updated to set limits for PM25 concentrations. Trial Technical Regulations for a new Air Quality Index (AQI). modeled after the United States' AQI, to include PM25 released, replacing the Air Pollution Index. FEBRUARY AQI 2013 "Airpocalpyse" event in Beijing, where highest PM25 reading is around 755ug/m. New Delhi government prepares Second Generation Action Plan for air quality. JANUARY Beijing releases the 2013 Clean Air Action Plan. Delhis PM25 levels spike to 575µg/m', and linger around 500µg/m at least fifteen times. MARCH JANUARY JULY Government announces a $277 billion plan to tackle air pollution. DECEMBER Government releases PM25 for 113 key cities. 2014 Government requires real-time air and water pollution disclosures from 15.000 enterprises. International media picks up "Delhi vs. Beijing" air quality story following 2014 EPI publication. JANUARY 2015 JANUARY Delhi government still hasn't adopted AQI (Air National implementation of new Air Quality Index (AQI) and nationwide network of 1,500 monitoring stations in all prefecture-level cities by 2015. AQI? Quality Index) to communicate air pollution risks to citizens. PM2.5 GUIDLINES 35.rm 75. 60 oe Hg/m Hg/m 24-hour Standard 24-hour Standard 24-hour Standard for urban & industrial areas for scenic, less populated areas 15. 35N/m 40um Hg/m3 Hg/m³ Annual Standard for scenic, less populated areas Annual Standard Annual Standard for urban & industrial areas AIR QUALITY Using Beijing Air Quality Index (AQI) Beijing New Delhi Number of Days in the Past 4 Months Number of Days in the Past 4 Months EXCELLENT 0-35µg/m GOOD 35-75ug/m SLIGHTLY POLLUTED 75-115ug/m MODERATELY POLLUTED 115-150ug/m HEAVILY POLLUTED 150-250µg/m SEVERELY POLLUTED 250-500ug/m 'BEYOND THE INDEX >500µg/m Environmental Performance - Bejing Enwironmental Protection Bureau lhetp.//bjepb.gow.cn) Tiang Houbao (http://wwwtiangihoubao.com/agi/bejing-201401html) -Ministry of Enwironmental Protection China tp//mepgov.on - Center for Science and Envronment tp//www.seirdia og/unerfiles/dermystify20-smog pdl -Central Polution Control Board. Ministry of Lnwironment & Forests, Govemment of India Ihttp://pcbnic.in/National_Ambient Air_Ouality_Standards.php) - Ministry of Earth Sciences, Gevemment of india patp//sala tropmet.res.in/ -Tranportpolicy net http://tranportpoleynet/index phple-China Ar_Guslity_Standarducite_note-1 Index