Beijing to Add Unhealthy "Haze" to Weather Reports

CHINA: February 3, 2007

BEIJING - Beijing is to include unhealthy "haze" levels in daily weather forecasts to warn people about the Chinese capital's notorious pollution.

Beijing had "good air" on nearly two-thirds of days last year but progress on beating pollution will be more difficult in the 20 months until the Olympics, a city official said last month.

Air pollution in the capital is a mixture of auto exhaust, construction dust, factory and power plant emissions and sulphur from cheap coal burnt in the freezing winters.

"Haze refers to weather with air humidity of 80 percent or below and should not be confused with fog, which occurs when humidity in the air is above 90 percent," Xinhua news agency said, quoting Guo Hu, head of the Beijing Municipal Meteorological Station.

The city spent 20 billion yuan (US$2.57 billion) fighting pollution last year, taking 15,000 old taxis and 3,000 old buses off the road, closing down a large chemical factory and starting the process of moving a huge steel plant to neighbouring Hebei province.

Shi Hanmin, head of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, said local environmental authorities would take further steps to control air pollution and had set an ambitious target of 245 "blue sky" days this year after beating the 2006 goal of 238 days with fairly good air quality.

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE