Air Pollution in HK

Group members :
Ian, Jeff, Elaine, Emily, Cherry

Newspaper cuttings (A)

The air pollution in HK is really serious. But, do you know that what are the sources and pollutants? Lets see!

Sources of Air Pollution

Anthropogenic sources
(*human activities & inventions)

Power plants Manufacturing facilities Motor vehicles Aircraft Burning wood, incinerator, furnaces, etc Fumes from hair spray, varnish, etc (solvents) Military like toxic gases, nuclear weapons, etc Waste depositions Controlled burn particles and chemicals

Kinds of Air Pollutants

Primary pollutants
Substances are directly emitted form a process and caused affections

Secondary pollutants
Substances are indirectly emitted from a process and actually theyre emitted from the air when primary pollutants interact or react

Common Air Pollutants

Primary pollutants
Carbon dioxide (CO2) Carbon monoxide (CO) Sulphur dioxide (SO2) Nitrogen oxides (NOX) Suspended particulates Volatiles Organic Compounds (VOCS)

Secondary pollutants
Ozone (O3)

Newspaper cuttings (B)

As we know, the air pollution in HK is becoming worse and worse. But, what are the harmful effects? Lets know more about it!

Effects of Air Pollution in HK

Environment
Acid rain,
(*rain or other form of precipitation which is acidic and has harmful effects on plants, and aquatic animals like dolphins and whales)

and global warming,

(*its the increasing of average temperature of the Earths surface air)

brought about by environment which are caused indirectly owing to GLOBAL air pollution. Air pollution can affect the health of animals and plants into a structural damage in directly way as well so the views of parks like HK Wetland will become worse and worse because of the decrease of animals and plants in HK.

Effects of Air Pollution in HK

Health of local resident

Air pollution can affect human bodies into a structural damage as pollutants mainly are toxic to human beings, thus the amount of toxic substances in the air can harm health of human, those common symptoms including headache and nausea, etc

Effects of Air Pollution in HK

Local economy
On the other hand, acid rain can cause the corrosion of metal so government must pay more money for repairing and maintaining those buildings or other architecture made by metals. And, the yield of vegetation will be decreased as the acid rain can make the soil changing to acid and be harmful to growth of the plants, thus he income from selling of vegetation will be decreased.

Newspaper cuttings (C)

How can the department provide us the information about air pollution? What is the frame of reference? Lets see!

Air Pollution Index (API)

Uses of API
API is a simple way of describing air pollution levels for providing timely information about the air pollution to the public and for preventing air pollution in HK becomes acuter. The API forecast serves as an alert to the public before the onset of serious air pollution episodes. It helps the general public, especially susceptible groups such as those with heart or respiratory illnesses, to consider taking precautionary measures when necessary.
*There is a set of reference of API. Lets see!

Reference of API
0-50
51-100 101-150 151-200 201-250 251-300 300+
ExcellentNo health implications
GoodNo health implications Slightly Polluted Lightly Polluted Moderately PollutedHealthy people will be noticeably affected Heavily PollutedHealthy people will be noticeably affected Severely PollutedThere may be strong irritations and symptoms and may trigger other illnesses

More about API

There is a government department that is responsible for forecasting the API everyday, and carry out a monthly report and air qualities report to us. We call it Environmental Protect Department (EPD). EPD has been reporting the API, and also making a forecast for the following day.

Newspaper cuttings (D)

What should we do to overcome those problems of air pollution? The following preventions are laws and even suggestible opinions. Lets read them!

Prevention
There are a lot of measurements have taken by government already and theyre mainly targeted at high-pollutant emissions sources. Also, the Policy Address has set out a number of guidelines for improving the air quality and preventing the pollution becomes worse.

Prevention (*suggestible)
Government Legislation (=laws)
Smoke is mainly from the cars and factories. Thus government can set a law to limit the exhaust the smoke from without any treatments. To can help for reducing the amount of pollutants in the air to make the air fresher. Also, it can restrict the lead petrol importing and selling as well, therefore it can prevent the lead compounds released from cars. Since lead petrol can cause the brain damage, thus if decrease the amount of lead petrol, it can prevent the serious causes.

Prevention (*suggestible)
Government Legislation (=laws)
Government also can limit the air pollution source from construction areas, where can produce many dusts and smoke To improve that people will inspire the little particulate of air pollution. It also can limit the number of cars enter into the several places. For avoiding there are too many cars in that particular road and increase the seriousness of traffic congestions happening.

Prevention (*suggestible)
For us
Maintained the air-conditioning to 25 C. Waiting for a period of time to its engine, cutting down on pollution. Encourage the use of LPG vehicles instead of oil. Avoid smoking in public places and endanger the health of other people.

Conclusion
As we know, the air pollution in HK is very serious because of different air pollutants from cars and factories, etc. Government uses API for describing how serious the air pollution is for day by day. As were living in HK, we have the responsibilities to prevent the air pollution becomes worse, thus we should protect our city, and also give support into the
environmental protection.

Goodbye!