Changchun City, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, is hit by heavy smog on Nov. 5, 2016. (Photo/Chinanews.com)
(ECNS) -- The Ministry of Environmental Protection of China said on Sunday that industrial emissions, vehicle exhaust fumes and heating reliant on coal were three main factors that caused wide-spread air pollution across China in the past week.
Smog enveloped more than 30 cities in six provinces, from Heilongjiang's Harbin City in Northeast China to Jiangsu and Anhui provinces in East China, spanning more than 1,600 kilometers.
Gong Zhengyu, atmospheric air chamber chief at China National Environmental Monitoring Center said that from November 2 to 6, the air quality index for over 10 cities in northeast China soared off the charts to surpass a maximum 500.
The most seriously-hit area was Harbin, which saw 704 and 1,281 micrograms per cubic meter in PM2.5 density both daily and hourly on Nov. 4.
Chai Fahe, a researcher from Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences said that the northeast has experienced extreme polluted weather for a continuous 4 years, with the main reasons being coal heating and biomass emissions.
Heavy pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was attributed to industrial and vehicle exhaust fumes, which consisted of organic components and nitrate high in PM2.5 density.
Since November 2, the ministry sent out 12 inspection squads to Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu and other areas to supervise the situation.
It was found that weather forecasts on possible pollution were deficient. The air quality index of Tongliao, a city in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, reached 500 in the past two days, though there was no blue alert until much later.
The three provinces in Northeast China are home to facilities without denitration or desulfuration capabilities, causing excessive emissions.
Chai called for regional cooperation in the improvement of prevention and control measures in addressing air pollution, as well as heavy air pollution contingency plans.
