Waste burning in a paddy field in Nakhon Ratchasima (file photo)
Concentrations of PM2.5 dust have risen across 18 provinces in the North and Northeast, as farmers begin to set fire to their agricultural waste to prepare for next season s crops, the Pollution Control Department said yesterday.
The department said that higher-than-average levels of the harmful, ultra-fine pollutants were reported in Chiang Rai, Phayao, Nan, Chiang Mai, Lampang, Phrae, Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Tak, Phetchabun, Saraburi, Nong Khai, Nakhon Phanom, Khon Kaen, Roi Et, Chaiyaphum, Ubon Ratchathani and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces.
One of the major contributors to the increasing dust pollution, the department said, is open burning by farmers who are preparing their land for planting.
Old solutions no answer to dust menace
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published : 25 Jan 2021 at 04:30
17 The polluted morning skyline, as seen from Phra Pok Klao Bridge over the Chao Phraya River in Klong San district. Levels of the health-hazardous PM2.5 microdust have exceeded safe limits in parts of the capital and its vicinity recently. Apichart Jinakul
When pressured by newshounds last week about another round of PM2.5 dust that has blanketed the capital city and some other provinces for several days in a row, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon answered, The government has tackled it all along. Really?
If he believes in what he said, the DPM should ask himself why we still have to battle this man-made pollution that has become an annual pest for so many years? And after many years, government agencies still deal with the problem as if it was their first time, as if they were inexperienced. Now I fear that this once-a-year problem will be permanent.
Seasonal haze prompts fresh round of curbs
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published : 28 Dec 2020 at 08:30 Bangkok is shrouded in haze as fine dust pollution returns to the city. Pornprom Satrabhaya
As the annual blanket of haze returned to smother our cities this month, prompting a renewed bout of head-scratching about how to combat the problem, people have begun to wonder whether the nationwide proliferation of hazardous PM2.5 can ever be brought under control.
One such measure was the Centre for Air Pollution Mitigation s request for all state officials in Bangkok to work remotely from last Thursday until tomorrow as part of its seasonal slew of measures ostensibly targeted at reducing vehicle emissions in the city.
State agencies are working hard to tackle pollutants at their sources before the New Year, in a bid to reduce the fine dust pollution affecting large cities across the country, said the Centre for Air Pollution Mitigation (CAPM).