Air quality in Anyang

Does Anyang have badly polluted air quality?

Anyang is a city found in Henan province in China, being the northernmost city in Henan, bordering other cities such as Puyang, Hebi and Xinxiang. It has some rather severe levels of air pollution occurring, being a center for China’s steel production and thus being home to many factories and other similar industrial areas. This has caused massive amounts of smoke, haze and all manner of air contaminants to become a deadly fixture of the cities air, and although China is making many strides towards curbing these high pollution levels and get factories to fall in line in regards to their emission levels, it still stands to reason that the air in Anyang is terribly polluted and will need much more affirmative action to see more appreciable levels of air quality in the years to come.

In April of 2021, Anyang was seen with a US AQI reading of 187, an extremely high number that would put it into the ‘unhealthy’ air quality ratings bracket. As this name implies, people exposed to such air would experience all manner of ill side effects, with even healthy young adults being at risk for severe health issues. Furthermore, vulnerable groups such as young children, pregnant mothers, babies and the elderly would be at even greater risk, as well as those with pre-existing health conditions, compromised immune systems or just individuals with general poor health also being susceptible to a myriad of health problems.

Other readings of US AQI taken around the same time period also went as high as 192, with lows of 118 being recorded on the same day. This shows that whilst there are mild fluctuations taking place in Anyang, the air quality remains consistently poor. In 2020, Anyang also came in with a PM2.5 reading of 61.5 μg/m³, an extremely high number that placed it into the ‘unhealthy’ ratings bracket for its yearly average, which requires a PM2.5 reading of anywhere between 55.5 to 150.4 μg/m³ to be classified as such.

This PM2.5 reading of 61.5 μg/m³ placed Anyang in 44^th place out of all cities ranked worldwide, as well as 3^rd place out of all cities ranked in China. These are extremely poor rankings and as the third most polluted city in China, Anyang will have many initiatives in place in order to improve its standing amongst other Chinese cities in the years to come.

Why is there pollution in Anyang?

As touched on briefly, the many industrial plants in the city would be massive contributors to the extremely high levels of pollution present in Anyang, with these factories and power plants producing large amounts of smoke, haze and other hazardous air contaminants. The combustion processes that take place in such facilities generally have less stringent rules in place than other cities on the world circuit may have, and although the rules are changing regarding emission standards, it still stands to reason the massive overuse of fossil fuels such as coal, diesel fuel and natural gas in these areas would lead to large amounts of chemical compounds and fine particulate matter being released.

Other prominent causes of pollution in the city include ones such as vehicular emissions, with countless numbers of personal vehicles on the road at any given time, putting out large volumes of exhaust fumes, which similar to the emissions from factories, also have a number of dangerous pollutants that arise as a result of certain materials undergoing combustion.

Others include construction sites, road repairs and demolition areas, all of which can throw out large amounts of both fine or ultrafine (PM2.5) particles, as well as larger or more coarse particles (PM10), both of which can be extremely harmful to health when inhaled, causing damage to the respiratory tract and the lungs, causing scarring of the lung tissue which can lead to both a reduction in lung function as well as making individuals more susceptible to developing a range of debilitating respiratory ailments, which include among them ones such as bronchitis, emphysema, asthma and pneumonia.

When is pollution at its worst in Anyang?

Observing the data collected over the course of 2020 as a reference point, it can be seen that Anyang had its worst period of pollution between the months of October through to December, as well as the first month of the year, January coming in with the highest reading of the year, with an extremely dangerous number of 165.5 μg/m³ having been recorded.

This would put Anyang in the ‘very unhealthy’ air quality ratings bracket, which requires a PM2.5 reading of anywhere between 150.5 to 250.4 μg/m³ to be classified as such. This represents an extremely bad quality of air, one that would ensure that vast swathes of the population would fall under the negative effects of air pollution.

October through to December also came in with readings of 59.3 μg/m³, 80.7 μg/m³ and 104.7 μg/m³, showing that the pollution levels start to rise at the end of the year, culminating in a massive reading at the beginning of the following year, as was demonstrated with 2020’s PM2.5 readings.

Does Anyang have any cleaner months of the year?

Once the massive pollution spike in January had abated, the PM2.5 count started to drop considerably and actually entered into a time period of significantly lower pollution levels. The months of March through to September were when Anyang had the best level of air quality (although still badly polluted by international standards). March and April had readings of 54.5 μg/m³ and 43.1 μg/m³, putting them into the ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’ bracket, whilst May through to September all had readings that fell into the ‘moderate’ pollution ratings bracket. These months were the cleanest out of the entire year in 2020, with August having the best quality of air with a reading of 25.2 μg/m³.

What pollutants are found in Anyang’s air?

With a wide variety of combustion sources causing these heightened pollution readings, Anyang would subsequently have a large number of related pollutants contaminating its atmosphere. They would be ones such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂), both of which can emanate from both vehicles as well as factories or power plants, or anywhere that has a source of combustion taking place (with even the burning of firewood releasing these chemicals).

Other pollutants include heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium, as well as dioxins, furans and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Black carbon and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) would also be present in large amounts, with some examples of certain VOC related materials being ones such as benzene, styrene, xylene, methylene chloride and formaldehyde. Ozone (O₃) would also be present, known more commonly as smog when it accumulates in large amounts on ground level, which presents a significant risk to human health when respired, causing irritation and inflammation to the respiratory tract as well as the lung tissue itself.