Air quality in Chachoengsao

How polluted is the air in Chachoengsao?

Chachoengsao is a city located in central Thailand, being the capital of Chachoengsao province. It is located around 50km from Bangkok, and can be easily accessed via a well connected train route that links the two cities. It has a long history dating back to the old days of Thailand, originally being a town that was used as a military recruitment center. Nowadays, it finds itself centered around the farming of rice, as well as being one of the many cities in the vicinity of Bangkok, and as such would host a large amount of people who would travel to work in the capital city on a daily basis.

With these being elements of modern Chachoengsao, there would be a related rise in air pollution, with many people choosing to live in satellite cities of the capital and find employment within Bangkok itself, therefore causing large amounts of people to commute in and out of the city on a daily basis, not to mention the industrial side of transportation, with goods and other materials being moved back and forth.

Observing the levels of PM2.5 in the air in the early portion of 2021, Chachoengsao was seen to have readings going as high as 88.8 μg/m³ on certain days, a reading that is extremely high and would place it in the ‘unhealthy’ ratings bracket, one which requires a PM2.5 reading of anywhere between 55.5 to 150.4 μg/m³ to be classified as such. As the name indicates, this is a sign of some particularly poor air quality, and although there were days that came in as low as 15.3 μg/m³, it stands to reason that on average the readings were shown to be 30 μg/m³ or above, thus making Chachoengsao subject to some less than appreciable air quality levels, particularly at the beginning of the year.

What are the main causes of pollution in Chachoengsao?

Chachoengsao would be subject to several different sources of pollution, some more prominent during certain months of the year whilst others would affect the year round ambient readings, with a more ‘chronic’ and long term nature about them, as opposed to some more acute causes of pollution. Touching on the long term ones, vehicular emissions would be amongst the main ones, with pollutants from cars, motorbikes and heavy duty vehicles such as trucks, lorries and buses all adding to the PM2.5 readings as well as higher volumes of other chemical contaminants in the air, some of which will be discussed in short.

Other causes would be a recent problem that has arrived in the city as well as the province as a whole, that of E-waste recycling. Many foreign companies have been set up that are involved in this trade, and the factories and plants used to process such material would release a whole host of highly toxic and dangerous chemicals into the air. Other noteworthy causes of pollution would emanate from areas such as construction sites, road repairs, as well as the burning of crops and forested areas, a practice known as slash and burn farming that despite being highly illegal, still continues to happen during certain times of the year.

What are some pollutants that are found in the air in Chachoengsao?

With the causes of many pollution sources in mind, there would be a subsequent release of chemicals and particulate matter that are directly related to the topics covered. Pollutants released from vehicular use would be black carbon, mainly in the form of soot, a highly dangerous form of PM2.5 that has carcinogenic properties as well as the ability to cause localized climate change, due to black carbon particles absorbing solar radiation and converting it directly to heat. This, along with volatile organic compounds (VOC's), are both produced from the incomplete combustion of both fossil fuels as well as the burning of organic matter.

Some examples of VOC's include ones such as benzene, ethylene glycol, tetrachloroethylene and formaldehyde, all of which are highly dangerous to human health as well as very easy to respire, due to their volatile nature making them maintain a gaseous state even at lower temperatures, hence easier to breathe in.

The pollutants released from E-waste sites would be particularly noxious, with contaminants such as dioxins, furans, mercury and lead all making their way into both the air and ground, causing damage to the environment as well as people living nearby.

What effect do vehicles have on pollution levels in Chachoengsao?

As mentioned previously, commuters would make up a large amount of ambient pollutive output, with many vehicles on the road being aged and well past an international standard on what would be considered road safe, in terms of the condition of the engine. Older ones, particularly bikes that use poor quality fuels, would leak greater quantities of oil vapor as well as releasing larger amounts of black carbon and soot, as well as some of the aforementioned VOC's.

Vehicles are also particularly well known for their release of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂), with nitrogen dioxide being the most prominent offender from cars and the like. It is often found in large quantities over areas that see a high volume of traffic, and as such can be used to correlate with how many vehicles pass through a given area based purely on nitrogen dioxide readings in the atmosphere. So, as it stands, vehicles have an effect on the year round pollution levels present in Chachoengsao.

What can Chachoengsao do to improve its air quality?

Some initiatives that the city of Chachoengsao can do in order to improve its AQI (air quality index) and reduce the levels of PM2.5 in the air would be to gradually phase out the use of fossil fuels that are utilized in both vehicles as well as industrial zones, with diesel finding itself in cars, motorbikes, lorries as well as heavy machinery present in construction sites and factories.

Others would be the dedicating of more resources to combat the open burns taking place during certain months of the year. Whilst they are more prominent in the northern region of Thailand, they still occur in many areas throughout the country, often under the cover of dark or in hard to reach areas. The cessation of this practice would see a massive reduction in pollution levels during certain months of the year.

Lastly, the closure or at least the placement of strong emissions caps on E-waste facilities would go a long way in reducing the extremely dangerous materials being released from such areas. When such emission caps are breached, fines or threats of closure can be imposed on offending businesses, thus causing them to be a lot more considerate about how much pollution they release into the air. These are a few initiatives that Chachoengsao can do to improve the quality of its air.