Air quality near (SBS) Satit Rangsit, Pathum Thani

How bad is the pollution in Satit Rangsit?

Satit Rangsit is an air pollution center located in the city of Pathum Thani, just north of Bangkok and being counted as one of Bangkok's many metropolitan areas, with both of them equally urbanized as the other, with no discernable boundary between the two. Satit Rangsit recorded some fairly high readings of PM2.5 in the latter part of 2020. PM2.5 referring to particulate matter, or fine particles that are of 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter, making it around 3% of the diameter of a human hair, showing just how small it can be. With such a small size (as well as being composed of a plethora of toxic compounds and materials), there are many damaging effects on human health, particularly when PM2.5 readings are shown to be very high.

The readings taken went as high as 46.7 µg/m³, recorded on the 8^th of November 2020, but in contrast it had readings as low as 7.8 µg/m³, although this was an exception rather than the average. A majority of the PM2.5 readings came in between 20 to 40 µg/m³, with the previously mentioned highest reading of 46.7 µg/m³ putting the air quality into the ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’ bracket, a fairly high pollution rating that requires a reading of anywhere between 35.5 to 55.4 µg/m³ to be classed as such. As the name of this classification implies, certain portions of the population would be at risk when exposed to pollution levels as high as this, with the elderly being vulnerable, as well as young children and people with preexisting health issues or compromised immune systems.

Pathum Thani itself also came in with fairly high PM2.5 ratings over 2019, with a yearly average of 26.2 µg/m³. This classes it in the ‘moderate’ bracket (12.1 to 35.4 µg/m³), and whilst this is not an overtly terrible reading by any means in the bigger picture, this number put Pathum Thani into the 28^th most polluted city ranking over 2019, out of all 68 cities ranked. This came in far ahead of Bangkok, which had a PM2.5 reading of 22.8 µg/m³, putting it in 48^th place. For a city to come in many rankings ahead of the capital city of Bangkok, which is somewhat infamous for its levels of smoke, pollution and haze, shows that there is certainly room for improvement, for both Satit Rangsit and Pathum Thani In regards to the quality of their air.

What are the main causes of pollution around Satit Rangsit?

Due to being part of Bangkok's metropolitan areas, Satit Rangsit would be afflicted by many of the same causes of pollution that hit the capital, with differing levels of concentration sometimes due to geographical traits and other environmental factors such as wind speed and rain. Cars commuting into the capital and back into Pathum Thani would leave a large pollutive footprint, with high levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and sulfur dioxide (S0₂) being present.

Nitrogen dioxide would be found in particularly high concentrations due to its links with vehicular emissions. It is often found in high accumulations in areas that see larger volumes of traffic, and with a regular commute of citizens going back and forth from Bangkok to Pathum Thani (therefore affecting the readings taken by Satit Rangsit), it would stand to reason that nitrogen dioxide and the various number of vehicles such as cars, buses, motorbikes and trucks would be one of the main, if not the largest cause of pollution. Of importance would be the nearby international airport Don Mueang being situated very close to Satit Rangsit, which would inevitably lead to higher pollution concentrations due to plane activity, as well as the large number of personal vehicles and taxis finding their way to the airport for transportation of the high volume of both tourists and local travelers moving in and out of Don Mueang on a daily basis. Of note, this would be far less pertinent for the majority of 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak causing tourism and travel to come to a nearly complete standstill.

What would be secondary causes of smoke and haze to be found in Satit Rangsit?

Besides the motor vehicle industry and transportation as a whole, other issues that would cause heightened pollution levels and PM2.5 readings would be the industrial sector, with many factories being located around Satit Rangsit. These include factories such as chemical production plants, concrete facilities, metal can manufacturers as well as other industrial products.

With a fairly high number of these in a small area (the northern metropolitan area of Bangkok) there would also be heightened levels of associated pollutants, which would include materials such as lead and mercury, black carbon and volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), both of which are caused by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and organic materials. Many factories would rely on the combustion of fossil fuels to provide their energy (mainly coal) and as such factories would be largely responsible for contributing heavily to smoke and pollution levels, as well as adding their own unique pollutants such as microplastic particles and other noxious compounds into the air.

What is being done to address air pollution around Satit Rangsit?

A large number of vehicle checkpoints continue to be set up in order to address the issue of black smoke producing motors. With initiatives such as this being implemented, it can go a long way to reducing pollution levels recorded around Satit Rangsit as well as Pathum Thani, and Bangkok by proxy. With such a large amount of poor-quality smoke belching vehicles still finding themselves on the road across the country, the eventual removal of these would have rapid results in reduction the pollution readings in Satit Rangsit.

What are some health issues that arise from pollution near Satit Rangsit?

With readings as high as 46.7 µg/m³ being taken in November, as well as numbers recorded in Pathum Thani going as high as 50.9 µg/m³ as of December 2019, it stands to reason that during these higher PM2.5 periods, a number of health effects start to afflict the population in surrounding areas.

These would include respiratory and cardiovascular issues, with elevated incidences of lung cancer, risk of heart diseases, arrythmias and heart attacks becoming present. PM2.5 can enter deep into the tissue of the lungs and cause aggravated forms of asthma to be triggered, as well as being the cause of other conditions such as bronchitis and emphysema. These are but a small number of health issues that exposure to high levels of pollution or PM2.5 can cause, with many more becoming prominent as pollution levels rise further.