The air quality of south China's Guangdong Province is getting better, but acid rain is still a major environmental problem for the province, according to an air quality report issued by the Environmental Protection Bureau of Guangdong Province on Thursday.

The report shows that only Guangzhou amongst the 21 cities of the province, is not up to the national standards for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and breathable particles.

The report is published at least twice a year.

The concentration of nitrogen dioxide in Shenzhen's air is 0.04 percent per cubic meter, a 52.6 percent decrease compared with the same period last year, the best showing among all the 21 cities.

Drinking water

Also, the quality of drinking water met the national standard in 20 of the 21 cities. The report does not say which city failed to meet the standard.

"Most of Guangdong cities have invested a lot of money and energy in a bid to reduce and control environmental pollution last year, which has led to the favorable conditions," Chen Guangrong, vice-director of the bureau, told China Daily yesterday.

The abundant rainfall in the past several months has also helped improve environmental conditions, Chen said.

On the other hand, the pollution caused by acid rain is still a serious problem for many cities in the province.

The report shows 18 of them recorded acid rain falling during the past six months.

The frequency of acid rain occurrence in eight cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Foshan, where heavy industry is more prominent exceeded 80 percent.

"Acid rain is the result of air pollution from industrial sources as well as emissions from vehicles," Chen said. "Acid rain has been known to cause damage to trees, streams, lakes, animals and even man-made structures.

"Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are major sources of the acid rain."

Air quality

Chen said that all the departments involved in environmental protection in the province would attach more importance to improving air quality in the next phase.

Guangzhou has outlined a detailed scheme to improve the air and expects to complete all facets of the scheme by the end of the year.

Especially, Sun Dayong, an officer with the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection, told China Daily: "We will attach more importance to controlling the emissions from motor vehicles."

The scheme proposes that vehicles that do not meet EU emission standards (EURO I and EURO II) will not be allowed on certain busy roads.

Guangzhou has more than 1.74 million registered automobiles. To decrease the large number that do not meet the standard, the bureau is planning to give financial rewards to people who stop using their cars before the service lives of their cars are reached.

In collaboration with the public security departments, the municipal bureau will be able to assign more traffic policemen to monitor pollution on the roads.

(China Daily August 15, 2005)