China Determined to Stage Blue Sky Olympics

A cooling wind and light rain helped sweep away pollutants and gave residents a break from the heat and humidity that has permeated city air for days.

The polluted skies over the Olympic host city have been one of the biggest worries for Olympics organizers.

Blue skies over the stadium built for the 2008 Olympic Games, nicknamed the bird's nest. July 29, 2008. (Photo courtesy Xinhua)

Today, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection said even stricter measures may be imposed to reduce industrial and vehicle emissions in case of serious air pollution during the Olympics.

Beijing, the neighboring city of Tianjin and Hebei Province would expand their current curbs on cars and factories, if meteorological departments foresee "extreme unfavorable weather conditions" in the next two days.

Under these circumstances, Beijing would shut down 105 more electric, furniture, building material and chemical plants. It would halt all construction and pull more vehicles off the road, ministry officials said.

In Tianjin, 56 more coal-fueled power plants, coal-fired heating projects, building materials, electric and chemical factories would suspend production in case of poor air quality forecasts. Cars would be banned on alternate days according to their odd or even plate numbers.

Similar measures would be carried out in Hebei province cities of Zhangjiakou, Chengde, Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Langfang and Tangshan.

The emergency plan would be terminated if weather authorities confirm that air quality in the coming two days can meet official standards.

Regardless of possible emergency measures, a short-term traffic rule effective from July 20 through September 20 requires that vehicles with even and odd license plate numbers run on alternate days in Beijing. The Olympic Games run from August 8 through 24, while the Paralympics run from September 6 through 17.

Du Shaozhong, Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau deputy director, said earlier this week the rare lack of rain and wind to blow away accumulated emissions was partly to blame for the city's ongoing smog.

According to Du, in the first half of 2008, the major pollutants in Beijing had dropped by 20 percent and small particulate matter was reduced by seven percent. The city had 148 "blue sky" days, or days with fairly good air quality, for the year through July 30.

With government investment of 140 billion yuan (about US$20.5 billion dollars) in environmental improvements, total blue sky days in Beijing rose to 246 last year. By comparison there were just 100 blue sky days in 1998 when the city launched the blue sky campaign.

Yet Du admitted that the level of particulate matter has not met the national standards throughout the year, as only 70 percent of the days passed the blue sky day standard through July 30.

Beijing traffic moves more smoothly and the air is cleaner with half the city's cars off the road each day. (Photo courtesy Beijing Olympic Committee)

"But we are confident to ensure an air quality above the standard of the World Health Organization during the Olympics," he said.

Beijing has seen 19 blue sky days so far in July – two more days than the same timeframe produced last year, according to data from the Environmental Monitoring Center

Du expressed optimism that city's air quality would improve as the weather changes. According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar, August 7 is the day when autumn officially begins. The weather at that time is fine and it is usually the best season for traveling and having meetings in Beijing, Du said.

But if the weather does not change on its own in time for the August 8 opening ceremonies, Chinese meteorologists are ready to change it.

Chen Zhenlin, a vice director with the China Meteorological Administration, said July 15 at a press conference at the Beijing International Media Center that meteorologists have made preparations for artificial weather modification since 2003, especially on reducing rainfall.

Meteorologists will consult with the Beijing municipal government on whether or not to change the city's weather, should there be any unfavorable weather on August 8, Chen said.

But he admitted that the technology still has limitations.

"Artificial weather modification could be useful when a drizzle occurs," he said. "But in case of a heavy rainfall, no one can help."

According to Qiao Lin, chief weather forecaster with the China Meteorological Administration, official weather information for the opening day of the Beijing Olympics will not be available until August 1, a week before the Games.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.