APSN Banner

Air pollution in Bekasi and Jakarta's satellite cities show worse results

Source
Tempo - September 3, 2020

Antara, Jakarta – The Environment and Forestry Ministry's observation of the ambient air quality shows that Bekasi City's average air particles smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) from January to August 2020 has exceeded Jakarta.

The ministry's director of air pollution, Dasrul Chaniago, in the "Pojok Iklim" discussion, said the results of the air quality monitoring system (AQMS) show Bekasi City battling with the highest PM2.5 concentration compared to cities in its vicinity; Jakarta, Bandung, or Depok throughout January to July 2020.

Dasrul said Bekasi City's average PM2.5 from January to August this year ranked first with 48,51 ug/m3 while Depok came second with 34,89 ug/m3, Bandung with 31,23 ug/m3, and Jakarta with 30,40 ug/m3.

The AQMS graph shows Bekasi city's highest PM2,5 concentration throughout January – August happened in June which scored 72,80 ug/m3 while during the same month Jakarta scored 41,72 ug/m3. This exceeds the tolerated ambient air level (NAB) of 65 ug/m3.

Despite the large-scale social restriction (PSBB) that was imposed in the area throughout the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, numbers remained high. Dasrul did not explain why air quality had grown to such levels and only said it can be affected by numerous elements such as meteorology, wind direction, wind speed, and rain intensity.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1382272/air-pollution-in-bekasi-and-jakartas-satellite-cities-show-worse-results

Country