According to the statistics from the Ecological and Environmental Protection Commission of Changsha City, in 2022, the comprehensive air quality index of Kaifu District was 3.83, with 309 days of excellent air quality. The excellent rate reached 84.7 percent, and the average annual concentration of PM2.5 hit 36ug/m3, ranking first among the districts in the city.

2023 is the last year of the “new three-year” Blue Sky Protection Campaign. The Blue Sky Office of Kaifu District will work together with all other parties to control air pollution and add a blue sky to Changsha.

Strict measures taken to control source of air pollution

During the Tomb-sweeping Day this year, if you do not set off firecrackers when you sweep your ancestral graves in Eyang Mountain, Xiufeng Mountain and Shanying Pond as well as by the Xiangjiang River and Liuyang River, you will get a bunch of flowers for free to express your grief for the deceased.

During the Tomb-sweeping Day last year, Wang Xinhua, a resident of Eyangshan Community, received a large bunch of chrysanthemums at the foot of Eyang Mountain and thought highly of this activity.

Xiufeng Sub-district, Hongshan Sub-district and Liuyanghe Sub-district carried out the “flowers for firecrackers” activity at key tomb-sweeping sites such as Eyang Mountain, Xiufeng Mountain and Shanying Pond to advocate cultivated tomb-sweeping. During the Tomb-sweeping Day last year, more than 2,200 bunches of flowers were distributed.

Meanwhile, over 2,000 people were arranged to be on duty at key graveyards to persuade citizens to clean the graves in a civilized manner and not to pollute the atmosphere and water source.

The old custom of setting off firecrackers during the Tomb-sweeping day and the Zhongyuan Festival is a source of environmental pollution. A series of measures, such as “flowers for firecrackers”, have been taken by Kaifu District to strictly control the source of pollution.

During the Tomb-sweeping Day and the Zhongyuan Festival last year, more than 20,000 copies of civilized tomb-sweeping brochures were distributed to residents. The audio of civilized tomb-sweeping was played for over 10,000 times. Citizens were forbidden to bring firecrackers into the mountain. More than 250 people were dissuaded from setting off firecrackers and burning paper money.

Kaifu District has attached great importance to air pollution. Strict measures have been taken to control local pollution such as dust on the road surface at the construction site, disposal of building trash and number of high-emission vehicles on the road.

According to the change of meteorological conditions, the trend of air pollution has been scientifically analyzed, and special control requirements have been released timely. Relevant departments and sub-districts have carried out work according to the instructions and responded to the Blue Sky Office of Kaifu District.

In the autumn and winter of 2022, the “100-day campaign” for air pollution prevention and control was launched and the task list was distributed. All member units made concerted efforts to achieve the goal.

In the “100-day campaign”, Kaifu District settled 93 construction site dust problems and 31 road dust problems, inspected 3,051 vehicles, restored over 16,000 square meters of green areas and signed 163 commitment letters about using vehicles with logistics parks and enterprises as well as major vehicle owners.

Technological means used to locate source of air pollution

If a particulate matter (PM) laser radar device installed on the roof of a building emits a laser beam for horizontal scanning, the change of atmospheric pollution intensity within a radius of 5 kilometers can be detected.

On January 5 this year, smoke billowed from the vegetable field of a village in the city in Zone A, Phase II of Vanke City, West Fuyuan Road. The radar system quickly found someone burning garbage.

On November 15 last year, in Chunhao Ecological Farm in Changsha, a large area of loess was exposed and caused flying dust all over the sky. A small UAV discovered this situation and reported it to the regulatory units that immediately took actions.

Kaifu District has invited a third-party company to provide air quality assurance services. High-tech equipment like PM radar, UAVs and portable detector have been widely used in air pollution prevention.

PM radar has two modes of horizontal scanning and vertical scanning. The horizontal scanning mode can comprehensively reflect the horizontal distribution intensity of air pollution within a radius of 3 to 5 kilometers and continuously monitor dust pollution (construction site dust, road dust, etc.), industrial emissions, incineration sources, etc. The vertical scanning mode can detect the horizontal distribution change at a height of 5 kilometers, the transport of PM at high altitude and local pollution accumulation.

Kaifu District has used not only small UAVs for law enforcement through aerial photography but also large UAVs for monitoring at high altitude. Large UAVs enjoy a bird’s-eye view and can inspect and track pollution sources, as well as detect unknown pollution sources and illegal discharge by enterprises. An intelligent UAV can conduct real-time monitoring of six pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, CO, O3, NO2, SO2), and transmit back monitoring data and high-definition aerial photos.

At a gas station of the Transportation Group of the Changsha City Construction Investment Development Group Co., Ltd., there were slight cracks in the gas-collecting hoods of three oil guns. Inspectors in Kaifu District used hand-held portable instruments to detect the cracks that were difficult to be discovered with the naked eyes, and ordered the enterprise to replace them and eliminate the hidden dangers.

This handheld portable instrument is divided into VOC detection and six-parameter detection devices. The VOC detection device is mainly used to detect VOC-related exhaust gas emissions from gas stations, printing plants, etc. The six-parameter detection device is mainly used to detect the environmental pollution of industrial plants, construction site dust pollution, etc.

With the help of advanced technologies, Kaifu District can issue control instructions in advance. Last year, 74 first-level and 37 second-level responses for slightly polluted weather as well as 5 yellow warnings and 4 orange warnings for heavily polluted weather were initiated respectively. 1,149 pollution problems were assigned for tracing and investigation. The air quality was significantly improved.

Under the circumstance that the number of days with excellent and good air quality in the whole city decreased by 2 compared with 2021, the figure for Wujialing Sub-district in Kaifu District increased by 10 compared with 2021, and the average annual concentration of PM2.5 decreased by 5um/m3, reaching 38um/m3. The number of days with excellent and good air quality at Shaping Sub-district also grew by 1 compared with 2021, and the concentration of PM2.5 dropped to 34um/m3, meeting the national second-level standard.

Legal measures taken to prevent air pollution

The Blue Sky Office and the Environmental Protection Commission Office of Kaifu District inspected the construction site late at night and punished those who still executed construction despite the orange warning for heavy pollution. The traffic police worked together with a third party professional organization to eliminate the emissions from motor vehicles exceeding the standard. Kaifu District gave priority to pollution prevention and strictly abided by law.

Since last year, Kaifu District has focused on the problems of flying dust and non-mobile equipment. A special renovation leading group has been established and the responsibilities of each department and sub-district have been clarified. During the flying dust controlling month, 390 construction site dust problems were discovered, and 97 vehicles were disposed by law. 31 industrial enterprises with air pollution problems were rectified and cancelled. 98 construction sites and enterprises were inspected and 59 non-mobile devices were dealt with accordingly.

High-emission vehicles were restricted in some areas like Wujialing and Qingzhuhu sub-districts. The driving routes for concrete mixer trucks were redefined to reduce road pollution and ensure that both the economic construction, and the Blue Sky Protection Campaign were steadily progressed.

The traffic police were coordinated to restrict high-emission vehicles. Since last year, 12,757 high-emission vehicles and 201 tractors have been found illegal. 58 cases of unqualified exhaust have been punished. A work plan was formulated to rectify the air pollution situation. The sprinkler systems were installed and put into use at key areas, road sections and tunnel entrances. Three-level oil and gas of 12 gas stations was recycled and transformed.

A special supervision team has been established to supervise the implementation of control measures like emergency responses and report the supervision results daily.

The ability to predict and manage emergencies has been improved through dynamic monitoring and real-time analysis. Since this year, 113 emergency responses have been initiated, and 88 times of cruise tracing has been carried out. 32 days with excellent and good air quality have been added through precise scheduling and targeted governance.

This year is the decisive year of the “new three-year” Blue Sky Protection Campaign. Kaifu District will establish a long-term working mechanism and continue to carry out the coordinated governance of ozone and PM2.5, in an effort to achieve the annual air quality goal and defend the blue sky.