The air environment in Hanoi is declining

The Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment has just completed a report on the current environmental status in 2011, whereby the air quality here is declining.

The report says transportation is a major source of air pollution, especially emissions of carbon oxide (CO), a mixture of volatile organic substances (VOC) and dioxide nitrogen (NO ₂ ).

Many buses discharge black smoke that pollutes the environment. (Photo: Tien Dung)

In particular, VOC contains many chemicals in the long term, which can negatively affect health. This gas mixture can be found in thousands of products, especially household products such as paint and solvent paints, cleaning chemicals, construction materials and furniture and office equipment.

According to Dr. Hoang Duong Tung, director of the Environmental Monitoring Center, said that in most areas of Hanoi, dust concentrations in recent years have exceeded the permitted standards. Pollution levels at intersections and construction sites remain high, exceeding Vietnamese standards.

The amount of these emissions increases each year along with the development of the number of vehicles and construction works, especially the construction of high-rise buildings.

Most of the junctions and intersections in Hanoi have a total concentration of dust exceeding the permitted standards, most notably the routes such as Kim Lien, Giai Phong, Phung Hung (Ha Dong), and Nguyen Trai.

Dr. Tung said that in areas in the process of building infrastructure, the concentration of suspended dust in the air is many times higher than allowed.