Chinese city official apologises for sorry state of air quality caused by ‘Great Smog of Linfen’
Levels of poisonous sulphur dioxide in city in Shanxi province drastically exceeded acceptable standards again on Monday
The “Great Smog of Linfen” returned this week, with the city’s deputy mayor finally making a public apology to residents.
But experts and critics remained sceptical of the city government’s claim that household coal burning was the main cause of the poor air quality.
A yellow alert – the third-highest in the four-tier smog warning system – was issued on Monday in Linfen, Shanxi province, after sulphur dioxide levels drastically exceeded acceptable standards.
There were 1,014 micrograms per cubic metre of sulphur dioxide in the air on Monday night, Thepaper.cn reported.
The World Health Organisation recommends that people avoid exposure to more than 500mcg per cubic metre of the pollutant for more than 10 minutes, or 20mcg over 24 hours.
The latest sulphur dioxide pall comes a week after readings hit a peak of 1,303mcg.