Warning over record air pollution in Causeway Bay
ROADSIDE air pollution in Causeway Bay shot to very high levels for the first time yesterday, sparking warnings for children and sick people to avoid the busy area.
The roadside testing station outside Sogo department store registered a record level of 106, with the main pollutant found to be nitrogen dioxide from vehicle exhausts.
Levels of more than 100 trigger government health warnings, although even lower readings - calculated by checking levels of various pollutants - are linked to fatal respiratory disease.
Pollution in the shopping mecca should rise steadily around Christmas as dry weather approaches.
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) warned people with heart or respiratory problems to avoid spending much time at street level in Causeway Bay yesterday. If they had to, they were advised not to exert themselves.
'Children will be similar. They're what we call the susceptible population - people who are more vulnerable to pollution,' said principal environmental protection officer Pang Sik-wing.
The EPD set up roadside stations in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok in June after strong criticism that ambient stations - installed 17 to 25 metres above ground level - provided misleading readings.
Ground-level stations have shown readings 172 per cent worse than ambient stations. Readings from Causeway Bay streets yesterday were almost twice as bad as the nearest mid-air station in Central.
Pollution in Causeway Bay - where canyon-like streets and heavy traffic are blamed for poor air conditions - is expected to rise as Hong Kong enters its worst season for air quality.
'We will have increased pollution, since the best months of the year [June, July and August] are already gone,' Mr Pang said. 'Usually, we'd expect the worst air pollution in the dry season - December, January and February.' However, less traffic and more wind should allow pollution levels to drop from very high to high in Causeway Bay today, Mr Pang said.
