News Update DENR launches air quality monitoring station in Valenzuela

Under its continuing campaign to improve air quality in Metro Manila, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) launched a fully automatic air quality monitoring station Wednesday in Valenzuela City. The station will collect real-time pollution data in northern Metro Manila. “The data that this station will collect will be used as reference for crafting air quality management programs and policies especially by the local government unit,” DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said in a statement. The launch took place at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela, and was led by Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) director Juan Miguel Cuna, Valenzuela City administrator Teresita Capacillo, and PLV president Nedeña Torralba. Cuna said at the launching ceremony that apart from determining weather conditions that may affect the movement of air pollutants, the station will also provide air pollution data in a timely manner and allow the use of that data in charting abatement measures and developing attainment and maintenance plans. It can also measure pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone, as well as measure meteorological data such as wind speed and direction in real time. “’Yung data na makukuha namin diyan, ma-de-determine ‘yung condition ng lugar,” said Arturo Bongco of the EMB’s air quality management division in a telephone interview with GMA News Online. “[Pero] kailan palang siya nalagay, kukuha palang kami ng data. Ang minimum collection of data is one year… pag short-term ang data na kinuha, baka ‘yung policy hindi sure,” he added. The Valenzuela station is the second of its kind launched this year. The first station measures data in south Manila and was launched on Nov. 15 at the De La Salle University on Taft Avenue. Two more stations are yet to be launched, including one along Commonwealth Avenue, which will be launched on Dec. 20, and another at the DPWH compound along EDSA, which is yet to be installed. The DENR and the EMB reported that air quality in Metro Manila has improved based on the declining total suspended particle levels, which dropped from an average of 166 micrograms per normal cubic meter (µg/Ncm) at the end of the second quarter of 2010, to 116µg/Ncm as of the third quarter of 2011. — VS,