Hebei introduces stricter standards to control building sites dust

Hebei will take stricter measures from April 1 to control air pollution caused by construction activities by introducing  new standards on dust emissions at  sites.

The concentration of PM10, particles smaller than 10 microns, will be monitored since they are the major pollutants generated during construction, Li Hongyan with the Hebei Provincial Bureau of Ecology and Environment said on Thursday at a press conference.

The previous research in the province showed that 42 percent of the PM10 in the air was generated from construction sites, thus making the controls on dust emission during construction a major task in air pollution control, said Wang Shujuan, member of the team in drafting the standards.

To cut the dust emissions, construction sites will be ordered to take such measures as enclosing the sites, covering construction materials, and spraying water on dust-producing projects.

According to government regulations, the hourly density of PM10 at a construction site cannot be higher than the average level of a county or district where the site is based, or 80 micrograms per cubic meter. The hourly density of PM10 at a construction site shall not exceed this limit more than twice in a day.

The sites will be forced to rectify the situation and  fined if violations , Li said.
Neighboring Beijing, Hebei province has taken tough controls in recent years to curb air pollution, which has yielded fruit.

In 2018, the average concentration of PM2.5, hazardous fine particles and major pollutants in monitoring, was cut by 14 percent year-on-year, according to the bureau.