Advertisement

Pollution jumps this week in Beijing

BEIJING, July 25 (UPI) -- Air pollution in Beijing increased this week in the six days after the city imposed an odd-even system to limit driving, officials said.

The air pollution index was 110 on Friday, double the 55 on Sunday, The Washington Post reported. The city is trying to get pollution down before the Summer Olympic Games begin on Aug. 8.

Advertisement

Beijing's air pollution is generally so bad that at least one marathon runner, the setter of a world record, has refused to compete there. Officials with the International Olympic Committee say that some events demanding endurance might have to be postponed because of pollution.

Pollution was so high on Thursday and Friday that the city classified air quality as unhealthy for people with respiratory ailments.

Du Shaozhong, deputy general-director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, blamed the high pollution on a period without rain or wind so that particulates did not disperse.

The measures taken to reduce pollution, in addition to the alternate-day driving system, include allowing only essential truck traffic and encouraging the use of mass transit by adding buses and subway service.

Latest Headlines