The French connection: Paris equipment monitors Hanoi air

Inaugurating the air quality monitoring station at the French embassy

Prioritized field

The air quality monitoring station operates automatically 24 hours a day. Parameters such as wind directions and speed, rainfall, dust, ozone, air quality are constantly updated. Valerie Pecresse, President of Ile-de-France region, told guests at the inauguration ceremony in July that air quality has been a key field in 30 years of co-operation between her region and the Vietnamese capital.

Under a co-operation project worth 1 million euros funded by the region, Hanoi People’s Committee and the French Development Agency (AFD), dozens of such air quality monitoring systems are expected to be installed in the city.

She said the systems, similar to the equipment installed in Paris with technology provided by the ENVEA Group, were expected to identify current causes for air pollution in the city so local authorities could take proper actions. Pécresse said from now to 2020, the Paris region and the French Development Agency (AFD) will continue to assist Hanoi in installing 10 more stations throughout the city.

French Ambassador to Vietnam Bertrand Lortholary said, “Improving air quality is a highlight in our mutual concern and cooperation, especially in the celebration of 30 years of Hanoi-Paris region cooperative ties.”

According to the Hanoi People’s Committee Chair Nguyen Duc Chung, the cooperation relationship between Hanoi and the Paris region, established in 1989, had enabled progress in many areas including easing traffic congestion, preservation of cultural heritage, urban planning, and environmental protection.

Responding to air pollution

Hanoi’s rapid socio-economic development is posing big challenges, including traffic jams, supply of clean water, and alarming pollution of rivers, lakes and the air.

To improve environmental quality, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Hanoi People’s Committee have adopted a number of measures, especially to deal with air pollution. The municipal People’s Committee said it plans to install nearly 100 additional air quality monitoring stations.

Since 2017, Hanoi has assessed air quality based on indices of 10 monitoring stations. Of those, two are located in Trung Yen 3 street and Minh Khai Commune People’s Committee (Bac Tu Liem District) monitoring six polluted parameters: PM10, PM2.5, NO2/NO/NOx, CO, SO2 and O3. Eight other stations are installed in Hang Dau, Hoan Kiem, Kim Lien, My Dinh, Pham Van Dong, Thanh Cong, Tan Mai and Tay Mo areas monitoring PM10, PM2.5, CO, NO2 and meteorological parameters.

The air monitoring data are updated 24 hours a day and are widely disseminated through various media so that residents can be aware of the air quality in the areas where they live and work. To deal with air pollution, the city has also planted one million green trees and supported residents in reducing and phasing out the use of coal stoves.

Apart from France, Hanoi has also cooperated on responses to environmental issues with international companies, groups and localities from many other countries like Germany and Japan. For example, the Duong River plant invested nearly two years ago by the Duong River Surface Water JSC in collaboration with German companies is now in its first phase of operation and provides about 150,000cu.m of water per day. The company plans to raise the factory’s daily capacity to 300,000cu.m of water in the second phase by 2020.

The city has cooperated with the Watch Water Company of Germany to produce Redoxy 3C for treating pollution in Hanoi’s rivers and lakes. It is also installing German-made garbage treatment plants that use burning technology to generate electricity, and importing street sweepers from the German Hako Group.