Shanghai: PM2.5 index falling slightly

Shanghai (CNS) -- Shanghai's PM2.5 index is basically at the same level of previous years, but is declining slightly and showing signs of improvement, the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau announced on Friday.

The main sources of the city's PM2.5 are automobiles, industrial production and construction sites, said Zhou Jun, an official with the bureau, who added that cross-regional transportation and suburban straw burning exacerbate the situation greatly in some areas.

In cooperation with environmental protection authorities across the Yangtze River Delta and the local meteorological office, the bureau is putting more efforts into lowering PM2.5 by establishing a smog and pollution alert system which restricts or forbids the emission of certain pollutants when weather deteriorates, Zhou said.

As of 2005, the city has installed 24 monitoring stations. So far, the two in Putuo and Zhangjiang have been releasing real-time data regularly.