Jakarta facing air pollution fears
Jakarta facing air pollution fears
JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta's air quality, which has been getting
poorer over the last few years due mainly to vehicular emission,
will continue worsening if inhabitants fail to keep emissions at
the lowest level, an official said yesterday.
Rafdjon Rax, head of the city laboratory for environment and
urban affairs studies, said vehicular emission, especially from
cars using leaded fuel, had a major impact on air quality.
"Lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrocarbon, sulfur
dioxide and particles constitute the primary air pollutants. They
account for 90 percent of all pollutants in the air," he said.
The high consumption of leaded fuel here has resulted in an
increase of lead concentrate in the air, he said.
State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina estimates that the
country consumes about 52 million kiloliters of gasoline a year.
In emission tests conducted by the administration's
environmental bureau in June, 62.1 percent of the 1,059 tested
vehicles exceeded the tolerable level of pollutants.
Out of about 77.5 percent of the tested vehicles using leaded
fuel, more than half of them failed the test.
According to a 1990 gubernatorial law, the tolerable level of
pollutants for cars using gasoline is, among others, 4.5
microgram/cubic meter for carbon monoxide and 1,200
microgram/cubic meter for hydrocarbon.
Rafdjon said the presence of pollutants in the air was
hazardous to human health as they could cause respiratory
problems and affect the nervous system as well.
He said the total concentration and distribution of lead
particles in Jakarta's air had almost hit the maximum tolerable
level of 1 microgram/cubic meter per year set by the World Health
Organization (WHO).
He said the range of the tolerable level for lead
concentration in the air was between 0.5 and 1 microgram/cubic
meter per year.
"More areas now have bad air quality as lead concentration has
reached more than 0.7 microgram/cubic meter," he said.
The lead concentration level was 0.6 microgram/cubic meter in
1995, he said.
"In 1997, the worst air quality could be found in busy areas
with heavy traffic like Blok M, Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Thamrin,
Senayan, Gambir and downtown Kota," he said.
Rafdjon said the concentration of dust particles in the air
had also exceeded the tolerable level set by WHO at 0.0900
microgram/cubic meter per year.
He said an annual study held for the last three years in 12
areas, including Senayan, Kramat Pela and Tebet Barat in South
Jakarta; Ancol and Cilincing in North Jakarta; Duri Kosambi in
West Jakarta; Gambir in Central Jakarta; and Penggilingan in East
Jakarta, showed that the concentration rate of dust in each of
the 12 areas reached at least 0.1000 microgram/cubic meter. (cst)