Vietnam to build 113 new air quality stations

By Gia Chinh March 8, 2024 | 03:56 pm PT

An air quality monitoring station in Hanoi. Photo courtesy of the Pollution Control Department

Vietnam will install 113 more air quality monitoring stations across the country in coming years, according to a national environmental monitoring scheme issued by the government.

The country will add 98 automatic stations by 2030 and another 15 stations after that.

There would eventually be 216 stations in total, including the 103 existing stations.

Among the 98 automatic stations in the first phase, 62 will be installed at places with heavy human interactions for the purpose of issuing health warnings and other related purposes.

Six other stations will be placed in areas with little human impacts, for the sake of evaluating air quality over large regions. The six will represent six socio-economic zones. In mountainous areas of northern Vietnam, the stations will be placed in Lai Chau Province’s Muong Te District; in the Red River Delta, at Hai Phong City’s Viet Hai Commune; and in south-central Vietnam, on Quang Nam’s Cu Lao Cham Island.

In the Central Highlands, the station would be placed at Dak Nong’s Gia Nghia Commune. In southeastern Vietnam, it will be at Dong Nai’s Cat Tien National Park, and in the Mekong Delta it will be at Dong Thap’s Tram Chim National Park.

18 transborder monitoring stations will be located in Cao Bang, Dien Bien, Lang Son, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Nghe An, Dak Nong, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Long An, An Giang and Kien Giang.

The automatic monitoring stations will measure PM2.5, PM10, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone levels.

By 2025, Vietnam will be conducting 8-12 times the amount of annual air quality monitoring a year it currently does. This will provide data on sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and TSP levels.

The governmental scheme also requires noise level measurements at the 216 air quality monitoring stations, as well as the establishment of automatic mercury monitoring networks. The scheme also entails investment for water quality monitoring station construction.

The scheme aims to establish a synchronized national environmental monitoring system that keeps track of vital areas and increases connectivity between provincial environmental monitoring systems. The goal is to make environmental data transparent while enhancing weather warning and forecast capabilities.

Hoang Duong Tung, president of the Vietnam Clean Air Partnership, said the stations are necessary as environmental pollution gets more complex, and Vietnam's databases for research and warning are still limited.