Haze hangs over the Bird's Nest hours before the opening ceremony. (Getty Images)(ATR) Chinese officials maintained this week that the recent heavy morning mist has been caused by humidity, not air pollution, and athletes should not fear for their health.
Wang Wei, BOCOG executive vice president and secretary general, said the fog and haze "was not a very nice picture if you see it from around the environment." But he added that because of measures the Chinese government has taken to reduce harmful emissions - such as limiting the number of vehicles and factory exhaust -- "We have every reason and we are fully confident to say we will provide a good air quality during the Olympic Games."
BOCOG has set up 27 monitoring stations to measure pollution, including one near the Bird's Nest. Wang said that the air pollution index Friday was about 80, which is the second level. The top level, classed as "excellent," is below 50, while 51-100 is "fairly good," according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.
"When it's a rainy day or foggy day the visibility is not good enough, but it doesn't mean the air quality is not good," says Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological Observatory.
He said water vapor content, or relative humidity, was 80-90 percent at 7 a.m., dropping to 70 percent by noon. Though the heavy shroud of mist burned off a bit, the sky remained gray.
Wang said air quality depends not only on actions taken within Beijing, but also within the whole area.
"For the mist of the air, at the moment, I don't think we can do anything," Wang said. "In China, we call it 'the grandfather of the heaven.' Wushu practice under a Beijing blue sky earlier in the week. (Getty Images)They decide everything, but after all these years of hard work, we are very happy to see the good result.
"Of course, we always hope for the best, but no matter how good it is, we still hope for better."
John Coates, president of the Australian Olympic Committee, said Friday he feared the pollution could cause "permanent damage" to the environment.
"Significant pollution is a problem," he said. "But we're just getting on with it. Let's hope one legacy of the Games will be the realization of the damage done [to the environment]."
Du Shaozhong, deputy director and spokesman for the bureau, said he was "confident the air quality standards, particularly inhalable particles, are in line with international standards."
He said Beijing has tried to honor the commitments it made to the IOC regarding four major pollutants.
"In terms of the air quality improvement during the whole year in Beijing, we have done quite a lot," he said. "We have tried very hard to make sure the air quality could be improved, and we will have very good air quality during Games time."
Guo said heavy rain can help remove pollutants from the air.
"We estimate that on the 9th or 10th of August, we're going to have a big rain," he said. "So along with this rain, we expect the weather condition in Beijing can be further improved."
Written by ATR Staff in Beijing
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