(I) Current Air Quality Status
1. In recent years (2014 to April 2023), the proportion of poor air quality days (AQI>100) increased from northern Taiwan to southern Taiwan. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone eight-hour averages were the primary indicator pollutants. Among six special municipalities, Kaohsiung City had the highest rate of poor air quality, while Tainan City had the second highest. This was due to the geographical location of the two cities, that is, the downwind end of Taiwan, making them subject to the pollutants brought by the prevailing winds and cumulative effects over a long period.
2. In the past five years (2018 to 2022), the proportion of good and moderate air quality days (AQI<100) in Tainan City showed a yearly upward trend, increasing from 76.4% in 2018 to 90.0% in 2022, and reaching 80% for two consecutive years. In 2022, the proportion was over 90% for the first time, and the proportion of good air days reached a record high of 43.7%. In the same period of time, the proportion of poor air quality days (AQI>100) showed a yearly trend of improvement, decreasing from 23.6% in 2018 to 9.8% in 2022, with an improvement rate of 58.6%. Among these, the improvement of the poor ratio of PM2.5 was the most significant, decreasing from 16.2% in 2018 to 5.5% in 2022. On the other hand, the ratio of poor ozone 8-h averages showed a fluctuating trend; in 2022, the O3-8 h significantly improved, and the ratio of poor days reached 4.32%. The number of poor station days also decreased from 345 in 2018 to 143 in 2022, which was a significant 58.6% decrease, reaching a record low of all years.
3. The concentrations of various air pollutants largely showed a trend of improvement, with PM10 meeting the new air quality standard (50µg/m3, 100µg/m3) for four consecutive years (2019 to 2022). In the past five years (2018 to 2022), the improvement rates were 40.8% and 37.2%, respectively. By the end of Apr. 2023, the annual mean PM10 was 52.1 µg/m3 and the daily mean was 62.8 µg/m3. The annual mean and 24-h values of PM2.5 from automatic stations in the past five years (2018 to 2022) improved by 26.9% and 26.5%, respectively. By the end of Apr. 2023, the annual mean PM2.5 from automatic stations was 25.6 µg/m3 and the daily mean was 47.9 µg/m3. The annual means and 24-h values from manual stations improved by 25.0% and 17.7%, respectively, in the past five years (2018 to 2022). By the end of Mar. 2023, the annual mean PM2.5 from manual stations was 28.4 µg/m3, and the daily mean was 59.0 µg/m3. The hourly average and 8-h average concentrations of ozone (O3) showed fluctuations, but there was still an overall downward trend. In the past five years (2018 to 2022), the improvement rates were 5.4% and 3.5%, respectively. By the end of Apr. 2023, the hourly average of ozone (O3) was 92.1 ppb, and the 8-h average was 65.8 ppb.
(II) Revision of Tainan City's Air Quality Deterioration Control Measure Plan
1. We helped revise the Tainan City's Air Quality Deterioration Control Measure Plan in response to the "Severe Air Quality Deterioration Warning and Emergency Control Measures" promulgated by the Environmental Protection Administration in Mar. 2022. Based on the revised schedule and planned items, such as emergency measures for various bureaus and cross-bureau emergency response, and reviews of the emergency plans for public and private premises, the Tainan City's Air Quality Deterioration Control Measure Plan was promulgated on Dec. 19, 2022.
2. We drew up the response notification process for Tainan City during the air quality deterioration, which included assisting in determining the timing and announcement of the establishment of the Response Team and Control Command Center, keeping track of air quality trends and meteorological data, performing pollution source inspection operations, analyzing response benefits and reporting the results.
3. On Sep. 22, 2022, we held a cross-bureau meeting on "Tainan City Air Quality Deterioration Control Measure Responsibility Division Coordination,” in which Tainan City Government’s 20 Bureaus and 37 District Offices were invited to participate to discuss key points of the Environmental Protection Administration's promulgated amendments to the "Severe Air Quality Deterioration Warning and Emergency Control Measures," and explain the revision of the key points of the proposed "Tainan City's Air Quality Deterioration Control Measure Plan."
(III) Air Quality Deterioration Control Measures - Pollution Source Response Reduction Operations
1. To enhance the effectiveness of response inspections, at the initial stage of the project, we established a list of entities for response inspections, including 60 approved public and private premises under the "Control Plan for Various Levels of Air Quality Deterioration," a list of potential hotspots identified via microsensors, and a list of controlled entities under Tainan City's "Prevention of Air Pollution Behaviors Causing Air Quality Deterioration" (including 13 asphalt concrete companies; one cement raw material loading/unloading area in the port zone, 28 companies in the boiler industry; and 13 companies with volatile organic liquid storage facilities). We also set up a comprehensive reporting system for pollution sources to carry out reporting operations during periods of poor air quality.
2. We established a response inspection mechanism to mitigate the situation of air quality deterioration. In the early stages of the project, we planned to determine the response inspection area based on the alarm frequency of the IoT system in the City's industrial parks and according to the current weather pattern (e.g., wind speed and wind direction), using the reported response stations as the centers, and decide the list of entities for response inspection based on the indicator pollutants of the day (particulate matters and volatile organic gases).
3. During the project execution period, a total of 82 days reached the initial warning level of air quality deterioration or worse. The response inspection areas were decided according to the poor monitoring stations and indicator pollutants of the day. This project inspected a total of 264 public and private premises, among which 14 premises were found to have deficiencies. Inspection results showed that inaccurate records accounted for 57%, damaged, faulty or soiled control equipment accounted for 29%, and control equipment exceeding permitted values accounted for 14%. During this period, Tainan City reduced TSP by 613.23 metric tons, PM10 by 121.86 metric tons, PM2.5 by 27.92 metric tons, and NOx by 50.59 kilograms.
4. For the contents of the response plans of 12 factories, substantial on-site inspections were conducted, in which most factories' plans did not provide a process flow chart, and some factories did not provide supporting data or gave incorrect calculation methods when proposing alternative reduction measures.
5. In cooperation with the Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan meetings and related meetings of the EPA's poor air quality seasonal air pollution cross-area prevention and response team, we attended a total of 15 response team meetings, and participated in 6 joint inspection operations.
(IV) Performing major pollutant source detection, pollution source tracking, and determination during the periods of poor air quality
1. Infrared gas imaging cameras were used to detect leaks from factories with high pollution emission potential on 12 day-occasions. All leak situations at 2 public and private premises have been improved and no leaks were found upon reinspection.
2. We conducted inspections and detections of volatile organic gas from equipment components at public and private premises. A total of 11 public and private premises were targeted for testing, focusing on businesses that have been repeatedly fined for exceeding standards in recent years and where the ratio of difficult-to-inspect components reached 10% or more. We completed 8,000 point-times of equipment component inspections, among which 1,020 were difficult-to-inspect components (accounting for 12.8%). These inspections of equipment components were supplemented by 16 days of detention of infrared gas imaging cameras. Eventually, leaks were found in 8 equipment components at 5 public and private premises, in which 2 instances met the leak definition of the regulatory standards, and were reported and punished by law.
3. We performed UAV aerial inspection operations 10 times. Six of these were in collaboration with the Southern District Response Joint Inspection to conduct compliance checks on open burning and construction site regulations. Two instances of open burning were found and reported by law. The other four times, we performed inspections at Ho-shun Industrial Park and Sinying Industrial Park, supplemented by aerial photography and monitoring through infrared thermal imagers and micro sensors. Four factories with abnormal pollution sources were detected.
4. We carried out odor pollution source sampling and testing operations 10 times. One instance of odor test value exceeded the standard value, which was reported by law.
(V) Performance tracking of the EPA in 2022
We assisted the Environmental Protection Bureau in striving for full scores in the 4 performance assessment items of 2022, which included enhancing the capacity of pollution source inspection and patrolling, implementing cross-county/city cooperative responses, enforcing the prohibition and control measures of air pollution during air pollution seasons, and encouraging load shedding and emission reduction at stationary sources of pollution during periods of poor air quality.
1. Strengthening the capacity of pollution source inspection: During the autumn and winter seasons, each item of inspection and patrolling operation reached over 55% of the annual workload, which included an 88% completion rate of inspection operations for stationary sources of pollution, 80% for equipment component of stationary sources of pollution, 59% for construction sites and fugitive stationary sources of pollution, and 97% for open burning inspections and patrols (UAV patrols).
2. Strengthening cross-region cooperative responses: The control cooperation between Yunlin/Chiayi/Tainan and Kaohsiung/Pingtung air quality zones has been very close. During the season of poor air quality, there were thematic joint inspections every month. In 2022, there were a total of 6 cross-county/city collaborations.
3. Encouraging load shedding and emission reduction at stationary sources of pollution during periods of poor air quality: For the 50 stationary pollution sources in the City’s jurisdiction, we encouraged them to reduce their load and emissions during periods of poor air quality and submitted the data on the results of implementing the aforementioned load and emission reductions.
(VI) Strengthening advocacy work at all levels during periods of poor air quality
1. Within one month from the day of contract performance, we assisted in planning the press release titles and social media infographics to be released during the air quality deterioration seasons (i.e., autumn and winter) under the related entrusted projects of the Environmental Protection Bureau's Air and Noise Pollution Management Section, and submitted them to the Environmental Protection Bureau for future reference and controlling of the release situation in the monthly report.
2. We monitored air quality observation data in real-time, assisted the agency involved in releasing timely news information and initiating response actions. A total of 6 pieces of environmental protection news were published. We assisted the Environmental Protection Bureau in posting air pollution control results, popular science knowledge of air quality, and reminders of severe air quality deterioration on social media platforms such as its Facebook fan page. A total of 69 air quality-related messages were posted on Facebook.
3. We planned disaster incident drill scenarios for toxic chemical substances and particulate matter, prepared the short videos of the Environmental Protection Bureau's Air and Noise Pollution Management Section taking relevant response measures in the event of a disaster, conducted live drills in response to particulate matter disasters for sensitive groups (the elderly) and shot promotional short videos.
4. On Dec. 13, 2022, we conducted one session of "Live Drill on Particulate Matter Disaster Response for Sensitive Groups." It simulated the situation in which the Social Affairs Bureau’s affiliated institutions for the elderly and disabled experienced severe deterioration conditions; after the establishment of the Disaster Response Center by Tainan City Government, the Social Affairs Bureau notified the institutions for the elderly and disabled to take actual measures in response to severe air quality deterioration in the drill, which was edited and made into a tutorial video afterwards for promotional purposes.
5. On Sep. 22 and Oct. 19 of 2022, we convened meetings of "Tainan City Air Quality Deterioration Control Measures and Responsibility Division and Air Quality Deterioration Response Drill" by inviting the City’s 20 Bureaus and 37 District Offices. The meetings centered on scenarios such as the establishment of a cross-bureau air pollution control response team and Tainan City Control Command Center. The City Government’s various units and District Offices were notified and drills were conducted through verbal reports.
6. We completed the shooting of a promotional short film on particulate matter disaster response drills.
