Addition of PM2.5 into the National Ambient Air Quality Standards of China and the Contribution to Air Pollution Control: The Case Study of Wuhan, China

PM2.5 has gradually become a major environmental problem of China with its rapid economic development, urbanization, and increasing of motor vehicles. Findings and awareness of serious PM2.5 pollution make the PM2.5 a new criterion pollutant of the Chinese National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) revised in 2012. The 2012 NAAQS sets the PM2.5 concentrate limitation with the 24-hour average value and the annual mean value. Wuhan is quite typical among central and southern China in climate, economy, development level, and energy consumption. The data are cited from the official website of Wuhan Environmental Protection Bureau and cover the period from 1 January to 30 June 2013. The data definitely confirm the existence of serious PM2.5 pollution in Wuhan and indicate that the addition of PM2.5 as a criterion pollutant significantly brings down the attainment rate of air quality. The example of Wuhan reveals that local governments should take measures to reduce the emission of PM2.5 if it affects the attainment rate and the performance evaluation value of air quality. The main contribution of 2012 NAAQS is that it brings down the attainment rate of the air quality and forces local governmental officials to take the measures accordingly.