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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 EPA to assess air quality during Matsu pilgrimage
People crowd into a temple in Taichung’s Dajia District yesterday during the annual Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage. The pilgrimage spans nine days and is one of the biggest religious festivals in the world. Photo: CNA
POLLUTING PILGRIMS: Images and air quality data along the route of the pilgrimage are to be shown on an interactive map on the EPA’s Web site, an official said
By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
An air quality monitoring team is to join the nine-day Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage today and post real-time pollution data online, marking the Environmental Protection Administration’s （EPA） first monitoring of pollution caused by religious activities.
An electric scooter fitted with a portable air quality monitor and three people each carrying a small PM2.5 — fine particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller in diameter — sensor is to join religious processions throughout the entire pilgrimage, which is to begin and end at Chenn Lann Temple （鎮瀾宮） in Taichung’s Dajia District （大甲）.
An air quality monitoring vehicle is to be stationed in Yunlin County’s Siluo Township （西螺）, in addition to three existing air quality monitoring stations along the route of the pilgrimage, EPA Department of Air Quality and Noise Control Director Chen Hsien-heng （陳咸亨） said.
Images and air quality data along the route of the pilgrimage are to be shown on an interactive map on the EPA’s Web site, so the public can know the extent to which participants in the pilgrimage are exposed to pollutants, Chen said.
“It is the first time that the EPA has closely monitored a traditional activity for the pollution it causes. In the past, the EPA monitored such activities only with immobile air quality monitoring stations. Pollution data collected throughout the pilgrimage is to be given to temples and event organizers, and the EPA will suggest they hold activities in a more environmentally friendly way,” Chen said.
Devotees are exposed to hazardous pollutants produced by setting off fireworks, firecrackers and burning paper offerings, and the EPA called on the public to burn offerings at incinerators fitted with pollution control devices.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Healthy Air Action Alliance convener Yeh Guang-peng （葉光芃） called on the government to make religious traditions “greener,” saying that lighting firecrackers and ghost money “hasveturned a merry festival into a disastrous pollution event.”
“While PM2.5 levels above 71 micrograms are considered hazardous according to the EPA, Yunlin Environmental Protection Bureau recorded PM2.5 concentrations more than 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter in a religious festival in which firecrackers were burned, suggesting the seriousness of the pollution caused by firecrackers,” Yeh said.
He called for an environmental revision of religious practices with electronic firecrackers, as well as a revision of the Firework and Firecracker Management Act （爆竹煙火管制條例） to ban fireworks and firecrackers on peak pollution days.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
