DENR-EMB says New Year's Day air pollution not as bad as past years

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources' (DENR's) Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) said on Friday that air pollution after the New Year's Eve celebrations was not as bad as the past years, according to a report on GMA News TV's “State of the Nation with Jessica Soho”.

Based on the EMB's calculations, the presence of Particulate Matter 10 (PM-10) in Marikina City's air was only 872 microgram per cubic meter (µg/m³) at midnight. It was at 1,988 µg/m³ last year.

Meanwhile in Las Piñas City, the PM-10 level when the clock hit 12 a.m. was at 540 µg/m³, when a year ago it went up to 2,000 µg/m³.

The DENR explained that the rain in some parts of Luzon may have helped lessen the air pollution caused by fireworks.

"Bigla nalang bumuhos ang ulan noong papasok na po iyong bagong taon. Basa iyong ating puputukan. Hindi na ho nag-engage iyong ating mga malalaking firecrackers," DENR-EMB Engineer IV Teresita Peralta explained.

However, many areas were still covered in smog a few hours after midnight, forcing motorists to turn their hazard lights on. — Trisha Macas/DVM, GMA News