Air quality in Lop Buri

Does Lop Buri have an air pollution problem?

Lop Buri is a city located in the central region of Thailand, and is the capital of Lop Buri province. It is some 150km away from Bangkok, and has a long history of different cultures and kingdoms both influencing and passing through it, with prominent influence from India dating back over a thousand years, as well as being part of the Khmer empire at one point. Nowadays it sees a large amount of its activity as well as economy focused around tourism, with its strong cultural roots holding many attractions that draw visitors from all round the world. Whilst this is a great addition to the livelihood of many of its citizens, it also has an impact on air pollution levels, with the numerous vehicles needed to transport people in and out of the city releasing fumes that lower the air quality readings.

Observing some numbers taken during the early days of 2021, it can be seen that Lop Buri is indeed subject to some fairly serious pollution issues. Of note is that many cities throughout Thailand see their worst levels of pollution towards the end of the year, which follows on into the early months of the following year.

Lop Buri was coming in with PM2.5 readings as high as 98.3 μg/m³ in January 2021, a number that would place Lop Buri into the higher end of the ‘unhealthy’ ratings bracket, which requires a PM2.5 reading of anywhere between 55.5 to 150.4 μg/m³ to be classified as such. As the name indicates, a reading such as this shows that the air quality in the beginning of 2021 was extremely polluted, and would present significant health risks to those who are caught in the vicinity of the pollutive sources, some of which will be discussed in following.

What are some of the main causes of air pollution in Lop Buri?

As with many cities in Thailand, Lop Buri would be subject to several sources of pollution, many of them compounding each other and causing the highly elevated readings that were mentioned in the previous question. Some pollutive issues would be ones that cause the year round ambient readings to raise, being more chronic and long term in nature, whilst others would be more acute and cause the massive spikes in pollution over certain months, as is typically seen in December through to April of the following year.

Regarding these sources, one of more long term ones would be the use of vehicles, particularly heavy duty ones such as large buses that would be transporting a substantial amount of tourists in and out of the city (although this ground to a rapid halt in 2020 due to the covid-19 outbreak). Heavy duty vehicles also include trucks and lorries, and are a contributor to air pollution levels due to their common use of diesel fuels, as well as being subject to less stringent engine quality control standards as are seen in other countries round the world, hence they would put out far more chemical compounds and fine particulate matter, some of which will be mentioned further on.

Finally, the main causes of the massive spikes of pollution the Lop Buri is subject to would be the burning of crop fields, forest land and any other areas that are utilized by farmers, despite this practice of slash and burning being deemed illegal. Sugar cane fields are one of the main offenders, with the burning of the finished crop yield creating choking fumes and haze to permeate the atmosphere over Lop Buri, as well as many other cities throughout Thailand, particularly in the northern regions as well as more provincial areas.

What can Lop Buri do to improve its pollution levels?

Some initiatives that would go a long way in improving the overall AQI, or air quality index of Lop Buri would be to fully crack down on the slash and burn farming practices. This has been a difficulty in the past and still in modern times due to many of these fires being set alight under the cover of dark, as well as taking place in fields that are often hidden away from plain sight and in hard to reach areas (as far as law enforcement goes). However, the pollution problems that they create is palpable enough that it is an issue that needs more resources in it to achieve a better effect of bringing it to a halt, or at least reducing the amount at which it occurs.

Other methods by which Lop Buri could improve its pollution levels would be to slowly take part in phasing out the use of fossil fuels, particularly diesel that is used in a number of vehicles within the city, as well as coal that is used in factories. A gradual move to cleaner and more sustainable fuel sources would go a long way in reducing the year round ambient readings.

What are some pollutants found in the air in Lop Buri?

Due to a large amount of its pollution coming from combustion sources, the pollutants found in the air would subsequently be dominated by those that are released from the burning of organic material, fuels as well as the occasional open burn site of refuse or garbage. Pollutants released would include ones such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂), with these two being the chief offenders coming from vehicles, in particular nitrogen dioxide.

Other ones would be black carbon and volatile organic compounds (VOC's), some of which would include methylene chloride, xylene, toluene, benzene and formaldehyde. All of these are highly dangerous to human health and extremely easy to respire, due to them remaining in a gaseous state even at lower temperatures.

What are some health issues from breathing polluted air in Lop Buri?

Some of the negative health issues from inhaling the aforementioned pollutants would include a large variety of ailments ranging from short term acute issues to long term chronic and deadly diseases. Respiring black carbon can cause lung cancer rates to soar, as well as their extremely small size allowing them to enter the blood stream via the lungs and cause large amounts of damage to the blood vessels, the liver, kidneys and even the reproductive system.

Other issues would of course contain a number of respiratory ailments, with conditions such as pneumonia, bronchitis, emphysema and aggravated asthma attacks all topping the list of possible conditions to those who are over exposed to pollution, highlighting just how dangerous breathing smoke and fumes on a daily basis is to one’s health.