Air quality in Buon Ma Thuot

How bad is air pollution in Buon Ma Thuot?

Buon Ma Thuot is a city located in the central highland of Vietnam, being the capital of Dak Lak province. It is famous for its growing and exportation of coffee, and has a rapidly-growing population, seeing 420 thousand people registered in 2016 growing to 502 thousand in 2018, with the city having even more capacity for growth, being the biggest city in the whole of the Vietnamese highlands region.

In terms of its air pollution, Buon Ma Thuot is displaying very good qualities of air in comparison to many of the other cities in Vietnam, particularly those in the northern region near the capital, which suffer from terrible levels of pollution. Buon Ma Thuot also has somewhat of a high elevation, which aids it in the prevention of pollutive buildup.

In the latter part of 2020, the PM2.5 readings were coming in with hourly readings as low as 6.1 μg/m³, and as high as 14.1 μg/m³. The lowest readings put Buon Ma Thuot into the World Health Organizations target goal for great air quality, with any reading between 0 to 10 μg/m³ being classed as such. The higher reading falls into the ‘moderate’ pollution bracket, which requires 12.1 to 35.4 μg/m³.

As an average, particularly at the end portion of the year when Vietnam usually sees soaring levels of pollution, Buon Ma Thuot’s air quality falls into being at least of a ‘good’ rating quality, which is any reading between 10 to 12 μg/m³. This is taken as an average, meaning that overall, the city has a clean quality of air, particularly when compared to other cities countrywide.

What are the main causes of pollution in Buon Ma Thuot?

As with many of the cities around Vietnam, besides air pollution, the contamination of lakes and water bodies seems to figure more largely in terms of concern, with many factories allowing (illegally, and still continuing despite fines and charges) their industrial effluence to run off into local ponds and lakes, causing a large amount of damage to the ecosystem and wellbeing of people living nearby.

Whilst they can wreak havoc on the water supply, factories are also responsible for putting out large amounts of pollution, with a fair few being located within the city’s limits, with ones such as rubber factories, food and beverage plants (in particular coffee ones) as well as other industrial items being produced. Factories often run-on fossil fuels such as coal, which puts out a large amount of smoke, pollution and fine particulate matter into the air.

Other sources of pollution would include vehicular emissions, as well as the open burning of refuse and garbage, which often contains organic matter as well as synthetic and man-made materials such as plastics or rubber.

What types of pollutants would you find in the air in Buon Ma Thuot?

With factory emissions being a source of pollution, both to the air and water, there would be a certain number of chemical pollutants found in higher quantities, as is usual around industrial areas. These would include materials such as sulfur dioxide (SO₂), black carbon and volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) such as benzene and formaldehyde.

Black carbon and VOC’s in particular are created through both the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels (so the burning of coals in factories and diesel fuels from cars, motorbikes and trucks) as well as the burning of organic materials such as wood or plant matter.

Other pollutants would be finely ground gravel and silica dust from construction sites, which can gather in large quantities when these sites are poorly maintained, as well as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) from vehicle emissions. The occasional burning of synthetic materials in garbage or refuse piles can release highly toxic gases and pollutants such as dioxins, furans and even heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium.

What are health effects of living in Buon Ma Thuot?

Whilst Buon Ma Thuot has a good quality of air, particularly at the end of the year, there would still be some health effects for those exposed to larger concentrations of pollution, particularly in areas of high traffic or those who live nearby industrial sites. As mentioned before, the high elevation provides higher wind speeds that can assist in the removal of polluting agents such as dust and other fine particulate matters.

However, as mentioned exposure can still have their ill health effects. Some of these would include ones such as irritation to the throat, eyes, nose and mouth, as well as increased chances of chest and throat infections occurring. Respiratory ailments such as asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and emphysema can present themselves, particularly amongst vulnerable demographics such as young children, elderly and those with sensitivity towards chemicals or the immunocompromised.

Other issues would be problems for pregnant mothers, with higher chances of miscarriage occurring, as well as babies being born with low birth weight and prematurely. Instances of lung cancers can also go up, as well as damage to the lung tissue and overall reduced lung function. As noted, these health issues would only become more prominent when the PM2.5 levels find themselves in excess of 10 μg/m³ or more, with readings below this generally meaning that people can find themselves living with massively reduced instances of any pollution related health problems.

How does the air quality in Buon Ma Thuot compare to Hanoi?

When compared to the capital city of Vietnam, it can be observed that Buon Ma Thuot has significantly better levels of air quality, so much so to the point that the mortality rate from pollution related incidences would see a huge difference between the two. In the latter part of 2020, Hanoi was shown to be coming in with hourly PM2.5 readings as high as 140.2 μg/m³, a massive reading that puts its air quality in the higher end of the ‘unhealthy’ bracket (55.5 to 150.4 μg/m³) when compared to the highs in Buon Ma Thuot of 14.1 μg/m³.

This shows that the air quality in Buon Ma Thuot is significantly better than that of the much more polluted city of Hanoi.