Haze: Two ways to measure pollution levels
The Star, 22 Jun 2013
PETALING JAYA: It is all about bad air.
The difference is that Singaporeans use the term “Pollutant Standards Index” to measure the concentration of particulate matters in the air for a period of three hours.
In Malaysia, the Department of Environment uses the Air Pollution Index (API) to measure the same matters for 24 hours.
DOE director-general Datuk Halimah Hassan said both were legitimate methods to measure pollution levels and the difference was the time period taken to calculate the index.
“We have been using API since 1989. It is just a different method of calculating pollution concentration,” she said.
It was reported Singapore’s PSI hit a new all-time high on Thursday, soaring to 393 at one time, well past the previous record of 321 set the night before, before falling later in the afternoon.
Any reading above 300 is “hazardous” while a reading above 400 is deemed “life-threatening to ill and elderly people”, according to government guidelines.
