Jakarta Will Add Air Monitoring Stations, Copy Paris And Bangkok Models

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Environment Agency (DLH) will imitate the world's big cities such as Paris and Bangkok in dealing with air pollution.

Learning from other cities, Bangkok has 1,000 Air Quality Monitoring Stations (SPKU), Paris has 400 SPKUs. Jakarta currently has 111 SPKUs from the previous 5 units. In the future we will increase the number in order to intervene more quickly and accurately," said the Head of DLH DKI Jakarta Asep Kuswanto.

He added that data disclosure is an important step in improving air quality systematically.

Asep said that the submission of air pollution data must be more open so that intervention can be more effective. He considered that what was needed was not only temporary intervention, but continuous and extraordinary steps in dealing with air pollution.

DLH DKI Jakarta targets the addition of 1,000 low-cost air quality sensors (low-cost sensors) to make monitoring wider and more accurate.

With this effort, the source of pollution can be more clearly detected, including how pollutants from outside Jakarta enter the capital city.

On the same occasion, the Head of the BMKG Air Pollution Information Sub-Division, Taryono Hadi, stated that the El Nino phenomenon did not occur globally this year.

As a result, the dry season in Indonesia, which usually starts in early April, is expected to be postponed until the end of the month. The peak of the dry season, which should have occurred earlier, is now predicted to reach the highest intensity in September.

"We see a shift in the pattern of this year's dry season. If it usually goes faster, now the dry season is expected to start later and the peak shifts to September," said Taryono.

He also highlighted that rainfall has an important role in reducing air pollution. In dry months such as June to August, air quality in Jakarta tends to worsen due to increased pollutants in the atmosphere.

"When rainfall is low, pollution particles are difficult to decompose, so the concentration of pollutants such as PM2.5 increases sharply," he explained.

Meanwhile, Professor of Environmental Engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Professor Puji Lestari, revealed that most of the air pollution in Jakarta comes from industrial activities spread across the Jabodetabek area.

"Industrial sectors, including power plants and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, still make a major contribution to air pollution, followed by emissions from passenger vehicles. In addition to internal factors, air conditions in Jakarta are also influenced by the surrounding area which contributes to the decline in air quality," he explained.

According to Prof. Puji, the interaction between various sources of pollution causes the level of pollution in Jakarta to be more complex. Therefore, cross-regional coordination is needed as well as a more open data-based approach to achieve significant improvements in Jakarta's air quality.