A new environmentally-friendly dust-suppressing agent is set to be widely used in Beijing construction sites this year. According to the Beijing Xicheng District Environmental Protection Bureau, it will help tackle harmful dust levels while offering advantages of bio-degradability, savings in water consumption and convenience in use.

Chief bureau director, Zheng said that the large areas of exposed earth associated with construction sites were one of the main sources of particulate air pollution in the capital. Significantly the city is experiencing increasing levels of urban development in the run up to the 2008 Olympic Games.

Beijing is known as a windy city, especially in the spring. Most air pollution encountered on a daily basis is due to particulate matter, so controlling dust is the key to improving air quality.

The traditional approach to dust control on construction sites has been to damp down any bare earth with water. This is wasteful both in manpower and in water resources. Besides it can provide only a short-lived answer for the water will soon evaporate.

The new environmentally-friendly, dust-suppressing agent is claimed to be 3.5 times more effective than water. The municipal environmental department has decided it should be brought into widespread use this year. In trials a single spray application of the new agent proved sufficient to prevent dust being lifted by exposure to winds of up to force 7 over a 50-day period. And what's more its "green" composition and full bio-degradability mean it leaves no lasting environmental impact.

(China.org.cn translated by Zhang Tingting, February 14, 2003)