Dubai: On a day motorists ditched cars for cleaner air in Dubai, the city received a mobile air quality monitoring station.
Hussain Nasser Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality, launched “the first environmentally-friendly mobile air quality monitoring station at the regional level in terms of design, quality of equipment and tools,” during the Car Free Day celebrations.
He also revealed the launch of the updated guide for the environmental sustainability in the industrial sector in Dubai.
The mobile air quality monitoring station is a state-of-the-art truck equipped with artificial intelligence systems and tools, officials said. It will move around the city and provide real time data on air pollution to officials so that preventive and corrective action can be taken immediately, Lootah said.
Industrial companies and other firms found to pollute air will be issued fines and will be asked to take remedial measures, he said.
With regard to vehicles, Dubai Police can issue a fine of Dh1,000 and six black points to drivers of vehicles causing environmental pollution.
“It contains about 20 advanced monitoring techniques that are operated by the energy generated by the solar panels located on top of the station,” Lootah said.
“These techniques monitor about 100 elements and a complex of air pollutants such as toxic pollutants like organic compounds, the concentration of heavy metals and odorous gases, as well as the monitoring of levels of radioactivity, noise and meteorological data. The station is also equipped with sensors to monitor greenhouse gases causing global warming,” he added.
Officials said the mobile station will enhance the air pollution monitoring system and network of the municipality, which has 13 permanent stations across the emirate.
