[The Hwankyung Ilbo] The Ministry of Environment said that it would crack down on illegal activities of small-sized businesses generating fined dust in real time through high tech equipment such as drones.

Accordingly, from the morning of April 11, the Ministry of Environment carried out a pilot crackdown on fine dust emissions in some capital areas where small-sized businesses are concentrated.

Some metropolitan areas subject to the crackdown have shown the fine dust (PM10) pollution level of 56㎍/㎥ annually for the past three years, which is higher than the national average of 46.7㎍/㎥.

On the ground, mobile measurement vehicles equipped with air quality analysis equipment were operated out of the worksite to analyze the concentration of air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds and odor substances in real time.

In the sky, a drone with a pollutant measurement sensor measured the air pollution level in real time, found out a high concentration of pollutant emission business site, and a drone with a camera recorded the violation such as illegal incineration.

As of the end of 2016, there are about 57,500 companies discharging air pollutants in Korea, and the number of small-scale companies that generate less than 10 tons of air pollutants annually reaches 52,004, which accounts for 90%.

The Ministry of Environment is expecting that through the crackdown using the latest technology, such as drone, it will be possible to search for hundreds of discharging sites quickly and accurately even with a small number of workers.

조수빈 리포터  press@hkbs.co.kr

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