(MENAFN - Jordan Times) Industries across Jordan will be equipped with sensors that measure and monitor their emissions under a national plan to curb air pollution, according to environment officials.
The Ministry of Environment has started drawing up a comprehensive plan to control air pollutants produced by industrial facilities in the Kingdom, Environment Minister Yaseen Khayyat said on Saturday.
"The ministry has already started formulating a plan for setting up an electronic system that will link sensors installed at factories with the ministry to measure emissions and pollutants from factory chimneys," Khayyat said in a statement released yesterday.
The system will cover all of the country's industries, mainly chemical, steel and extractive factories, the minister noted.
"Under the plan, teams will visit the factories, identify the type of sensor for each industry according to its emissions, such as gas or dust, which have an impact on public health and the environment," he added.
Increasing levels of air pollution are impacting public health, according to environment and health experts, who cite the growing number of people with allergies.
Respiratory allergies are on the rise in the Kingdom, especially among children, according to the latest study conducted on the prevalence of allergies among Jordanians in 2010.
The study showed that 18 per cent of children had allergies compared to 15 per cent in 2001.
The same study showed that the prevalence of allergies among adults was 15 per cent in 2010, compared to 12 per cent in 2001, indicating that the leading allergen in Jordan is dust.
Environment Ministry Spokesperson Isa Shboul said industries will be required to provide the ministry with a time frame for installing the sensors, which will be linked with the ministry's systems.
"Once the plan is completed, the ministry will be able to closely monitor factories to ensure they abide by our standards. In addition, the electronic system will help reduce the number of inspection visits and thus cut down fuel consumption," Shboul told The Jordan Times on Saturday.
A similar system is applied for monitoring the amount and quality of dust emissions produced by the cement factory in Fuheis, located 10 kilometres to the west of Amman, Shboul said, underscoring that the electronic monitoring system will be applied in all factories in the country.
