TEHRAN — Monitoring pollutants is of high priority in controlling Tehran’s air pollution, the chief of Tehran province’s department of environment said on Monday.

“What we had overlooked until 2014 in minimizing Tehran’s air pollution was stationary sources of air pollution which are ordinarily the key polluting sources,” Mohammad-Hadi Heidarzadeh told a press conference, ISNA news agency reported.

Some 300 power plants started to switch from mazut to gas in 2014-2015 and another 245 units added to this number over the past year (March 2015-2016) and the number is expected to double by the end of the current Iranian calendar year falling on March 20, 2017, Heidarzadeh pointed.

All such power plants are required to report on their pollutants level and those units violating the law will be getting a warning or shut down, he added.

780,000 clunkers scrapped over past 4 years

Heidarzadeh said that from March 2012 to March 2016, a total of 780,000 clunkers were scrapped in the country.

Some 10,500 other old cars must be scrapped by March 20, 2017 of which 6,300 are already scrapped, he added.

21 days of excellent air quality last year

Mentioning the relatively mild improvement on the air quality over the past 4 years, Heidarzadeh noted that while the number of days with excellent air quality were 3 in those years they increased to 21 days in the previous Iranian year.

Additionally no days of moderate air pollution with chances of causing discomfort for all people were reported last year, he stated.

MQ/MG