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Air Pollution in Tung Chung - what's the deal?

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  1. #11

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    This is obviously going to be an ignorant and stupid question, but I'll ask anyway. Apart from noise, what kind of extra pollution does the airport cause?


  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Katiedot:
    This is obviously going to be an ignorant and stupid question, but I'll ask anyway. Apart from noise, what kind of extra pollution does the airport cause?
    I did wonder myself, given that jet fumes are some of the cleanest forms of combustion of any. I guess it must be the traffic on the freeway to the airport.

  3. #13

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    Re: Pollution from the airport

    I am not sure how much pollution there is from the airport, but the stations would normally pick it up I guess unless it's some super hidden pollution or something that those devices don't pick up.

    But something else to consider is the wind. Notice how the runways are built parallel to Tung Chung. Runways on airports are built in a way so that the airplanes can land into the wind and take off into the wind. Airplanes don't go along with tailwind and cross wind. When they built the airport, they have taken that into consideration (that's why some airports have runways into different directions, air traffic controllers will change to other runways if the wind changes). Generally speaking that means that the winds are almost always "parallel" to Tung Chung, and not into Tung Chung.

    I have read a few pieces about airport noise and air pollution's effect on health, but the problem is that you can't really take those findings 1:1 to Hong Kong. A European study clearly found problems with people living near the airport, but that was compared to the rest of the European population living in relatively clean air in a calm and silent environment. Now in Hong Kong it's polluted and noisy almost everywhere, so living near the airport probably doesn't make a big difference if you'd be doing a study.

    I am not saying that Tung Chung is cleaner and greater. If not for the lower budget, I'd definitely not even consider it an an option. And it's not that you can't move out if you don't like the place. Most expats in Hong Kong move more than once.

    Last edited by 100LL; 12-05-2010 at 02:34 PM.

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by MovingIn07:
    I did wonder myself, given that jet fumes are some of the cleanest forms of combustion of any. I guess it must be the traffic on the freeway to the airport.
    During my uni days i used to wash cars at a car yard that was under the flight path in Rockdale, Sydney. the cars were all washed everyday, by hand, with a bucket and hose. everyday there was a layer of soot on these cars that would leave black streaks if you ran your finger over the top of the car... i guess it makes you wonder how complete any combustion is under load (eg take off).

  5. #15

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    If this will help the OP:

    I have looked at 25 apartments in Tung Chung in the past few days, as we are also contemplating a move there. (Just for background, we are moving to HK from the US in June.)

    I don't feel that the air pollution is worse in Tung Chung, and we have spent the same amount of time in Discovery Bay, looking at 20 apartments over there. I actually felt the pollution was horrible in the DB Plaza, since the wind was blowing all the exhaust from the buses and ferry over that direction.

    I just noticed that TC is extremely crowded, the mall is crowded, the streets are crowded, there's people everywhere... but that was expected to me since HK in general is a crowded place.

    As for jet noise, at every apartment we visted, we noted the location of the runway, and actually at most places we were able to see planes takeoff, so we got a true representation of the "noise" issue. I didn't feel the noise was a problem-- sure, it is noticeable, but I guess I was expecting earth-shattering noise with shaking windows so the actual experience was quite a bit less dramatic.

    I think it also depends on preference/background of what is considered a noise nuisance. My husband actually LOVES the sound of jets taking off (he is a pilot)... our little daughter is taking after her dad and loves all types of aircraft and would really enjoy watching them takeoff, and the noise is so faint that I am not concerned about leaving the windows open for her to experience it, if we end up settling in Tung Chung. (In other words, in no way do I feel the sound is loud enough to negatively impact her hearing)

    I know the desire to choose a nice place for your children to live, because I am experiencing it right now. It is difficult because it is the unknown, but as for your original concerns of air and noise pollution, my opinion is that Tung Chung is not the worst.


  6. #16

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    We used to live near a US Air Force base. Even those jets become somewhat of a background noise.


  7. #17

    For about 300 days in a year, Tung Chung has much cleaner air than other urban regions. It is only 5-10 days in a year that Tung Chung has very bad air quality. The problem for Tung Chung is always ozone. Please search yourself for how bad ozone is to health. These very bad air pollution episodes always occur in late summer to autumn, between July and September. You need to be especially alerted when the Typhoon signal No.1 is hoisted. Bad ozone days are usually associated with a tropical cyclone is east or southeast of HK but still very far away to cause rain and strong wind. Tung Chung, being more rural than other parts of HK, will have highest ozone concentration during these days due to the atmospheric chemistry process involved.


  8. #18

    For those days I mentioned, high ozone concentration actually only happens in the afternoon from 12pm to 6pm. The concentration will rise from like nothing to dangerous level then fall back to nothing. And, the airport is absolutely not the reason for the air pollution problem in Tung Chung.