The Ministry of Ecology and the Environment on October 16 released a report on the national ambient air quality for September and the January-September period this year.

In the first nine months, seven cities in the Pearl River Delta region ranked among the top 20 out of 168 major cities nationwide, including Zhuhai, Huizhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Zhaoqing and Dongguan. Zhongshan ranked 11th.

From January to September, Zhongshan ranked first among 168 cities in terms of air quality improvement, in which NO2 and O3 levels decreased by 15.0% and 11.5%. This reflects the results of a series of coordinated remediation efforts towards VOCs and nitrogen oxides in Zhongshan City, such as comprehensive remediation of industrial boilers and furnaces, in-depth remediation of major VOC-emitting enterprises and hierarchical management enterprises.

Data shows that in the first three quarters, Zhongshan's compliance rate of the AQI (air quality index) was 90.5%.

In September, four cities in the Pearl River Delta region ranked among the top 20 nationwide in terms of air quality, namely Zhuhai, Huizhou, Shenzhen and Zhongshan. Zhongshan ranked 13th.