GB 3095-2012Ambient air quality standards (English PDF)

Foreword

For the implementation of the Environmental Protection Law of the People's

Republic of China and the Law of the People's Republic of China on the

Prevention and Control of Air Pollution, protecting and improving the living

environment and ecological environment, safeguarding human health, this

standard is hereby formulated.

This standard specifies the classification of ambient air functional zones,

standard grading, pollutant items, average time and concentration limits,

monitoring methods, validity of data statistics, implementation and supervision.

The people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and

municipalities directly under the Central Government may formulate local

ambient air quality standards for pollutant items which are not specified in this

standard.

The concentration of pollutants in this standard is the mass concentration.

This standard was first published in 1982.The first revision is in 1996, the

second revision is in 2000.This is the third revision. This standard will be

revised in an appropriate manner in accordance with the national economic and

social development and environmental protection requirements.

The main contents of this revision.

- ADJUST the classification of ambient air functional zones; MERGE the

category-3 zone into the category-2 zone;

- ADD the concentration limit of particulate matter (particle size less than or

equal to 2.5 µm) and an 8-hour average concentration limit of ozone;

- ADJUST the concentration limit of particulate matter (particle size less than

or equal to 10 µm), nitrogen dioxide, lead and benzo[a]pyrene;

- ADJUST the provisions on the validity of data statistics.

From the date of implementation of this standard, "Ambient air quality standards"

(GB 3095-1996), "Ambient air quality standards" (Amendment of GB 3095-

1996), (HF [2000] No.1), and "Maximum allowable concentration of pollutants

in atmosphere for protection crops" (GB 9137-88) are abolished.

Appendix A of this standard is an informative appendix, which provides

reference for the formulation of local ambient air quality standards by provincial

people's government.

This standard was formulated under the organization of the Science and

Technology Standards Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Main drafting organizations of this standard. China Academy of Environmental

Sciences, China Environmental Monitoring Center.

This standard was approved by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on

February 29, 2012.

For this standard, the Ministry of Environmental Protection is responsible for

the interpretation.

Ambient air quality standards

1 Scope

This standard specifies the classification of ambient air functional zones,

standard grading, pollutant items, average time and concentration limits,

monitoring methods, validity of data statistics, implementation and supervision.

This standard applies to the assessment and management of ambient air quality.

2 Normative references

This standard refers to the following documents or their terms. For the undated

documents, only the latest version is applicable to this standard.

GB 8971 Air quality - Determination of benzo(alpha) pyrene in flying dust -

Acetylated paper chromatography fluorescence spectrophotometric method

GB 9801 Air quality - Determination of carbon monoxide - Non-dispersive

infrared spectrometry

GB/T 15264 Ambient air - Determination of lead - Flame atomic absorption

spectrophotometric method

GB/T 15432 Ambient air - Determination of total suspended particulates -

Gravimetric method

GB/T 15439 Air quality - Determination of benzo[a]pyrene in ambient air -

High performance liquid chromatography

HJ 479 Ambient air - Determination of nitrogen oxides-N-(1-naphthyl)

ethylene diamine dihydrochloride spectrophotometric method

HJ 482 Ambient air - Determination of sulfur dioxide - Formaldehyde

absorbing-pararosaniline spectrophotometry

HJ 483 Ambient air - Determination of sulfur dioxide in ambient air -

Tetrachloromercurate (TCM)-pararosaniline method

HJ 504 Ambient air - Determination of ozone - Indigo disulphonate

spectrophotometry

HJ 539 Ambient air - Determination of lead - Graphite furnace atomic

absorption spectrometry (provisional)

HJ 590 Ambient air - Determination of ozone - Ultraviolet photometric

method

HJ 618 Determination of atmospheric articles PM10 and PM2.5 in ambient

air by gravimetric method

HJ 630 Technical guideline on environmental monitoring quality

management

3 Terms and definitions

The following terms and definitions apply to this standard.

3.1

Ambient air

Refers to the outdoor air exposed to people, plants, animals and buildings.

3.2

Total suspended particle (TSP)

Refers to particulate matter in ambient air which has an aerodynamic

equivalent diameter less than or equal to 100 µm.

3.3

Particulate matter (particle size less than or equal to 10 µm) (PM10)

Refers to particulate matter in ambient air which has an aerodynamic

equivalent diameter less than or equal to 10 µm, also known as respirable

particulate matter.

3.7

Fluoride

Refers to inorganic fluorides as presented in the form of gaseous particulate

forms.

3.8

1-hour average

Refers to the arithmetic mean of pollutant concentration per any 1-hour.

3.9

8-hour average

Refers to the arithmetic mean of the average concentration for 8 consecutive

hours, also known as the 8-hour moving average.

3.10

24-hour average

Refers to the arithmetic mean of the average concentration for 24-hour of a

natural day, also known as the daily average.

3.11

Monthly average

Refers to the arithmetic mean of the average daily concentration for a

calendar month.

4 Classification of ambient air functional zone and

quality requirements

5 Monitoring

The monitoring of ambient air quality shall be carried out in accordance with the

requirements of such normative documents as the Ambient Air Quality

Monitoring Regulations (Trial).

6 Validity of data statistics

7 Implementation and supervision