The Environmental Protection Department has awarded a consultancy agreement to ENSR Environmental International to undertake a study of volatile organic compounds and photochemical ozone in the Pearl River Delta Region.

The study will last for 30 months and be completed by early 2010. The results and data collected will help Guangdong and Hong Kong formulate appropriate control strategies to alleviate the regional smog problem.

The consultant will collect volatile organic compound samples in various locations within the region, to study the spatial distribution of these air pollutants and carry out grid research and mathematical simulation analysis. This will help evaluate the formation mechanism of regional photochemical smog.

Technically feasible measures for alleviating the regional smog problem will also be examined.