Portal de Lorca
www.portaldelorca.com
Ecologists in Action complained to the city of Lorca and the Ministry of Agriculture and Water that ozone pollution during the month of September has continued according to data from the website on air quality of the Ministry.
http://www.carm.es/cmaot/calidadaire/portal/
The ozone pollution legislation establishes the following parameters: [1]
1) Target value for the protection of human health: 120 micrograms per cubic meter for 8 hours a day (eight hour), not to be exceeded more than 25 days per calendar year.
2) Information threshold: 180 micrograms per cubic meter on average in an hour.
3) Alert threshold: 240 micrograms per cubic meter on average in an hour.
During the month of September have producido11 days of exceedances of the target value for the protection of human health (120 micrograms per cubic meter for 8 hours a day) these exceedances combined with those of the months of June, July and August 2010 show a figure of 71 days of exceedances of the target value for the protection of human health during the summer period, which produced a significant deterioration of air quality in the town of Lorca by increasing the pollutant
Lorca metering station
JUNE
18 days of exceedances of the target value for the protection of human health
JULY
23 days of exceedances
AUGUST
19 days of exceedances
SEPTEMBER
11 days of exceedances
TOTAL
71 days of exceedances
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Water
http://www.carm.es/cmaot/calidadaire/portal/datosonline/datosonlinepaso3.jsp; jsessionid = FAA38D0DF0A1C7F0EA6B5E32A9EE0C38
The ground-level ozone (tropospheric ozone) is formed by reaction (photochemical) with the sunlight of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from vehicles and industry, and volatile organic compounds (VOC ) emitted by vehicles and industrial solvents.
The public health effects of ozone are varied:
Respiratory tract irritation and throat, coughing and chest discomfort.
Reduced lung function in the lungs.
Worsening of conditions such as asthma and bronchopulmonary diseases.
Ozone also exacerbates and makes them more susceptible to allergies.
Some groups of people are particularly sensitive to ozone pollution: Children who spend most time outdoors are more active and their airways are not fully developed adults who do strenuous exercise outdoors (biking, walking, ), people who perform jobs that require physical effort (which makes them faster and deeper breathing, increasing the amount of ozone flowing into the lungs) and, finally, people with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases
The World Health Organization (WHO) [2], since 2005, has lowered the value objective of protecting human health from 120 to 100 micrograms per cubic meter.
Thus, using the WHO criteria would increase much more the days of exceedances of the objective values for health protection in the town of Lorca.
For Ecologists in Action co-ordinated action is needed between local and regional administrations that act on the ozone precursor pollutants: nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from vehicles and industry and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by vehicles, solvents and industry in the context of the development of a Plan to Improve Air Quality with measures also on road traffic emissions in a Sustainable Mobility Plan in coordination with the municipalities in the region.
[1] Royal Decree 1796/2003 of 26 December, on the ozone in the air ambiente.http: / / aire.medioambiente.xunta.es/docs/lexislacion/espanhola/rd_1796_2003_O3.pdf
DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 21th May 2008 concerning the air quality and cleaner air in Europe: www.cne.es/cne/doc/legislacion/Directiva_2008-50.pdf
[2] WHO: Air quality and health.
Fact sheet N ° 313.
Revised August 2008. Http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/es/index.html
WHO air quality guidelines of WHO for particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Global update 2005.
summary of risk assessment: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2006/WHO_SDE_PHE_OEH_06.02_spa.pdf
Source: Ecologistas en Acción
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