2023-10-04 13:10:46
Updated Wednesday, October 4, 2023 – 13:10
The report published by Ecologists in Action is based on data collected from 493 fixed measurement stations and includes data from January to September 30, 2023.
Tourists in Madrid on September 30SERGIO GONZLEZ VALERO
Almost the entire population residing in Spain (specifically, 96.5%) and 99.5% of the national territory have been exposed this year to levels of unhealthy air due to tropospheric ozone (O3) thanks largely to high temperatures, Well, this spring was the warmest in the country since at least 1961 and the summer turned out to be the third warmest, only behind those of 2022 and 2003.
This is reflected in a report of Ecologists in Action presented this Wednesday at a press conference in Madrid. The work is based on data collected from 493 fixed measurement stations spread across 130 areas and agglomerations. The document includes preliminary data between January 1 and September 30, 2023.
O3 or ‘bad ozone’ usually appears in the months of greatest solar radiation, which is why it is usually linked to spring and summer. This is the atmospheric pollutant that affects more of the population and territory in Spain year after year.
Furthermore, it is a very complex pollutant that does not have a direct human source, but rather It is formed on the Earth’s surface in the presence of solar radiation by the combination of other pollutants called precursors, emitted by transportation (especially diesel vehicles), thermoelectric plants, certain industrial activities or intensive livestock farming. It is a secondary pollutant that in summer affects suburban and rural areas influenced by urban and industrial pollution.
The report, which is in its eighth annual edition, takes as reference two limit values: the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO), which sets the objective at 100 micrograms of ozone per cubic meter of air in periods of eight hours, which must not be exceeded for more than three days a year, and the EU legal objective of 120 micrograms of ozone per cubic meter of air, which must not be exceeded in periods of eight hours for more than 25 days a year.
If the WHO recommendation is taken into account -more restrictive than the European Union (EU)-, Ozone-polluted air has affected 45.8 million people in Spain this year (96.5% of the population), as well as nearly 502,000 square kilometers (99.5% of the territory). As for the population, the most affected areas are in most of the Community of Madrid and in the interior of Catalonia.
With the EU’s legal objective, around 2.2 million people have breathed higher levels of ozone (5%), concentrated in the Plana de Vic and the Pre-Pyrenees (Catalonia), as well as the Henares Corridor, the southern urban area, the northern mountain range and the Alberche and Tajua basins (Community of Madrid).
The exceedances of the WHO and EU standards fell by 18% and 29%, respectively, compared to the average between 2012 and 2019, that is, before the covid-19 pandemic.
“Climate change is causing a worsening of ozone pollution in Spain,” stated Miguel ngel Ceballos, coordinator of the report, who added that O3 has “a very important health impact” with an estimate of nearly 3,000 deaths this year, according to the Carlos III Health Institute.
According to Juan Brcena, head of Air Quality at Ecologistas en Accion, the main courses of action to reduce air pollution due to ozone are, among others, the reduction of motorized traffic, the adoption of the best industrial techniques available, the replacement of organic solvents for water, energy savings and efficiency and support for renewable energies to replace fossil fuels.
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