european environment agency introduction to air quality assessments designation of zones,...
TRANSCRIPT
European Environment Agency
Introduction to Air Quality Assessments
Designation of zones, requirements on assessments
Frank de Leeuw
Air Quality support meeting
Dublin, 23 October 2013
European Environment Agency2
AQ assessment: legal setting
2004/107/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic hydrocarbons in ambient air
2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe.
2011/850/EU: reporting
2004/224/EC: plans & programs
Info: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/quality/index.htm
European Environment Agency3
AQ Directive, objectives
“defining and establishing objectives for ambient air quality designed to avoid, prevent or reduce harmful effects on human health and the environment as a whole”
“maintaining the air quality where it is good and improving it in other cases”
European Environment Agency4
AQ Directive sets
Environmental objectives (limit values, target values, critical levels) for different
protection targets:• human health• vegetation
pollutants:• SO2, NO2, PM10, PM2.5, CO, benzene, O3,
As, Cd, Ni, B(a)P• SO2, NOx, O3
European Environment Agency5
AQ assessments: where?
Health protection:Member States shall establish zones and agglomerations throughout their territory. Air quality assessment and air quality management shall be carried out in all zones and agglomerations.
However, compliance with LV shall not be assessed on locations where the general public has no access, on industrial premises (occupational safety rules) and on the carriageway of roads.
Vegetation:The risk posed by air pollution to vegetation and natural ecosystems is most important in places away from urban areas. The assessment of such risks and the compliance with critical levels for the protection of vegetation should therefore focus on places away from built-up areas.
European Environment Agency
Designation of zones
Health protection: assessment of AQ must be made throughout the whole country, irrespective of concentration levels and availability of monitoring data.
Therefore, zones should cover the whole territory and total population!!!
Further criteria on zone designation: none !!
Considerations: AQ management, responsibilities, concentration levels/gradients/source contributions, number, ….
6
European Environment Agency7
Introduction
•What is a zone?
part of a territory of a MS, as delimited by that MS, for the purposes of air quality assessment and management.
Agglomeration: a zone that is a conurbation with a population in excess of 250 000 inhabitants or less, with a given population density per km2 to be established by the MS.
European Environment Agency8
Some examples: Germany
Different zones per pollutant; zoning changes over timeZone may cover non-adjacent areas (with similar AQ characteristics)
European Environment Agency9
UK
Same set of 43 zones designated for ALL pollutants;
No change in zoning since 2004
European Environment Agency
Kosovo
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name code pol type area popPrishtina XK0001 SH; NH; PM10; PM2,5; C; O; ag 711 255273 Kosovo XK0002 SO2;NH;PM10;PM2.5;L;C;B;O;M nonag 10178 1610473
Total population: 1800000
Area 10908
European Environment Agency
Republic of Macedonia
name code pol type area popEastern Zone SH, NH, PM10, C,O nonag 13183 681252Western Zone SH, NH, PM10, C,O nonag 10476 770413Skopje agglo SH, NH, PM10, C,O ag 1718 601057
Total population 2059794Area (km2) 25220
European Environment Agency12
Assessment methods
Assessmment methods depend on concentrationsL
evel
LV
UAT (x%)
LAT (y%)
Compliance Assessment
non-compliance
compliance
regime 1
regime 2
regime 3
LV
UAT (x%)
LAT (y%)
UAT UAT
LATLAT
European Environment Agency13
Assessment methods
Assessment regime dictates number of sampling points and data quality:
1) Fixed measurements, DQO set in Directive. Less sampling points are required when supplementary information from models or indicative measurements is used.
2) Smaller number of fixed measurements.
3) Modelling, indicative measurements or objective estimates.
European Environment Agency
Zone/ agglomerati
onSO2 NO2 PM10 CO O3
Agglomeration
Skopje 1 1 1 1 1
ZoneEast 1 1 1 2 1West 2 2 1 1 1
Assessment modes in zones and agglomerations
Mode 3
Mode 1
Mode 2
LV
UAT
LAT
Republic of Macedonia
European Environment Agency15
Fixed measurements
European Environment Agency
Minimum monitoring station in zones and agglomerations
Republic of Macedonia
Zone Population SO2 NO2 PM10 CO O3
Skopje 578 144 2 2 3 2 2
East 680 596 2 2 3 2 2
West 763 807 1 1 4 3 2
Total 5 5 10 7 6