Annual air quality assessment. Voivodship report for 2020
The Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection on its website recently published reports containing annual air quality assessments for 2020 for individual provinces of our country. Below we present a summary of the Report for the Opolskie Voivodeship.
Introduction
The air quality assessment for 2020 was carried out by the Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection on the basis of the obligation under Art. 89 of the Act of 27 April 2001 – Environmental Protection Law (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1219, as amended).
This assessment is performed for substances for which the normative values of air concentrations have been defined in national law and EU directives (limit / target / long-term target levels). The assessment is carried out taking into account the criteria defined for:
- human health protection
- plant protection.
In Poland, the assessment of air quality is carried out in division into zones, separated on the basis of the following criteria specified in the Environmental Protection Act:
- agglomeration with a population of over 250,000
- a city (not being an agglomeration) with a population of over 100,000
- the remaining area of a given voivodeship, not included in the agglomeration and cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants residents
The assessment for 2020 based on the criteria established in order to protect health concerned 12 pollutants:
- sulfur dioxide (SO2);
- nitrogen dioxide (NO2);
- carbon monoxide (CO);
- ozone (O3);
- benzene (C6H6);
- PM10 particulate matter;
- PM5 particulate matter;
- pollutants determined in PM10 dust: benzo (a) pyrene, arsenic, cadmium, nickel and lead.
The assessment against the criteria defined for the protection of plants included 3 pollutants:
- sulfur dioxide (SO2),
- nitrogen oxides (NOX)
- ozone (O3).
As a result of the assessment, each zone is assigned an appropriate class, based on the results of the concentration classification of each of the assessed pollutants. A zone is assigned the class corresponding to the worst of the classes defined for each pollutant.
The results of zone classification translate into specific requirements for measures to improve or maintain air quality.
Annual assessment of air quality in the Opolskie Voivodeship. Voivodship report for 2020
In the Opolskie Voivodeship for 2020, the classification of zones was made for two zones:
- the city of Opole;
- Opole zone;
The air quality assessment for 2020, taking into account the criteria established for the protection of plant health and protection, showed:
In the classification for the health protection criterion:
– for benzo (a) pyrene – both zones of the voivodeship were classified as class C, requiring improvement of air quality and further adaptation to the recommendations contained in the POP air protection remedial program, due to the presence of areas in which the annual target value was exceeded;
– for PM10 particulate matter – the Opole city zone was classified as class A, while the Opole zone was classified as class C, requiring improvement of air quality and further adaptation to the recommendations contained in the POP air protection remedial program, due to the presence of areas in this zone, which exceeded the average daily limit value with an excessively high frequency;
– for PM2.5 dust – the city of Opole zone has been awarded class A1, and the Opole zone C1 for the criterion of the so-called Phase II, which in the case of the Opole zone means the need to improve air quality in the areas where exceedances occurred; in the case of the second criterion, the so-called phase I (valid until 2020), both zones have been classified as class A;
– for ozone – both zones of the voivodeship were classified as class A, as the target level was not exceeded in the voivodeship; in the case of the second criterion, i.e. the level of the long-term goal, both zones were classified as class D2, which means the presence of exceedance areas;
– for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, benzene, lead, arsenic, cadmium and nickel – both voivodeship zones were classified as class A;
In the classification for the plant protection criterion:
– for ozone – the Opole zone was classified as class A, because the obtained results did not show any areas of exceeding the target level of concentrations of this pollutant in the zone area; in the case of the second criterion, i.e. the level of the long-term goal, the zone was classified as class D2, which means the presence of exceedance areas;
– for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides – the Opole zone was classified as class A, because the mathematical modeling results obtained for the annual air quality assessment for the Opolskie Voivodeship did not show any exceedances of the normative values of the measured pollutants.
The city of Opole zone is not classified in terms of plant protection.
The result of the air quality assessment for 2020 indicates an improvement in air quality in the area
The result of the air quality assessment for 2020 indicates an improvement in air quality in the voivodeship in terms of PM2.5 and PM10 dust in the city of Opole zone. The main problem in the Opolskie Voivodeship is the exceeding of the benzo (a) pyrene target value in both zones, as well as exceeding the limit value for PM2.5 dust and the average daily limit value for PM10 dust in the Opole zone.
The “Air protection program for the Opolskie Voivodeship” is in force in the Opolskie Voivodeship, adopted by Resolution No. XX / 193/2020 on July 28, 2020.
