María Teresa Moreno Pérez, es directora del Instituto de Diagnóstico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua, (IDEA) del CSIC. Investigadora de temas de calidad del aire. En esta ocasión, ha sido entrevistada para A cambio de nada con el fin de mostrar cuales son los componentes de la contaminación del aire y como poder regular su efecto para la salud de las personas. “Los componentes que presentan un mayor problema en las ciudades son el material particulado, los óxidos de nitrógeno y el ozono, la principal fuente emisora es el tráfico”. “El transporte público debe ser eficaz, rápido, extenso y económico”
How is the quality of the air we breathe on a general level?
It is always improvable. Although air quality is already considered an environmental problem that worsens our quality of life, we must keep showing the impact of this problem to the population in order to make our air cleaner in the future. Our main problem is still the air in cities, where most of the European population lives.
What are the greatest air polluting agent particles and where are they? What are the main emission sources of these particles?
The compounds that represent a major problem in the air of our cities are particulate matter (PM) in both legislated sizes PM10 and PM2.5 (10 and 2.5 micrometres), nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2) and ozone. The main emission source of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides in the city is traffic, while ozone is a secondary pollutant created by chemical reactions in the air from prior agents.
What direct impact could reducing and controlling air emissions have?
All atmospheric pollutants are harmful if they are in high concentrations, although it must be considered that the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that there is no minimum concentration below which a particular pollutant is not harmful. Both particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide are responsible for the decrease of our life expectancy in months and for a very high number of premature deaths per year, especially for citizens with respiratory problems, children, and the elderly.
The limit values recommended by the WHO are lower in Europe and Spain. Why is that?
The presence of these pollutants in the air is harmful to health, we have known that for decades. The values legislated by the European Union aim to achieve that minimum concentration, but the work of the WHO goes further and seeks an advisable value for health.
“The WHO goes further and seeks an advisable value for health against the values legislated by the European Union”
Recently, there has been talk of the connection between the nitrogen levels in the air related to a high number of deaths from COVID-19, according to a study done by German researcher Yaron Ogen. What is your opinion on that?
Demonstrating a direct connection between contamination (or any other factor) and COVID-19 is a complex issue. It is possible that this connection is not based on the pollutant in itself, but on the fact that in a city with more polluted air the citizens will be more prone to have cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and, therefore, more prone to have problems with the virus, since it also attacks these organs. I think it is necessary to see more studies of this type before we can know with certainty the type of connection between both things.
Is there really a systematic and comprehensive regulation on atmospheric pollution or are we working on a mere enforcement of the law?
European governments are fighting to improve our air quality and local governments are preparing air quality plans with formulas for its improvement so the laws in this field can be obeyed. Our cities have high traffic levels on their streets. Therefore, it is essential to adopt measures to reduce these emissions. In that sense, the low-emission zones created in Madrid and Barcelona are a first step, but other additional measures must be adopted.
Are the environmental authorizations in industrial facilities regarding the quality and control of the air admissible?
I do not think that is the case. Implementing quality controls on industry emissions is for everyone’s benefit, and I think it is being done in the vast majority of cases.
What challenges do countries face to improve the air quality?
The main cause of pollution in our cities is the use of cars. Therefore, the way of reducing this pollution is to apply traffic restrictions. Spanish cities have a high density of cars per square kilometre (especially Barcelona) and a design with narrow streets and multi-storey buildings that make it more difficult for pollutants to spread. Moreover, our drier climate favours the resuspension of material deposited on the surface and prevents it from being washed away by rain.
From your point of view, which public policies can reduce the impact of air pollution?
Measures like establishing an urban road toll like in Stockholm or London, the low-emission zones (present in more than 230 European cities), promoting the use of public transport by improving it and making it economical and fast, etc. These are measures that have been already tested in other cities and that are necessary to improve our quality of life. Citizens are a fundamental part of these measures. The use of public transport instead of a personally owned vehicle is a clearly beneficial measure, but public transport needs to be effective, fast, extensive, and economical.
