Report warns of air pollution for Antalya

ANTALYA - Doğan News Agency

A report from the city council of the southern province of Antalya on air quality has revealed that air pollution in the city exceeds both national and the European Union limit values.

The Antalya City Council prepared a report titled “The Status and Recommendations of Air Quality in Antalya,” based on measurements taken between 2008 and 2015, Doğan News Agency reported on March 12.

Antalya’s annual particulate substance concentration values are below Turkey’s limit values but above EU limit values. In 2016, the annual construction value was determined as 53 micrograms (mcg) /cubic meters (m3), which is above both EU (40 mcg / m3) and country limit values (52 mcg / m3).

“Since 2008, there has been a need to reduce some of the atmospheric pollutants in all the cases within the context of EU harmonization. There is a need to gradually reduce the limit values determined in the regulations for EU pollutant concentrations to improve the quality of air to EU border values by 2019,” the report stated.

A number of atmospheric pollutants have been measured in all provinces across Turkey within the scope of EU harmonization since 2008.

There is a requirement that the limit values for the pollutant concentrations specified in the regulations be gradually reduced to EU border values by 2019 to improve the quality of the air, according to the report. 

In the statement made by the Antalya City Council, it was stated that a report for the measurement data of the ministry and the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality reveals a more serious result when the number of exceeded daily limit values was examined.

The national daily limit value of 80 mcg / m3 was exceeded 39 times, while it was recorded that the EU daily limit value of 50 mcg / m3 was exceeded 175 times.

A study by the Akdeniz University (AU) Department of Environmental Engineering is also included in the report, which stated that the most important source of emissions from combustion is particulate substance smaller than 2.5 micrometers in fine particle size. It is noted that traffic road dust ranging in size from 2.5 mcg to 10 mcg is the most important source of human origin for a particular substance.
 
The report emphasized that emissions from combustion in Antalya’s port area in the summer has a significant impact on the quality of air in the province. 

It also noted that indoors are isolated from outdoors due to humidity and heat in the summer and due to cold in the winter.

In Antalya, more detailed studies should be carried out and the contribution rates of the sources affecting the concentration of particulate substance should be determined in the whole city, according to the study. It was determined that the use of imported coal with high calorimetric value would not be enough to improve Antalya’s air quality, and the use of natural gas should become more widespread especially in lower income segments.

Companies that sell coal should gather in single center and keep all the coal entering the market under better monitoring by the municipality, the report also stated, adding that clean public transport (metro, tram, electric bus) should be more widely used.