Air quality in Europe
Last summer it was invoked to put an end to the drought, now a little rain would be used to 'wash' the air you breathe in many cities in northern Italy. The Po Valley, in fact, is one of the European areas where you can breathe the worst air.This is demonstrated by the data collected and distributed by the European Environment Agency (EEA), which indicate the area between the Alps and the Apennines as one of those with the lowest air quality. The EEA collects data from the control units present in the countries of the Union and in those of the free trade area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland). Data used to elaborate an air quality index and which are made available on this map, on which each point represents a monitoring unit:
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If you want to assign a numerical value to this index, the points in blue are those with the best air quality, ie with a Pm10 concentration lower than 20 micrograms per meter. Purple indicates the worst situation, with levels above 150 micrograms per meter. The light red that characterizes the Po Valley indicates concentrations between 50 and 100 micrograms per cubic meter. These are values above the alarm threshold, set at 50 micrograms per meter. A limit that cannot be exceeded for more than 35 days a year.
However, the index is not calculated only on the basis of Pm10, but also takes into account other pollutants. That is Pm2.5, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and sulfur dioxide. However, if we want to focus on PM10, the pollutant most commonly talked about in the media, the situation is this:
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Also in this map the points represent the control units. The colors vary from green to red depending on the increase in the concentration of Pm10. And also in this case the Po Valley is confirmed as one of the areas with the worst air.
To know the situation in real time, as well as consult these two maps, you can download an app, developed both for iOs and for Android, which allows you to know the situation in the control units installed near the area where you live. And understand, therefore, how polluted the air you are breathing is.