Medellin and its metropolitan area prepare for the first air quality episode of the two that the region crosses in the year, caused by the transition between dry and rainy seasons, which generates low cloudiness that prevents pollutants from dispersing correctly in the atmosphere.
The Aburrá Valley Metropolitan Area (AMVA), environmental authority in the region, has a series of tools to permanently monitor atmospheric conditions and thus make decisions in this regard.
One of the main ones is the Early Warning System (SIATA), which has 22 stations that measure the Air Quality Index (ICA) in the Aburrá Valley.
This system, which is free access to monitor 24/7, it has ranges of PM2.5 contaminant material levels which, depending on their severity, have a color scale, as follows:
• Good (green): 0 to 12 micrograms per cubic meter.
• Moderate (yellow): 13 to 37 micrograms per cubic meter.
• Harmful to sensitive groups (orange): 38 to 55 micrograms per cubic meter.
• Harmful (red): 56 to 150 micrograms per cubic meter.
• Extremely harmful (purple): 151 micrograms per cubic meter of air and above.
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Did you know that there is the Comprehensive Plan for Air Quality Management – PIGECA, which aims to drastically reduce polluting emissions. Know the importance of SIATA within the Plan and how it contributes to its fulfillment.#SustainableFuture #Air pic.twitter.com/cbivJaMoXv
— Aburrá Valley Metropolitan Area (@Areametropol) January 17, 2022
So when is an environmental alert decreed? The AMVA explained that since 2016 there is a Comprehensive Air Quality Management Plan (Pigeca)which contains short, medium and long-term strategies to improve air quality by 2030.
Said Plan contains the Operational Plan to deal with Atmospheric Pollution Episodes (POECA), which is an immediate response tool in the event of a contingency.
This protocol has three states: prevention, alert and emergencywhich are activated according to the ranges of pollutants in the air and the exposure times recorded by the stations that measure the quality of the Siata’s air.
In other words, depending on the levels of air pollution recorded by the stations, the environmental authority can take measures such as: the environmental peak and plate, restriction for freight vehicles, suspension of traffic charges, among others.
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The measurements will be in accordance with the proportions of the episode, in its fair measure and according to what is established by the Poeca
Juan David Palacio, director of the AMVA, also explained that “in a unanimous vote, the Metropolitan Health Council approved the Valle de Aburrá Metropolitan Area to make effective and timely decisions -based on the management of the pandemic- during these atmospheric episodes, related to the execution of strategies that are not included in the POECA and whose purpose is to preserve the health of metropolitan inhabitants, if necessary.
For the 2022 episode, which will begin on February 14initially there will be no restrictive measures beyond those already implemented, such as the bill and plate.
Although it is not ruled out that since February 21 there restriction of movement of cargo transport and dump trucks to 4 digitsfrom 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and for these same vehicles with models less than or equal to 2009, with the same plate numbers, the restriction will be from 5 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“The measures will be in accordance with the proportions of the episode, in its fair measure and in accordance with what is established by the Poeca,” added the director of the Metropolitan Area, who assured that any change in the measures will be informed in a timely manner to the citizenry. .
MEDELLIN
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