Air quality in Bnei Brak

Is Bnei Brak a heavily polluted city now?

Bnei Brak or Bene Beraq is a city located on the central Mediterranean coastal plain in Israel, just to the east of Tel Aviv. According to a census conducted in 2019, Bnei Brak had an estimated population of approximately 205,000 residents.

At the beginning of 2022, Bnei Brak was experiencing a period of “Moderate” air quality with a US AQI reading of 52. This United States Air Quality Index number is an internationally used set of metrics supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and is used to compare the air quality in different cities throughout the world using comparable standards. It is calculated by using the levels of the six most commonly found pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and both sizes of particulate matter, which are PM2.5 and PM10. If all six figures are not always available in which case, a level is calculated by using what data there is. In the case of Bnei Brak, there were three major pollutants measured which were; PM2.5 - 12.8 µg/m³, nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) - 9.8 µg/m³ and carbon monoxide (CO) - 229 µg/m³.

This level of PM2.5 is just above the recommended safe level of 10 µg/m³ as suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as being an acceptable level. Although no amount of air pollution is considered to be safe.

When air pollution is classified as being “Moderate” the given advice would be to remain indoors as much as possible, closing doors and windows to prevent the ingress of more polluted air. Those who are more sensitive to poor quality air should avoid venturing outside until it improves. If this is unavoidable, then a good quality face mask should be worn at all times. All types of outdoor exercise should be avoided until the air quality improves. There is a downloadable app from AirVisual.com which is suitable for all operating systems and gives the latest information regarding air quality in real-time.

Does the level of air pollution vary much throughout the year in Bnei Brak?

Looking back at the 2020 figures published by IQAir.com it can easily be seen that for the entire year, the air quality fell into the “Moderate” bracket with figures between 12.1 and 35.4 µg/m³. The month with the cleanest air was June with a figure of 13.8 µg/m³. The dirtiest was December with a reading of 24.2 µg/m³.

Records for air quality were first kept in 2019 when a figure of 22.9 µg/m³ was noted. The following year saw an improvement when a figure of 18.8 µg/m³ was recorded.

This lower figure was almost expected because it would have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as many vehicles were no longer in daily use because the offices were closed and the staff encouraged to work from home, in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus. Many factories and non-essential production units were also required to close which removed their emissions from the atmosphere, albeit on a temporary basis. Worldwide, cities reported a much better quality of air due to the general lack of traffic pollution in city centres due to the pandemic.

Where does all the air pollution come from in Bnei Brak?

Air pollution has man - made sources, the most important of which are transportation, power plants, factories. In addition to these there are natural sources of air pollution (like dust storms) as well as pollution migration that brings additional pollution from the direction of Europe or the desert. Other sources of pollution are domestic air pollution, soil pollution, quarries, and as a result of pesticide spraying.

According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, in recent years there has been a significant decrease in some air pollutants such as lead, sulphur oxides, and nitrogen oxides but there is no similar decrease in two serious and common pollutants such as particulate matter and ground level ozone which are a problem in most Israeli cities.

Black carbon is considered an indicator of particulate air pollution from diesel vehicles, and its emission is almost completely prevented by installing a particulate filter. This pollutant has not yet been determined in the world as a standard measurement method, but the monitoring devices in Israel correspond to what is customary in Western countries, and the trends are the same as those observed in other cities in the world, which operated emission-reduced areas. In London there was a 15-17 percent reduction in black carbon concentrations, in Amsterdam and Leipzig similar declines were recorded of 13-16 percent, in Berlin there was a 56 percent reduction in soot emissions.

Can anything be done to improve air quality in Bnei Brak?

The existing reduction in some of the pollutants in the field of pollution from transportation was achieved thanks to the improvement in fuels and engines as well as taxation on diesel vehicles. There is a decrease in some common pollutants due to air pollution originating in factories and power plants - especially in industrial pollution centres, due to a combination of legislation, public pressure and growing awareness leading to the adoption of cleaner technologies, technologies for cleaning and filtering pollution.

During the coming year, all buses that are considered polluting will be removed from service (buses with Euro 3 and Euro 4 facilities, including buses in which particle traps have been installed). The issuance of these buses for "retirement" is due to their age.

What are the detrimental effects of breathing polluted air in Bnei Brak?

Air pollution is the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to human health and other living things, or cause damage to the climate or materials. There are different types of air pollutants, such as gases (ammonia, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, methane and chlorine-fluorine-carbon), particles (both organic and inorganic) and biological molecules. Air pollution can cause disease, allergies and even death to humans; It can also cause damage to other living organisms such as animals and food crops, and can harm the natural environment (e.g., climate change, ozone depletion or habitat degradation) or a built environment (e.g., acid rain). Both human activity and natural processes can produce air pollution.