Air quality in Calafat

What is the current level of air pollution in Calafat city?

Calafat is a city in Dolj County, southern Romania. It sits on the banks of the Danube River directly opposite the city of Vidin which is in Bulgaria. According to a survey conducted in 2011, Calafat had an estimated population of approximately 17,500 people.

At the beginning of 2022, Calafat was experiencing a period of “Moderate” air quality with a US AQI reading of 65. 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 Calafat, there were three pollutants that were recorded. These were; PM2.5 - 19 µg/m³, PM10 - 25.1 µg/m³ and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) - 26.7 µg/m³.

This level of PM2.5 is just below twice 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 the quality 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 situation 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 quality vary throughout the year in Calafat?

Air quality can be affected by many things, therefore it can and does constantly change. Looking back at the 2020 figures published by IQAir.com, it can readily be seen that during May and June, the air quality in Calafat was well within the WHO target figure of 10 µg/m³ or less. The respective readings were 8.1 and 9.8 µg/m³.

The worst month was January when the quality was classed as being “Unhealthy for sensitive groups” with a reading of 36.9 µg/m³. The remaining nine months of the year saw quality from the “Moderate” category with figures between 12.1 and 35.4 µg/m³. The worst month being November with a reading of 24.8 µg/m³.

There were no records kept pertaining to air quality before 2020 when the figure was 18.6 µg/m³. This figure may 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.

Is there a major source of air pollution in Calafat?

Road traffic and emissions from the city's landfills are some of the main factors lowering air quality. On the official website, the city of Calafat claims that there are no pollutants emitted by industrial sources, but only urban, with emissions that do not exceed the protection of the population, the natural environment and the built environment.

In Dolj county, the energy industry is the main source of pollution and is represented by the thermal energy production units, which result in emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere, damage to vegetation, noise pollution, waste generation.

Problems with air pollution are caused by pollutant emissions, which cause acidification of the atmosphere, affect the production of tropospheric ozone, increase the concentration in the atmosphere of suspended particles, heavy metal dust and greenhouse gases, reduce the ozone layer and lead to climatic changes.

Can anything be done to improve air quality in Calafat?

Romania has not complied with the limit values for the protection of human health from nitrogen dioxide and has not taken the appropriate measures to keep the overrun periods as short as possible. Therefore, the European Commission has decided to start a new infringement procedure similar to the one in which Romania was recently convicted by the CJEU for dust polluted air (PM10) in Bucharest.

Increased urbanization of cities has led to an increase in the number of vehicles - both private and publicly owned. In order to meet comfort expectations, major investments must be made in public transport and reducing congestion. Unfortunately, an increasing number of vehicles have historically been linked to declining air quality, and to combat this, more cities are moving towards greener fuel alternatives. But this needs to be backed up by more extensive traffic planning. Improving traffic flows and parking management will help address the negative impact of emissions on air quality.

What are the detrimental effects of breathing in polluted air?

Air pollution is a major cause of illness and premature death and poses the greatest risk to environmental health in Europe. Heart disease and stroke are the most common causes of premature death due to air pollution, followed by lung disease and lung cancer.

One-third of all deaths from stroke, lung cancer and heart disease are due to air pollution, which is a figure equivalent to the number of deaths associated with smoking and much higher than the number of deaths associated with excessive salt consumption.

The health effects of air pollution depend not only on exposure but also on human vulnerability. Vulnerability to the impact of air pollution may increase as a result of each person's age, pre-existing health conditions, or particular behaviours. A large body of evidence suggests that people with lower socioeconomic status tend to live in lower air quality environments.