Air quality in Tol'yatti

What is the current level of air pollution in Tol'yatti?

Tolyatti, also known as Togliatti, is a city in Samara Oblast, Russia. It is the largest city in Russia which does not serve as the administrative centre of a federal subject or top-level political division. According to a survey conducted in 2018, Tolyatti has an estimated population of approximately 707,408 people.

At the beginning of 2022, Tolyatti was going through a period of “Moderate” air quality with a US AQI reading of 76. 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 this city, only PM2.5 was measured which was 23.9 µg/m³.

This level of PM2.5 is just under two and a half times 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 Tol'yatti?

Air quality can be affected by many things, therefore it can and does change rapidly depending on the local conditions. Looking back at the 2020 figures published by IQAir.com, it can be seen that from early January until the end of October, the city achieved the target figure of 10 µg/m³ or less as recommended by the WHO. The cleanest months were January and April with a figure of 7.1 µg/m³. November saw “Good” air quality with a 10.6 µg/m³ figure and December was seen to be the dirtiest month of the year with a reading of 22.8 µg/m³.

Records pertaining to air quality were first kept in 2019 when a “Good” reading of 10.4 µg/m³ was noted. This improved in 2020 when that figure was revealed to be 9.5 µg/m³ which is again a figure below the WHO threshold of 10.0 µg/m³. 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.

What is the main source of air pollution in Tol'yatti?

The city district of Tolyatti is a large industrial centre of the Samara region. The main sources of air pollution in the city are automotive, petrochemical, chemical fertilizers and building materials, thermal power plants and boilers, road, rail and river transport. Businesses are located throughout the city.

The situation with air pollution worsens to a greater extent during the onset of adverse meteorological conditions (NMC), which contribute to the accumulation of harmful impurities in the surface layer of the atmosphere and the formation of smog.

There are a lot of factors negatively affecting the environment in Tolyatti. And the most important is transport. More than 70 per cent of all harmful substances emitted into the air come from transport. About 240,000 cars are registered for the personal use of Togliatti residents, that is, one car for three people. Along with transport, there is the problem of the quality of gasoline. The inspections carried out showed that almost all gasoline sold in the city has a high sulphur content.

What can be done to improve air quality in Tol'yatti?

More than 100 warnings were sent to industrial enterprises about the need to reduce emissions of pollutants into the atmospheric air. Supervisory authorities and the prosecutor's office of the city of Togliatti organized field surveys of the city in order to identify unaccounted sources of negative impact, as well as unscheduled on-site inspections on the territory of the enterprises themselves to ensure compliance with the legislation on atmospheric air protection.

Large industrial enterprises know this topic first-hand, they are regularly checked by regulatory authorities. In case of detection of violations, the enterprise is obliged to eliminate them within a certain period of time. And there are not so many factories in Togliatti that are truly responsible for their activities, they are on everyone's lips, do not hide data and quite openly communicate with the public at environmental events.

What are the detrimental effects of breathing in polluted air?

The main non-communicable diseases associated with air pollution are coronary heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer.

The main substances affecting health are: nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx), ozone and particulate matter, with the latter - especially particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) - of greatest concern as these tiny particles penetrate deep into the lungs, affecting both the respiratory and vascular systems. Both the degree and duration of exposure to polluted air affect health.

In the European Region, air pollution affects almost every single person, with more than 90 per cent of citizens exposed to annual levels of fine particulate matter that exceed WHO air quality guidelines.

The impact of air pollution on human health is a growing concern as research uncovers more and more links between a number of serious illnesses across age groups and air pollution (e.g., diabetes, neurological development, preterm birth, low birth weight, etc.).