Air quality in Pardubice

Is Pardubice a city suffering from heavy air pollution?

Pardubice is a city in the Czech Republic. It is located on the banks of the River Elbe, approximately 96 kilometres east of the capital, Prague. According to a census conducted in January 2021, Pardubice had an estimated population of 92,000 people.

Towards the end of 2021, Pardubice was experiencing a period of “Moderate” air quality with a US AQI reading of 93. This United States Air Quality Index number is calculated using the levels of six of the most prolific air pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and both sizes of particulate matter, which are PM2.5 and PM10. It can then be used as the metric when comparing air quality in other cities around the world. If data is unavailable for all 6 pollutants, a figure can still be calculated by using what figures there are. In Pardubice there were three main pollutants which were measured, these were; PM2.5 - 32 µg/m³, PM10 - 31 µg/m³ and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) - 4.8 µg/m³.

This level of PM2.5 is just in excess of being three times over 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 from this “Moderate” bracket the given advice would be to remain indoors as much as possible, closing doors and windows to prevent more dirty air from entering the rooms. 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 which gives the latest information regarding air quality in real-time.

Does the level of air pollution vary throughout the year in Pardubice?

Air quality can be very volatile as it is easily affected by many variants. Looking back at the figures published by IQAir.com for 2020 it can be seen that Pardubice attained the target figures from the WHO for February, May, June and July. To achieve this figure, the recorded levels must be below 10 µg/m³. The lowest figure for these four months was during February when the recorded level was 6.8 µg/m³. The next best time was during the three-month period from August until the end of October when air quality was classed as being “Good” with figures between 10.1 and 12.0 µg/m³. The remaining five months of the year fell into the “Moderate” category with figures between 12.1 and 35.4 µg/m³. The worst month being January with a 22.3 µg/m³ recording.

Historically, air quality records were first kept in 2017 when a level of 18.3 µg/m³ was noted. This declined slightly the following year with a figure of 19.4 µg/m³. However, this showed a marked improvement in 2019 with a figure of 14.7 µg/m³ and this started a trend for 2020 with its 12.5 µg/m³ reading. This low figure was to be expected because it may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as many vehicles were no longer in daily use because the offices were closed, 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 main source of air pollution in Pardubice?

It is announced whenever the concentrations of airborne dust exceed 100 micrograms per cubic meter. The most polluted air is logically in Pardubice, where meteorologists have the main measuring station in Dukla. After all, there is a call to move it to the city centre, where the pollution from cars is greater.

Paramo no longer distils oil, the oil pipeline leading to it is also closed. In addition, there was a great smell from the processing of asphalt, but the company took measures to prevent this. Production has changed and decreased in Synthesis in Semtín. The company also gradually installed more modern technologies.

Both large power plants in the Pardubice Region, Opatovice and Chvaletice have undergone a major change. Both invested billions, first in desulphurisation and later in reducing further air emissions.

The origin of air emissions in Pardubice has changed compared to the past. Whereas once industrial sources predominated, today more than half are produced by road transport.

What can be done to improve air quality in Pardubice?

Pardubice is one of the cities with the worst air in the Czech Republic. There are several reasons. Above all, they are a city with a developed chemical industry, in their vicinity there are two large power plants and pollution also contributes to the increase in traffic. Chemical plants are responding to the situation and trying to take measures to help improve the situation.

Today, air pollution from internal combustion engines of various means of transport is already equal to the influence of stationary sources and in some places even exceeds it. A big problem in Pardubice is the long-unsolved transport system. The situation in the middle of the city could be solved by road bypasses for many years. But they are still a long way from their implementation.

What are the detrimental effects of breathing in polluted air?

According to the World Health Organisation, one of the ten most common causes of death is health problems caused by breathing polluted air, i.e., smog.

Information about diseases of civilization is constantly pouring in from all sides - respiratory problems such as asthma or bronchitis, psoriasis and eczema, diseases of the circulatory system, insomnia and depression, cancer. The list of health problems caused by modern lifestyles in cities with not very ideal environmental conditions is constantly growing. Although many of them have a genetic basis, many others can reduce their risk by following certain recommendations. Limiting the effects of polluted air on our bodies is one of them.