Air quality in Samsun

What is the current level of air pollution in Samsun?

Samsun, historically known as Sampsounta is a major port city on the north coast of Turkey. According to a census conducted in 2013, Samsun had an estimated population of approximately 605,000 people.

In December 2021, Samsun was going through a period of “Moderate” air quality with a US AQI reading of 70. 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. Three of these main pollutants were measured in Samsun which were PM2.5 - 21 µg/m³, PM10 - 57.2 µg/m³ and ozone (O₃) - 24.7 µg/m³. This level of PM2.5 is just over twice the 10 µg/m³ limit 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 quality is classed as being “Moderate” the given advice would be to remain indoors, closing all windows and doors to prevent the ingress of more polluted air. Those who are more sensitive to poor air quality should reduce the amount of time spent outside and wear a good quality mask if this is unavoidable.

Does the level of air quality vary much throughout the year in Samsun?

Looking back at the figures released by IQAir.com for 2020, it can be readily seen that during the months of July and August Samsun achieved the target figure of less than 10 µg/m³ as recommended by the WHO. The respective figures were 8.5 and 7.1 µg/m³. The air quality for September was classified as being “Good” with a reading of 10.9 µg/m³. The remaining nine months of the year saw air quality being “Moderate” with figures between 12.1 and 35.4 µg/m³.

Historically, air pollution records were first kept in 2019 when a figure of 14 µg/m³ was noted. Surprisingly, the following year of 2020 saw a decline to 17.1 µg/m³. This was unexpected because this reading 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. Elsewhere cities reported a much better quality of air due to the general lack of traffic pollution due to the pandemic. For example, driving has fallen during the curfew, resulting in a reduction in nitrogen dioxide concentrations in many cities across Europe.

Is there a main source of air pollution in Samsun?

Samsun continues to be among the cities with the highest air pollution in Turkey, has become one of the 16 cities with high Particulate Matter values. The industrialisation, especially on the eastern side of Samsun, where discussions about the biomass power plant on the Çarşamba Plain continue, threatens the city with serious environmental and mass health problems.

Coal and waste burning due to heating and the increase in the use of individual vehicles using fossil fuels in transportation are the main sources of pollution. The region to the east of Samsun stands out with coal warehouses, industrial areas, vehicle traffic on the Black Sea coastal road and pollution emanating from other production areas.

The pollutant sources are sulphur dioxide, particulate matter (PM10 and PM2,5), nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and ozone. Particularly, particulate matter causes respiratory infections and cancer. We know that PM10 and PM2.5 pollutants affect large masses in urban centres and cause premature infant deaths, disabled births and mass deaths.

What can be done to improve air quality in Samsun?

Taking action to protect air quality, Samsun Metropolitan Municipality Environmental Protection and Control Department continues its inspections on the sale of poor-quality coal that causes pollution. Consumption of cheap, poor-quality smuggled coal in winter is one of the factors that increase air pollution.

The CityAir Project, which was initiated by the local authorities at the end of 2018, is trying to bring the fight against air pollution, which is one of the leading environmental problems threatening human health in the world, to Turkey's agenda.

Reducing traffic and not using coal are of course true, but they do not go beyond wishes. In this project, we said, “This much coal is burned in city A, and this is the effect. And if that goes down 30%, the impact on air quality is this. We will say that this 30% reduction is possible with the following methods. For example, we will determine the control methods that can be applied in practice, such as the use of natural gas or central heating, increasing the use of Euro 6 in motorized public transport.

What are the health impacts of breathing dirty air in Samsun?>

There is a link between exposure to air pollution and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. It is known that these two health problems both increase susceptibility to COVID-19 and negatively affect the prognosis.

Deterioration in respiratory functions of people, an increase in the possibility of respiratory diseases that can cause serious problems such as asthma and COPD, exacerbation of these diseases of people with chronic respiratory diseases without being exposed to air pollution, these diseases of people with chronic heart diseases being more severe. There may be an increase in the case of premature death as a result of the increase in the risk of cancer in people, the deterioration of the health status of the people.

Babies, children at the age of development, pregnant or breastfeeding women and the elderly are some of the risk groups in case of air pollution.

Air pollution has been defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as Group I, carcinogen. This means it is now a scientific fact that air pollution causes lung cancer without any doubt. In addition, WHO defines air pollution as one of the responsible factors in the development of bladder cancers.

It is now known that it causes many diseases such as autism, dementia, Alzheimer's Disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, appendicitis and deterioration in sperm quality.