Air quality in Windsor

Is Windsor a city with clean air?

Windsor is a city located in Ontario, in the southwestern region of the province. It is directly adjacent to Detroit in the United States, and is situated at the southernmost point of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor, a highly industrialized and densely populated region of Canada. Due to this, as well as having a prominent economy based around the automotive industry (giving it the nickname of the automotive capital of Canada), it thus has air quality levels that are affected somewhat by these factors, as is common in areas that have a dense population as well as heavily industrialized areas. However, even with all these features in mind, Canada remains as one of the cleanest countries round the world (with the country coming in at 90^th place out of all 98 countries ranked worldwide in 2019), and as such Windsor still maintains a respectable level of air quality, despite adverse conditions.

In 2019, Windsor came in with a PM2.5 reading of 8.2 μg/m³ as its yearly average. This reading placed it within the World Health Organizations (WHO's) target goal of 10 μg/m³ or less, for the best quality of air (with the closest to 0 being the most optimal and the ultimate end goal). There were a few months that saw heightened levels of PM2.5, and as such the city could improve further upon its air quality levels, despite them being at an already respectable level. This 2019 reading of 8.2 μg/m³ placed it in 3307^th place out of all cities ranked worldwide, as well as 39^th place out of all cities ranked in Canada, a position it could certainly strive to improve upon in the coming years.

What causes air pollution in Windsor?

There are a large different variety of pollutive causes occurring within Windsor, some of them taking place locally, and others being blown over from its immediate neighbor. To address the concern of pollution emanating from a non local source, locations such as New York, Michigan and Ohio are suspected to be creating large clouds of smoke and haze from their own heavily industrialized areas, which then subsequently makes its way into the atmosphere and gets blown over to Windsor. This would add to Windsor’s own local pollution sources, which will be addressed.

One of the more prominent causes of pollution in the city would be emissions from vehicles, with countless numbers of vehicles on the road at any given time, from smaller personal vehicles such as cars all the way up to massive heavy duty vehicles such as trucks or lorries. These larger ones often run on diesel fuels and can put out far more chemical pollutants and hazardous particulate matter than a smaller counterpart would, and as such with any industrial imports or exports being taken across the city, these larger vehicles would be present to add to the pollution levels. Other sources include ones such as emissions from Windsor’s own local power plants, which utilize fossil fuels such as coal, and can have vast demands for energy placed on them by a growing population, as well as meteorological conditions such as colder months driving up this demand even further, causing more fuel to be burnt to supply the needed energy. These combustion processes all give out a plethora of different chemical pollutants, some of which will be discussed in short.

When is the air quality in Windsor at its most polluted?

Regarding the data of Windsor's air quality collected over the course of 2019, it can be seen that there were several months that came in with heightened levels of PM2.5. PM2.5 stands for particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers less in diameter, and due to its highly harmful effect on human health (as well as the large variety of materials that can be classified as PM2.5 depending on the size they reach), is used as a major component in the calculation of overall air quality.

In the latter months of 2019, higher levels of PM2.5 were recorded. October came in with a respectable reading of 6.7 μg/m³, which was then followed by a significant jump up to 10.8 μg/m³ in November, and then a further 11.4 μg/m³ in December. These months both came in with a ‘good’ air quality rating, the only two months of the year to do so, with the rest of the year coming in at the WHO's target goal. This is indicative that Windsor sees some of its higher levels of air pollution take place towards the end of the year, with December being the most polluted month of the year.

Who is the most at risk from air pollution in Windsor?

Whilst there are no individuals that are truly immune to the effects of air pollution and contaminants, there are certain groups that are far more at risk for a number of factors. These groups include people such as the elderly population, who aside from being affected by large changes in temperature, are also gravely affected by air pollution levels, with any subsequent respiratory ailments that may be inflicted upon this community sometimes having terminal consequences.

Other groups at risk are young children, due to their predisposition towards developing allergies, respiratory problems such as asthma, or many other issues that can turn into lifelong problems if not adequately addressed. Those who are sick or have compromised immune systems are also highly at risk, as well as pregnant mothers, as well as those who have an excessive sensitivity towards chemical pollutants.

What types of air pollution can be found in the air in Windsor?

Some of the main types of pollution found in both the ground level air as well as atmosphere would be ones mostly related to combustion sources, typically arising from vehicles, as well as both local and international factories and industrial sites. With vehicles in mind, the main offending chemical pollutants would be ones such as carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), as well as various oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which can go on to form smog, or ozone (O₃) as it is better known when these oxides are exposed to solar radiation, typically during the summer months.

Other types of pollution include volatile organic compounds (VOC's) as well as black carbon, the main component of soot, and a potent carcinogen when inhaled. Both are formed from the incomplete combustion of organic matter and fossil fuels, and as such will be released from all of the aforementioned sources, as well as even more innocuous ones such as burning charcoal or firewood. Some examples of VOC's include chemicals such as toluene, xylene, benzene, methylene chloride and formaldehyde. All of these are highly detrimental to human health, and are exceptionally dangerous due to how easy they are to respire, with their volatile nature causing them to maintain a gaseous state even at significantly colder temperatures.