Air quality in Rybnik

What is the current level of air pollution in Rybnik?

Rybnik is a city in southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, around 38 kilometres southwest of Katowice, which is the region's capital. According to a census which was conducted in 2020, Rybnik had an estimated population of approximately 137,000 people.

Towards the end of 2021, Rybnik was experiencing a period of “Moderate” air quality with a US AQI reading of 74. This United States Air Quality Index number is calculated using the levels of six of the most commonly occurring 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. The only pollutant recorded in Rybnik was PM 2.5 which was 23 µg/m³.

This level is almost 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 safe.

With air pollution at this “Moderate” level, the proffered advice is to stay indoors and close all doors and windows to prevent the ingress of more dirty air. Those of a sensitive disposition should limit their time spent outside and should always wear a good quality face mask when venturing outdoors. For up-to-date information about air quality, there is an app available from AirVisual which is downloadable for all mobile devices and is available from the online store.

Does the level of pollution stay the same throughout the year in Rybnik?

Air quality is very volatile as it is subject to many external influencing factors such as meteorological and atmospheric changes.

Looking back at the figures released for 2020 by IQAir.com the entire year returned air quality from the “Moderate” category except for July which produced “Good” quality air with a reading of 11.9 µg/m³. The “Moderate” bracket has figures between 12.1 and 35.4 µg/m³. The best quality air from these months was found in June when the recorded figure was 13.5 µg/m³. The poorest quality was seen in January when the figure was 29.5 µg/m³.

Historically, there were no records kept before 2020 when the published figure was 18.7 µg/m³ which was classed as being “Moderate”. This figure, however, may not be a true reflection of reality because of the measures put into place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many motorists were no longer required to commute to their offices each day which reduced air pollution in the city centres dramatically. There were also some factories and similar production units which were told to close on a temporary basis. Many cities throughout the world noted how much cleaner their city air was because of these measures.

What is the source of air pollution in Rybnik?

The main cause of poor air quality during the heating season is the emission from individual heating of residential buildings, i.e., the so-called "low emission" due to the low height of the chimneys from which pollutants are emitted.

In addition to emissions from individual buildings, occurring mainly in small and medium-sized towns, the problem of this type of emissions also occurs in large cities, and is associated with old multi-family housing (so-called "family houses").

This harmful emission is caused mainly by the burning of poor-quality fuels, in many cases in old furnaces with poor energy parameters. A similar problem also occurs in small production and service companies, the emission of which does not require a permit.

There are currently over 27 million vehicles registered in Poland, 80 per cent of which are cars older than 10 years, 57 per cent, older than 15 years, and 37 per cent older than 20 years.

What can be done to improve air quality in Rybnik?

The following implementations are to be introduced to attempt to reduce air pollution in Rybnik;

• expansion and integration of the heating network, i.e., connecting as many residential buildings as possible to the heating network,
• elimination of poor-quality fuel combustion in domestic stoves,
• elimination of waste incineration in home furnaces,
• reducing emissions from communication sources and reducing emissions from industrial sources.

The proposed subsidies motivated the inhabitants to act in order to change the heating source to pro-ecological or to carry out thermal modernisation and thus contribute to the activities for the improvement of air quality. It also results from the growing awareness of the inhabitants of the harmfulness of smog and is related to the fact that the topic of low emission has become the subject of interest of nationwide media.

Rybnik is facing quite a challenge as coal-heated apartments constitute almost 65 per cent of all apartments.

What are the detrimental effects to human health through polluted air?

Polish experts emphasise that among the groups most exposed to air pollution are children, elderly people, pregnant women and people with pre-existing respiratory diseases. They indicate that the long-term presence of poisonous gases in the atmosphere causes vascular diseases, heart attacks, strokes, asthma and allergies already in the prenatal stage. In addition, in the areas of pollution, the number of infections increases, which entails further burdens for the economy, e.g., in the form of visits to the doctor or absenteeism.

The influence of air pollution on the occurrence of diseases of the respiratory system, cardiovascular system, strokes and neoplasms pulmonary disease and the increase in mortality in the general population has been well documented.

The impact of polluted air on living organisms can be short-term and long-term. Short-term exposure may cause thromboembolic events (heart attack, stroke), and long-term - chronic diseases of the lung tissue, the development of atherosclerosis or cancer.

Air quality is the seventh risk factor for the development of many diseases, after an inadequate diet, high blood pressure, smoking, high cholesterol, obesity and overweight and diabetes.

How strongly dust pollution affects health depends not only on its concentration in the air and the time of exposure (i.e. the total amount of pollution that enters our body), but may also depend on the size, shape and chemical composition of dust particles. The chemical composition of dust, in turn, strongly depends on its origin. While there is strong evidence of adverse health effects from fossil fuel or biomass combustion dusts, the significance of exposure to mineral dust (dust from soil erosion or desert dust) is less certain. Dust from the combustion of coal, petroleum derivatives or biomass may contain various substances harmful to health, e.g. carcinogenic and mutagenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their derivatives.