Air quality in Smederevo

Is Smederevo experiencing high pollution levels?

Smederevo is a city located in Podunalavlje District in the eastern side of Serbia, with said district being one of nine administrative areas found throughout the country. Much like many other cities in Serbia, Smederevo has been subject to some poor levels of air quality throughout many months of the year.

Whilst it does have times of respite whereby the pollution level drops significantly, due to the many disastrous pollution events occurring, its yearly average gets skewed by a fair amount, with the air quality during certain months being dangerous to many members of its population.

Smederevo is home to some 64,000 people in its urban area, and 108,000 in its extended administrative area, as per a census conducted in 2011. Looking at the levels of air quality present in mid-2021, it can be seen that Smederevo came in with an extremely clean air pollution reading, coming in with a US AQI reading of only 1 in early June. This reading placed Smederevo into the ‘good’ air quality ratings bracket for that particular day and time in which it was taken, and whilst it is not an accurate indicator of what the air quality is like throughout the year, it still shows that the city is capable of reaching very good levels of air quality.

However, the aforementioned polluting events can cause the US AQI number to go up, and other readings present in early June and May of 2021 include ones such as 36,40 and 45. These all still fell into the ‘good’ air quality ratings bracket, which requires a US AQI reading of anywhere between 0 to 50 to be classified as such.

This is color coded as green on all air quality maps and graphs present throughout the IQAir website, for ease of reference and navigation when observing the air quality levels. Whilst these numbers were certainly higher than the extremely clean and nearly perfect reading of 1 on the US AQI measure, it is of note that June is one of the cleaner months of the year in both Smederevo and many other cities throughout Serbia, with many of the other cities coming in with PM2.5 readings that fell into the World health organization's (WHO's) target goal of 10 μg/m³ or less for the best quality of air.

US AQI is a figure that is aggregated from a number of main pollutants typically found in the air, both in Smederevo and throughout the world, due to the prevalence of their release from the common polluting sources such as cars, factories and fires. The chemical compounds that go into making up the US AQI figure are sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), as well as ozone (O₃).

Ozone, or smog as it is better known as, is formed from the various oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and other gases or chemicals being bombarded by solar radiation, thus converting into ozone. Whilst this is a vital component of the upper atmosphere, when it is found on ground level it is a highly dangerous pollutant that can have significant adverse health effects on those who breathe in.

In closing, whilst the above mentioned figures show that Smederevo can experience great levels of air quality, individuals should take care to stay up to date on pollution readings in the city, as they can change drastically, and depending on the time of the year as well as location, become potentially harmful.

Why is Smederevo so polluted?

In 2020, Smederevo came in with a PM2.5 reading of 28.3 μg/m³ as its yearly average. This reading placed it into the ‘moderate’ air pollution ratings bracket, which requires a PM2.5 reading of anywhere between 12.1 and 35.4 μg/m³ to be classified as such (as well as being color coded as yellow, similar to its US AQI counterpart). This placed Smederevo in 7th place out of all cities ranked in Serbia over 2020, as well as in 448th place out of all cities ranked worldwide.

This is a fairly high ranking for a city in Europe, and pollution levels in Serbia have become of increasing concern in recent times due to the cumulative health risks and premature deaths that high emission levels can cause.

The main causes of air pollution that would allow Smederevo to reach such heights would be ones such as exhaust fumes from vehicles, with cars and heavy freight vehicles such as trucks or lorries putting out large amounts of chemical pollutants and hazardous particulate matter (both PM2.5 and PM10). Other sources include heavy emissions from power plants and factories, both of which lack the stringent controls and regulations that should typically be in place.

The burning of organic matter such as firewood and charcoal can add further to the pollution levels, along with construction sites and poorly paved roads adding to the fine particle collective. The main sources of pollution present however are typically seen from power plants and factories, with vehicles coming up as a close second in terms of ambient, year round pollution.

What are some of the main pollutants typically found in Smederevo’s air?

Some other pollutants found in the air in Smederevo would be ones such as black carbon, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), dioxins and furans, along with heavy metals such as lead and mercury or cadmium, all of which can be emitted from the combustion of various organic materials and fossil fuels. Some examples of VOCs are chemicals such as formaldehyde, xylene, toluene and methylene chloride.

When is the air more dangerous to breathe in Smederevo?

Looking at the PM2.5 readings on record over the course of 2020, it can be seen that two months distinctly stand out, although the time period in which they sat was also much more polluted than the rest of the year. The months of October through to December, as well as January through to April all had the highest readings, indicating a pattern whereby the pollution levels start to rise in October and continue on into the following year.

Out of all of these months, January came in with the highest reading of 87.7 μg/m³, followed by November at 39.9 μg/m³. January had an ‘unhealthy’ air quality rating (55.5 to 150.4 μg/m³ required, and color coded as red), whilst November had an ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’ rating (35.5 to 55.4 μg/m³ required and color coded as orange).

Does the air quality improve at all in Smederevo?

Despite the large spikes seen in certain months of the year, it can also be seen that Smederevo had its cleanest months from May through to September, with readings of 14.3 μg/m³, 13.6 μg/m³, 17.2 μg/m³, 16.8 μg/m³ and 14.3 μg/m³ respectively.

This made June the cleanest month of the year, being only a small fraction away from being moved down into the far more appreciable ‘good’ air quality ratings bracket, which requires a very fine measure of entry at 10 to 12 μg/m³.