Daily bulletins on air quality issued by ministry

IN LINE with legislation, the Labour Ministry is now issuing a daily bulletin on air quality across the island to inform the public on pollution levels.

Along with the Labour Inspection Department, the ministry will be conducting atmospheric studies with the assistance of four fully-equipped mobile units, which record pollutants.

The bulletin, in the form of a chart, will illustrate the quality of air and indicate pollutants in each area as well as their respective ceiling for reasons of comparison.

It will also be posted daily on the department’s website — www.mlsi.gov.cy/dli.
A special bulletin on the levels of benzene and lead in the air will be published periodically as measurement of these two pollutants cannot be done with automatic equipment, but only by taking actual air samples which must then be analysed at the State Laboratory.

Special announcements will be published on the website in specific circumstances or when a particularly high level of a certain pollutant is recorded in the air. For example, if there is an abnormal level of dust in the air from the Sahara a specific notice will be posted.

The main air pollutants are sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), both produced from burning fossil fuels. Other harmful elements are oxides of nitrogen (NO2), which cause smog and acid rain, ozone (O3) that comes from vehicles and industries, and suspended particular matter (PM10) that is the main source of haze.

Benzene (C6H6) is produced by burning natural products and can be carcinogenic. Lead (Pb), is present in diesel, petrol, paints, lead batteries and hair products.

In Sunday’s bulletin, the level of pollutants was above the limit of 120 in the village of Ayia Marina Xyliatou, with ozone (O3) levels reaching 127, while levels of suspended particular matter (PM10) were above the threshold of 55 in Larnaca, reaching 64.

All other pollutant levels were below the limit.

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