Report of Quercus indicates serious flaws in air monitoring in Madeira and certain urban areas of the mainland.
According to the data of the report of the European Environment Agency (EEA) for Portugal, the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, directly related to road traffic, have a growing and worrying trend. "In a review in greater detail the air quality data for 2012, using the database QUALAR provided by the Portuguese Environment Agency, there is non-compliance with the limit values for particulate matter (PM10) in various areas of the stations Porto coast, Aveiro / Ílhavo, Estarreja and Lisbon. The lack of financial resources is the main responsible for the malfunctioning of the four official stations in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, in clear violation of laid down in legislation and not allowing an assessment of population exposure. The same conditions should also weigh in the case of the Lisbon and Tagus Valley, where 14 of the 25 stations present in the database have had an efficiency of data collection inferior to the law.
At the same time, and in a generic way, particle concentrations have been declining slightly, the same happening, but less markedly, with ozone concentrations. "The firsts should be a result of reducing road traffic and improving fleet, mainly of diesel vehicles. Regarding the ozone, also reducing road traffic, the reduction in some industrial activity and favorable weather conditions have provided this improvement . In the opinion of Quercus and several non -governmental environmental European , "this study AEA is another serious appeal to the European Commission , but especially the governments of the Member States to implement measures to improve air quality and thus safeguard the health of its citizens" they conclude in a statement .
