European Environment Agency Introduction to Air Quality Assessments Designation of zones, requirements on assessments Frank de Leeuw Air Quality support meeting Dublin, 23 October 2013

European Environment Agency 2 AQ assessment: legal setting 2004/107/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic hydrocarbons in ambient air 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe. 2011/850/EU: reporting 2004/224/EC: plans & programs Info:

European Environment Agency 3 AQ Directive, objectives “defining and establishing objectives for ambient air quality designed to avoid, prevent or reduce harmful effects on human health and the environment as a whole” “maintaining the air quality where it is good and improving it in other cases”

European Environment Agency 4 AQ Directive sets Environmental objectives (limit values, target values, critical levels) for different  protection targets: human health vegetation  pollutants: SO2, NO2, PM10, PM2.5, CO, benzene, O3, As, Cd, Ni, B(a)P SO2, NOx, O3

European Environment Agency 5 AQ assessments: where? Health protection: Member States shall establish zones and agglomerations throughout their territory. Air quality assessment and air quality management shall be carried out in all zones and agglomerations. However, compliance with LV shall not be assessed on locations where the general public has no access, on industrial premises (occupational safety rules) and on the carriageway of roads. Vegetation : The risk posed by air pollution to vegetation and natural ecosystems is most important in places away from urban areas. The assessment of such risks and the compliance with critical levels for the protection of vegetation should therefore focus on places away from built-up areas.

European Environment Agency Designation of zones Health protection: assessment of AQ must be made throughout the whole country, irrespective of concentration levels and availability of monitoring data. Therefore, zones should cover the whole territory and total population!!! Further criteria on zone designation: none !! Considerations: AQ management, responsibilities, concentration levels/gradients/source contributions, number, …. 6

European Environment Agency 7 Introduction What is a zone? part of a territory of a MS, as delimited by that MS, for the purposes of air quality assessment and management. Agglomeration: a zone that is a conurbation with a population in excess of inhabitants or less, with a given population density per km2 to be established by the MS.

European Environment Agency 8 Some examples: Germany Different zones per pollutant; zoning changes over time Zone may cover non-adjacent areas (with similar AQ characteristics)

European Environment Agency 9 UK Same set of 43 zones designated for ALL pollutants; No change in zoning since 2004

European Environment Agency Kosovo 10 namecodepoltypeareapop PrishtinaXK0001SH; NH; PM10; PM2,5; C; O;ag KosovoXK0002SO2;NH;PM10;PM2.5;L;C;B;O;Mnonag Total population: Area 10908

European Environment Agency Republic of Macedonia namecodepoltypeareapop Eastern ZoneSH, NH, PM10, C,Ononag Western ZoneSH, NH, PM10, C,Ononag Skopje aggloSH, NH, PM10, C,Oag Total population Area (km2) 25220

European Environment Agency 12 Assessment methods Assessmment methods depend on concentrations

European Environment Agency 13 Assessment methods Assessment regime dictates number of sampling points and data quality: 1)Fixed measurements, DQO set in Directive. Less sampling points are required when supplementary information from models or indicative measurements is used. 2)Smaller number of fixed measurements. 3)Modelling, indicative measurements or objective estimates.

European Environment Agency Zone/ agglomeration SO 2 NO 2 PM10COO3O3 Agglomeration Skopje11111 Zone East11121 West22111 Assessment modes in zones and agglomerations Mode 3 Mode 1 Mode 2 LV UAT LAT Republic of Macedonia

European Environment Agency 15 Fixed measurements

European Environment Agency Minimum monitoring station in zones and agglomerations Republic of Macedonia ZonePopulationSO 2 NO 2 PM10COO3O3 Skopje East West Total551076