Air quality in San Pedro Garza Garcia

What is the current level of air pollution in San Pedro Garza García?

San Pedro Garza García (also known as San Pedro or Garza García) is a city-municipality of the Mexican state of Nuevo León and part of the Monterrey Metropolitan area.

The last census was conducted in 2005 when it was estimated that San Pedro Garza García had an estimated population of approximately 122,000 people within the city but 4,690,000 when taking the metropolitan area into account too.

Two months into 2022, San Pedro Garza Garcia was going through a period of “Moderate” air quality with a US AQI reading of 87. This United States Air Quality Index number is an internationally used set of metrics supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and is used to compare the air quality in different cities throughout the world using comparable standards. It is calculated by using the levels of the six most commonly found pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and both sizes of particulate matter, which are PM2.5 and PM10. If all six figures are not always available in which case, a level is calculated by using what data there is. In this city, only PM2.5 was measured which was 29.3 µg/m³.

This level of PM2.5 is just under three 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 considered to be safe.

When air pollution is classified as being “Moderate” the advice that is offered would be to remain indoors as much as possible, closing doors and windows to prevent the ingress of more polluted air. Those who are more sensitive to poor quality air should avoid venturing outside until the situation improves. If this is unavoidable, then a high-quality face mask should be worn at all times. All types of outdoor exercise should be avoided until the air quality gets better. There is a downloadable app from AirVisual.com which is suitable for all operating systems and gives the latest information regarding air quality in real-time.

Does the level of air pollution vary much throughout the year in San Pedro Garza García?

Air quality can be affected by many things, therefore it can and does change rapidly depending on the local conditions. Looking back at the 2020 figures published by IQAir.com, it can be seen that during the month of August, the city achieved the WHO target figure of being 10 µg/m³ or less. The actual figure was a small 6.2 µg/m³. June saw the air quality being classified as “Good” with a reading of 11.2 µg/m³. The remaining ten months of the year saw air quality from the “Moderate” section with figures between 12.1 and 35.4 µg/m³. The dirtiest month was March with a figure of 19.9 µg/m³.

Records regarding air quality were first kept in 2019 with a recorded figure of 16.6 µg/m³, this was followed in 2020 with a lower figure of 15.6 µg/m³. This figure would have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as many vehicles were no longer in daily use because the offices were closed and the staff encouraged to work from home, in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus. Many factories and non-essential production units were also required to close which removed their emissions from the atmosphere, albeit on a temporary basis. Worldwide, cities reported a much better quality of air due to the general lack of traffic pollution in city centres due to the pandemic.

What is the main source of polluted air in San Pedro Garza García?

In recent years, the state of Nuevo León has experienced significant growth in the number of inhabitants, motor vehicles, industrial and commercial activity. This has resulted in exceeding the maximum permissible limits for air quality. According to the Management Program to improve air quality in the state of Nuevo León (ProAire) 2016-2025, unpaved roads, the extraction of non-metallic minerals (quarries and material banks), construction activities, industry Petroleum and petrochemicals, electricity generation and agricultural farming are the 6 main sources of PM10 particle emissions, since together they emit 70 per cent of this polluting group.

The extraction of non-metallic minerals (quarries and material banks), the oil and petrochemical industry and the generation of electrical energy and domestic combustion are responsible for 56 per cent of the suspended particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5) in the environment.

Finally, the use of fossil fuels by private motor vehicles is the main responsible for the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC), representing 15 per cent of the total observed, and nitrogen oxides (NOx), representing 29 per cent of the total emitted. These groups of compounds are known to be precursor gases of tropospheric ozone.

What can be done to improve air quality in San Pedro Garza García?

Given the poor air quality in the Monterrey metropolitan area, the metropolitan municipality of San Pedro Garza García presented a series of strategies to combat this problem, among which the plan to establish a voluntary vehicle verification centre stands out.

The main proposals include establishing a voluntary vehicular verification centre, through which citizens will be able to take their car for free for four months and then it would have a symbolic cost, but without being mandatory.

Likewise, other proposals to combat environmental pollution are the implementation of shared cars in Sampetrina schools, changing the municipal vehicle fleet to use gas, incorporating electric motorcycles, converting to electric or hybrid vehicles, as well as planting three thousand trees.

What are some of the detrimental effects of breathing polluted air?

Air pollution is a global problem, but it does not affect everyone equally. In highly urbanized areas there are groups with greater vulnerability, for example all those who suffer from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, the population sensitive and reactive to allergies that affect the respiratory tract, new-borns and the elderly.

Although it is important to note that the health of human beings is not the only one affected by air pollution. All pollutants have different consequences and effects on each and every one of the ecosystems that make up the terrestrial habitat.