Air quality in Trenčín

Is Trenčín currently a polluted city?

Trenčín, (also known by other alternative names) is a city found in western Slovakia in the central Váh River valley near the Czech border. According to a census conducted at the end of 2018, Trenčín had an estimated population of approximately 55,000 people which ranked it as the eighth-largest municipality in the country.

At the beginning of 2022, Trenčín was experiencing a period of “Moderate” air quality with a US AQI reading of 51. This United States Air Quality Index number is calculated using the levels of six of the most prolific air pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and both sizes of particulate matter, which are PM2.5 and PM10. It can then be used as the metric when comparing air quality in other cities around the world. If data is unavailable for all 6 pollutants, a figure can still be calculated by using what figures there are. In Trenčín, only PM2.5 was measured which was 12.1 µg/m³.

This level of PM2.5 is slightly over 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 the level of air pollution is classed as being “Moderate”, the given advice would be to remain indoors as much as possible, closing doors and windows to prevent more dirty air from entering the rooms. Those who are more sensitive to poor quality air should avoid venturing outside until it improves. If this is unavoidable, then a good quality face mask should be worn at all times. There is a downloadable app from AirVisual.com which is suitable for all operating systems which gives the latest information regarding air quality in real-time.

Does the level of pollution vary throughout the year in Trenčín?

Air quality can be very volatile as it can be affected by many variables. Over the course of 2020, Trenčín experienced just two main levels of air pollution as can be seen by studying the figures released by IQAir.com. During the months of September and October, Trenčín achieved the target figure as recommended by the WHO. In order to do this, the figures need to be 10 µg/m³ or less. The actual figures were 8.9 and 9.0 µg/m³. The remaining ten months of the year saw air quality from the “Moderate” bracket with figures between 12.1 and 35.4 µg/m³.

Records for air quality were first kept in 2017 when a figure of 13.2 µg/m³ was recorded. The following year saw quite a decline to 19.8 µg/m³, but this improved slightly in 2019 with a 17.9 µg/m³ recording. In 2020 the figure was 15.6 µg/m³. This low figure was to be expected because it may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as many vehicles were no longer in daily use because the offices were closed, 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.

Is there a main source of air pollution in Trenčín?

In Slovakia, air quality has improved significantly over the last 30 years, but in some places, it does not reach the required level and affects the quality of human life and the environment.

In the more mountainous part of the Trenčín region, the most significant source of air pollution is domestic heating, where firewood is mainly used for heat production, in contrast to larger cities using natural gas as a heat source. In some parts of the region, transport also contributes to the deteriorating air quality.

Industrial sources of air pollution are less significant here in terms of their contribution to local air pollution by basic pollutants, with the exception of cement plants. The influence of the thermal power plant in Nováky is more significant, which, however, depending on the meteorological conditions, contributes more to the regional background.

What can be done to improve air quality in Trenčín?

Operators of small sources of pollution are obliged to report by 15 February each year at the Municipal Office in Trenčín for each small source of air pollution the consumption of fuels and raw materials from which pollutants are generated and other data necessary to determine the amount and harmfulness of pollutants released into the air during the past year, in particular on the type and quality indicators of fuels and raw materials, the number of operating hours of a small source of air pollution and the type and efficiency of separation facilities.

Particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide and ground-level ozone are the pollutants that cause the greatest damage to human health and the environment in Europe. The main sources of these pollutants are road transport, domestic heating, agriculture and industry.

In cities with three out of four Europeans, road transport is often a major source of air pollution, mainly because vehicles emit pollutants at ground level close to people. In some parts of Europe, domestic heating with wood and coal is the largest source of harmful pollutants. Unfortunately, these emissions increase during the winter months, when weather conditions prevent the dispersion of pollutants.

The way people and goods are transported, how we produce electricity and heat, and how we produce and consume our food, is in many ways the foundations of our current way of life. For this reason, it is not easy to change these systems. In many cases, we need to rethink the way we have built our societies and the way we live our lives.

What are the detrimental effects of breathing in polluted air?

A recent study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests that air pollution by fine particles (PM2.5, ie solid particles up to 2.5 micrometres in diameter) could pose a greater health problem than originally estimated. The study Examining the Evidence for Health Aspects of Air Pollution further suggests that long-term exposure to fine particles can trigger atherosclerosis, have adverse effects on childbirth, and cause childhood respiratory diseases. In it, the WHO also suggests a possible link with nervous system development, cognitive function and diabetes, and confirms the causal relationship between PM2.5 and deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.