Granada, one of the three cities with the most polluted air in Spain, has not correctly measured the quality of its atmosphere for months. The Junta de Andalucía has asked Granada City Hall three times to correct the problem that prevents the measuring station located in the northern area of the capital from taking real pollution values. The vegetation that covers the station prevents the collection of correct data, which is why they are requesting its pruning. This does not prevent the station from returning values higher than those recommended by Europe and the World Health Organization (WHO).
This is a problem due to the characteristics of the capital Granada and what this implies for its own urban configuration. Granada (232,000 inhabitants) is one of the main tourist destinations in our country, which is why its daily population is higher than the census. A fact that leads institutions like the University of Granada to carry out their own air quality measurements. Measures that place the values of harmful particles above those recommended.
This is due to the fact that Granada, despite being a small city, has a metropolitan belt that doubles the number of people living within a few kilometers around it, which directly affects mobility and, therefore, the quality of the air. For this reason, Granada is generally classified among the cities with the most polluted air, not only in Spain, but in Europe. A fact that makes it particularly important that the city has real values of the air that citizens breathe.
Low emission zone
To reverse the situation, Granada City Hall is implementing a system of low-emission zones to protect the city center from the passage of polluting vehicles and is studying alternatives to reduce the harmful gases that Granada residents breathe. However, all these decisions are conditioned by the pollution values that are collected in the stations located in the capital of Granada and in one of them, for months, the data obtained are not the real ones.
More specifically, it is the atmospheric station located in the northern area of the capital, on Avenida Luis Miranda Dávalos. This station has been giving pollution values lower than actual levels for months. And despite this, since 2008, the data provided concerning carbon dioxide (CO2) and suspended particles harmful to health (PM10) are higher than those authorized. In Spain, the maximum annual limit for nitrogen and suspended particles is 40 µg/m³ and has been easily exceeded for several years, without taking into account episodes in which Saharan dust could have had adverse effects on quality air.
This has been reported several times by chemist Javier Gómez to the Sustainability Department. The specialist has sent different letters to the Regional Executive to highlight a situation that can be resolved by pruning the vegetation that is located next to the measuring station and which “falsifies” the values.
Three requirements
According to the documentation submitted and to which this newspaper had access, the station does not comply with the micro-implementation criteria established in Royal Decree 102/2011, relating to the improvement of air quality. It does not respect them because the cinnamon trees which surround it are very close and do not leave free space in an arc of at least 270° around the sampling inlet of said air pollution control station.
Sustainable development requested three times last year that Granada Town Hall carry out the “drastic” pruning of the various cinnamon-type trees located near the station. A pruning which has not yet been carried out and which is denied by the Municipal Council.
Municipal sources explain that the local policy they apply in no way involves the felling of these trees and point out that the trees were already there before the installation of the measuring station. Regardless, they say they are studying alternatives to solve the problem which, at present, produces values that mask the real pollution suffered by the citizens of Granada.
“Lower perception of risk”
Pablo Augustín, air quality specialist at Ecologistas en Acción, recalls that it is very important that stations correctly measure the pollution breathed because it has a direct relationship with the health of the population. “With weaker data there is less social alarm, fewer corrective measures are applied and, for example, there is more resistance to changes from motor vehicle drivers due to lower perception of risk.”
It is precisely this weak perception of the problem that makes the population unaware of the dangers of breathing air as polluted as that of Granada. According to a UN report, in 2021, more than 8 million people died worldwide from diseases linked to this air pollution.
“We have been calling for years for real and constant mobile units that measure what adults breathe at a height of 1.70 meters and children at 1 meter,” specifies the specialist. “We need a methodology that reflects reality.”
