Implementation of the Air Quality Monitoring Network at Agadir City in Morocco

Ahmed Chirmata,Ihya Ait Ichou,Radouane Leghrib

doi:10.4236/jep.2017.84037

Abstract

Air pollution is a major global issue with widely known harmful effects on human health and the environment. This pollution is a very complex phenomenon given the diversity of pollutants that may be present in the atmosphere. The air quality in urban areas is of a great concern for residents living in cities and represents a current issue that requires an adequate management. So that air quality policy is driven by health concerns. In this paper, we present an overview on the experience of Agadir city to establish the air quality management policy, local authority on the whole have developed a good understanding of air quality in the area. Indeed for several years, efforts have been made to monitor the air quality in this city, this translated by air quality assessment since 2006 using mobile laboratory and fixed station. Our goals in this study were to review the operation of Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) making better use of available resources to improve its outcomes and make recommendations with a view to improving air quality issues. This work highlights the requirement to revise periodically the LAQM for generating priority for air quality issues within local authority and the need to implement the optimizing Air Quality Monitoring Network (AQMN).

Highlights

For several years, air pollution has become for decision makers a topic of major concern
We present pollution and metrological data gathered from mobile monitoring surveys and the fixed station conducted over a 3-year period, to investigate the pollution levels of different pollutants across the Agadir city
Air pollution is a complex issue, supplied by multiple sources ranging from Industrial gases, vehicle exhaust, dust due to vehicle movements, construction debris, garbage burning, domestic cooking and heating, and some seasonal sources such as agricultural field residue burning, dust storms and sea salt

Summary

Introduction

Air pollution has become for decision makers a topic of major concern. It’s one of the factors with major impact on the health of people. Exposure to important air quality indicators such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), ground level ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) is of potential concern due to their chronic and acute health effects. A part of their potential deleterious effects on public health, they are implicated with acidic deposition, photochemical smog and visibility [11] [12]. Monitoring pollution levels in the atmosphere are of fundamental importance because it provides guidance on the effectiveness of control actions and indicates where greater effort is needed. The observation sites that make up air quality monitoring networks can have very different characteristics (topography, climatology, distance to emission sources, etc.)

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