Abstract
To slow the spread of COVID-19, the state of emergency was announced in Kazakhstan on March 16, 2020. Ust-Kamenogorsk instituted COVID-19 lockdown measures on April 2, 2020. The restrictions reduced the flow of traffic in the city but did not have a major impact on the large industries and power plants. In the areas with a complex profile of emission sources, traffic restriction measures alone may hardly tackle serious air pollution. This natural experiment allowed us to test how the reduction in transport movement affects air quality in Ust-Kamenogorsk, as there is a tendency to hold transport as being a major cause of air pollution in Ust-Kamenogorsk. This study analyzes concentrations of four major air pollutants and meteorological parameters in Ust-Kamenogorsk from March 1 to May 15 in 2016–2020. Using the fixed effects model, we find that restrictions have decreased the levels of CO by 21–23 percent, increased the levels of TSP by 13–21 percent, and had no significant effect on SO2 and NO2 concentrations in the city. It implies that heavy pollution in the city with SO2, NO2, TSP are mainly caused by non-transport-related sources.
Highlights
Kazakhstan ranks 29th in the list of the world’s most polluted countries in 2019 (IQAir, 2019)
Ust-Kamenogorsk is the administrative center of the East Kazakhstan region, with a population of 331 thousand as of 2019
To understand whether the transportation sector is a major emitter in Ust-Kamenogorsk, we study the effect of COVID-19 lockdown measures on major air pollutants
Summary
Kazakhstan ranks 29th in the list of the world’s most polluted countries in 2019 (IQAir, 2019). All types of transport, except for social services, were banned Such restrictions resulted in a substantial reduction in traffic (For instance, public transport circulation decreased by 70%.), but did not have a significant impact on the activities of large industries such as Kazzink LLP and Ust-Kamenogorsk CHP. This policy feature allows us to assess the contribution of the transportation sector to air pollution in the city. Our study applies the fixed-effects model to the data from Ust-Kamenogorsk This is the first study that uses a rigorous methodology for a large industrial and heavily polluted city in Kazakhstan with a complex profile of emissions sources. We focus on the ambient concentrations of four major pollutants, namely, SO2, NO2, TSP, and CO, before and after the COVID-19 related lockdown restrictions covering the same period from March 1 to May 15 for five years, from 2016 to 2020
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