“Generally, Estonian towns have no problem with air quality, so the limits to be transposed from EU law would not cause us any difficulties,” Minister of the Environment Keit Pentus told. According to her, the most attention should be given to the air quality in the centre of Tallinn. “So far, the Liivalaia Street area with its heavy and often not the smoothest traffic has been the only area where there has been a bit more pollutants during air monitoring than prescribed by the limits,” the Minister of the Environment explained. “The smoother the city is able to make the traffic on Liivalaia Street, the more alternatives there is for moving through the downtown without sitting in traffic jams with a car, the better the air will be.” According to the data of the Estonian Environmental Research Centre that constantly monitors ambient air quality; the continuous monitoring station of Liivalaia Street in downtown has detected a surpassing of the average limit values of fine PM10 particles since 2005. The number of fine PM2.5 particles that may affect human’s health significantly has not exceeded the limits. In other Estonian areas, exceeding of the fine PM10-particle concentration has happened on less than 35 days a year, which is within the limits prescribed by the directive. The draft will transpose the European ambient air quality directive with the main aim of ensuring a cleaner living environment for the citizens of the EU. In order to do that, concentration of solid particles and their sources in ambient air should be reduced. Unlike other pollutants, in the first stage, target value of level of pollution in ambient air as to PM2.5 particles will be implemented, and from 1 January 2015, it will be replaced by the limit value. |
