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on the air quality of your favorite places Get a monitor and contribute air quality data in your city Poland is situated in Central Europe and covers 312,696 square kilometres In 2019 it\r\nhad an estimated population of 38,383,000 making it the fifth most populous\r\nstate in the European Union Warsaw recorded an average PM2.5 reading of 17.3 which\r\nclassified it as “Moderate” according to recommended levels from the World\r\nHealth Organisation (WHO) Warsaw recorded the WHO target\r\nfigure of less than 10 µg/m³ (8.6 µg/m³) “Good” levels\r\nwere measured between 10-12 µg/m³ (10.7 and 10.1 respectively) a “Moderate”\r\nfigure was recorded with figures between 12.1 and 35.4 µg/m³ Towards the end of autumn and the beginning of winter most of the large Polish cities\r\nare covered in a miasma This forces\r\nresidents to stay indoors whenever possible and avoid the badly polluted air.\r\nIt has been quoted that approximately 44,000 Poles die prematurely each year\r\nfrom illnesses which are directly related to poor air quality It is also said that people who live in Warsaw who experience this poor quality\r\nair most of the time would be damaging their lungs in the same way as smoking\r\n1,000 cigarettes Children are especially at risk because they naturally\r\nbreathe faster than an adult and their lungs have not yet fully developed Yet\r\ntwo-thirds of kindergartens are located in extremely polluted areas Residents need to protect themselves when venturing outdoors during the winter months.\r\nNearly everybody is seen wearing some type of face mask Poland’s prime minister said that this\r\nscenario is not how he wants children to think of as a typical winter scene the government launched a €25 billion scheme over the next 10\r\nyears to tackle some of the country’s poor air pollution hotspots 4 million\r\nhomes and public buildings were “earmarked” to be renovated and be equipped\r\nwith improved insulation and more efficient heating apparatus It is the\r\nlargest scheme of its kind across Europe Sceptics are concerned though about its ability to achieve its goals because there does\r\nnot appear to be anyone who is empowered to tackle any obstacles which keep\r\nappearing There is a town in Southern Poland that has been treating children for over a century\r\nwhich ironically has been observed to harbour levels of benzo(a)pyrene which are 28 times above the acceptable limits Most of the air pollution across Poland is the result of the country’s dependence on\r\ncoal to power its homes and economy The country’s coal industry remains an\r\nimportant part of the local economy Poland is the second largest coal-mining\r\ncountry in Europe mining produced 144 million metric\r\ntons of coal which provided 55 per cent of the required domestic energy and 75\r\nper cent of the consumption need to produce power With figures such as these,\r\nit is understandable that the industry as a whole provides employment for 1,000s\r\nof Poles that the overall use of coal has decreased since the\r\n1980s and an increase in natural gas as a fuel source is increasing Poland is expected to be responsible for 50 per cent of coal use by small\r\nconsumers throughout Europe And household heating is the main contributor to\r\nfine particulate pollution another major source of pollution comes from\r\nvehicles Many of Poland’s vehicles are over 13 years old and produce a huge\r\namount of exhaust fumes cleaner ones\r\nwill be both expensive and time-consuming This source of pollution rises dramatically in summer and maybe particularly intense\r\nin urban hot-spots Despite the efforts to promote electric vehicles,\r\nespecially through electric buses Poland has the oldest and sixth largest\r\nvehicle fleet in the EU Many of these cars do not meet the latest\r\nrecommended “Euro V” standards many struggle to meet the “Euro 3” emissions\r\nstandard Unlike pollution from domestic sources which tend to accumulate in\r\nlocalised areas vehicle pollution is constantly changing as vehicles move\r\naround This resulting spatial and temporal fluctuation of pollution dynamics depends\r\non traffic patterns and behaviour which leads to highly differing pollution\r\nexposure profiles within the urban air shed According to a 2018 report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) 36 of Europe’s most\r\npolluted cities are in Poland the mean ambient levels of\r\nconcentration of the PM2.5 particulate matter are twice as high as permitted\r\nunder European law The impact of air pollution on health is substantial in\r\nparticular for the elderly and for children Almost 1 in 9 of the premature\r\ndeaths which can be directly linked to PM2.5 particles in the EU was found to\r\nbe in Poland Poor quality air contributes to almost a quarter of cases of\r\nbronchitis among children The morbidity levels rise pro-rata in places where residential demand for heat is\r\nthe highest as this causes high levels of air pollution in winter Pollution\r\nis also damaging to the economy as nearly 8 per cent of lost workdays due to\r\nsickness are attributed to pollution-related sick-days Poland has done exceptionally well in reducing some of its air pollutants,\r\nnamely sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) Poland was one of the\r\npioneering countries that started to adopt the understanding that air pollution\r\nand industrial improvement are not inextricably linked the reduction of the fine particulate matter is\r\nslow to make any real difference The reduction of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) in the 1990s was\r\nmainly due to reforms made in the power sector and heavy industry This was\r\nwhere large amounts of pollution were produced in localised areas and therefore\r\neasier to tackle The small particulate matter is produced in disaggregated households\r\nall over the country and therefore is harder to tackle as a whole The quality of winter air can also be affected by the topography of a place Towns\r\nand cities situated in valleys suffer badly especially when inversion occurs\r\nwhich traps the polluted air thus preventing it from escaping into the upper\r\natmosphere This is particularly noticeable in the south and southwest because\r\nof the mountainous terrain Only eleven of the sixteen administration regions in Poland have introduced\r\nanti-smog regulations which require households to replace non-compliant\r\nsolid-fuel boilers (manually fed-coal boilers with low-quality coal wood and\r\ntrash used as fuel) with more efficient boilers which include gas boilers renewable energy-based systems and eco-design boilers heart attacks and acute respiratory\r\ndiseases in children Polluted air also has a negative impact on ecosystems and\r\ndestruction of materials (such as corrosion of metals) Due to adverse impacts on human health and the ecosystem there is an annual air\r\nquality assessment undertaken to measure sulphur dioxide (SO2),\r\nnitrogen dioxide (NO2) Despite many improvements being made to Poland’s air quality there are still\r\nunderlying problems at different times of the year In summer it comes from\r\nhigh levels of tropospheric ozone and in winter from high levels of PM\r\nparticulate matter Ozone is a strong oxidiser which not only is hazardous to health but also destroys\r\nmaterials and crops Exposure to even slightly raised levels can cause an\r\ninflammatory response to the eyes It can also cause a drop in blood pressure and bring about extreme\r\nfatigue PM2.5 are undoubtedly the most dangerous to human health because they have the ability to bypass the body’s defence system.\r\nOnce inhaled they can travel deep into the lungs as far the alveoli which are\r\ntiny air sacs situated at the base of the bronchial tubes These air sacs are\r\nresponsible for the supply of oxygen to the bloodstream and the removal of\r\ncarbon dioxide It is therefore easy to see how these tiny pollutants can enter\r\nthe bloodstream and travel around the body Even healthy people can experience impacts on their health due to pollutants\r\nsuspended in the air The extent of the damage depends on many variables The\r\nconcentration level of the pollutant the length of time exposed to it and the\r\npresence of any pre-existing medical problems High levels of pollution can immediately aggravate cardiovascular and respiratory\r\nillnesses add stress to the heart and lungs by making them work harder in\r\norder to supply the body with the levels of oxygen it needs Cells can quickly\r\nbecome damaged and will take quite some time to repair themselves Long-term exposure accelerates the ageing of the lungs and eventually cause them to lose\r\ncapacity and show a decrease in their function and possibly some types of cancer can develop under such\r\ncircumstances The most susceptible groups of people are those with pre-existing conditions such\r\nas those suffering from heart disease coronary artery disease or congestive\r\nheart failure Those already suffering because of lung diseases such as asthma,\r\nemphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) Pregnant women need\r\nto take extra care as do senior citizens Children under the age of 14 need to\r\nbe careful as they breathe faster than an adult because their organs are not\r\nyet fully grown Those people whose job dictates that they spend time outdoors\r\nneed to take precautions whenever possible Wearing good quality masks is always good advice to anybody who needs to venture outside\r\nwhen the levels of polluted air are unusually high One of the most polluted cities in Poland is Zgierz In December 2020 it was\r\nproducing an average US AQI reading of 88 which classified it as “Moderate” levels of PM2.5 and PM10 were recorded as 30 µg/m³ and 33 µg/m³,\r\nrespectively The average reading for 2019 was 27 which is much worse than\r\nprevious years when figures of 21.9 µg/m³ and 19.2 µg/m³ were recorded for 2018\r\nand 2017 respectively though in July the figure was 10 µg/m³\r\nwhich falls into the World Health Organisation (WHO) target classification the Polish city of Wroclaw reported the second-worst air quality\r\nin the world which is another\r\nPolish city ranked as number 4 Poland’s worst air quality can be found in the south-west where particulate matter can\r\nexceed the average by as much as 1012 per cent the EU is helping fund the replacement of more than half a million coal-fired domestic boilers The\r\nnew boilers will be retrofitted and will considerably reduce the smog-creating\r\nparticles emitted by the old inefficient boilers which are currently in use It is hoped that such a move will reduce the number of premature deaths One of the most polluted areas in Europe is the Malopolska region of Poland where the winter smog is a real threat to\r\nhealth not only is low-grade coal burnt in domestic boilers,\r\nbut also unseasoned wood and even garbage Unseasoned wood being a large\r\ncontributing factor to PM2.5 particulates air pollution counts for PLN 3 billion [Polish Zloty] (around €800 million) per year in health costs.\r\nWith the help of EU funding 60 clean air experts and scientists have been\r\nhired to promote the boiler replacement initiative in 55 Polish municipalities.\r\nThese ‘eco-advisors’ visit schools encouraging\r\nresidents to burn less coal and unseasoned wood and consider upgrading their\r\nboilers to ones that are less damaging to the environment it is hoped\r\nthat all old boilers in this region will have been replaced