Reporting on ambient air quality assessment in the EU Member States, 2009 ETC/ACM Technical Paper 2011/7

10 Nov 2011

Iulian Petchesi

with List of zones (Annex V)

  • The zones designated for pollutants having a health related limit or target value is nearly complete for SO2, NO2 and PM as the zones cover 90% or more of the population. For lead, benzene, CO and ozone population coverage is still less: in a number of Member States less than 80%. The situation with respect to the Fourth Daughter Directive reporting has further improved in 2009.
  • In 2009 the percentage of zones in Member States where the limit (LV) or target value (TV) was exceeded, was highest for the daily limit value of PM10 (34%) and the health-related target value of O3 (38%). For the NO2 annual limit value this percentage was 29%. The percentage of zones in exceedance of both the PM10 daily limit value and PM10 annual limit value had decreased in 2009 compared to previous years.
  • The number of PM2.5 monitoring stations had still increased in 2009; nearly all stations also reported data under the EoI Decision. The designation of stations used for the calculation of the averaged exposure indicator (AEI) is far from complete. The number of (sub)urban background stations is in line with the requirements for determining the AEI. However, at present, the representativeness of the stations for estimating population exposure cannot be judged. Concentrations above 25 μg/m3 are observed at about 9% of the stations in 11 Member States. Estimates of the exposure concentration obligation results in levels of more than 20 μg/m3 in 7 Member States.

Prepared by: Benno Jimmink, Frank de Leeuw (RIVM); Jana Ostatnická, Markéta Schreiberová (CHMI); Mar Viana (CISC).

Published by: ETC/ACC, November 2011, 55 pp.