Temas Públicos
Nª 877 -
www.lyd.org- Email:lyd@lyd.org
July 11, 2008
ISSN 0717-1528
Effective Solutions for an
Environmental Crisis
The creation of a new Air Manager posiatmospheric prevention and decontamination
tion was recently announced in order to stop
plan (APDP) for the Metropolitan Region,
the high levels of pollution in the Metropolitan
which began operating over 10 years ago.
Region. Apparently the Minister of EnvironWhat has been done?
ment, the Consultative Council, the Executive
Director of CONAMA (Chilean National Environmental Commission), the
In 1997, the atmospheric preDirector of CONAMA of the
vention and decontamination
Metropolitan Region and the It is required to have a system plan established as a goal to
Regional Governor are not able where the emission reduction carry out all the environmental
to solve the pollution problem in
regulations for all the regulated
goals are clear and the
the Region.
incentives so the owners of the contaminants by 2011. ThereEven though it was andifferent emission sources
fore, a number of measures
nounced in 2002 that actions
achieve them whatever they were established until 2005,
were going to be taken in order think is necessary, meaning at after that a revision was carto avoid having environment
a lower cost. The
ried out ordering subsequent
pre-emergencies, that didn’t Decontamination Bonuses Bill actions.
happen, and in June, the conhas been in Congress since
The regulations were stricter
centration of breathable parti2003. It is considered by
cles (PM10) went above the CONAMA itself as “the basic for mobile and steady sources;
maximum limit 12 times. In con- element to allow the operation the sulfur content of fuels was
reduced, traffic management
sequence, we had 3 preof an integrated system of
measures were started, vehicle
emergencies and 5 environemission compensation”
restrictions were increased,
mental alerts.
older buses were taken out of
The situation only imcirculation, streets were paved
proves with wind or rain occurand washed and trees were
ring in the city, which proves
planted.
that the actions taken by the
government were not effective. Once we have
What were the results?
a critical episode, there is little that can be
done to revert it, without the weathers’ help.
So, it seems better to inform the people
Graphic 1 and Graphic 2 show the evoluof the situation, so they can take the approprition of the average annual and daily concentraate measures for their health and for the area
tion from the beginning of the APDP. In 10
where they live.
years, the annual and daily concentration of
Instead of discussing what actions to
PM10 was reduced in 25%. However, in order
take in order to control these critical episodes,
to comply with the annual regulation of 50
we should be discussing what to do to prevent
ug/m3, it is required to additionally reduce it
them and that requires to begin a long-term
30% and in order to comply with the daily regustructural measures already incorporated in the
lation of 150ug/m3, it is required to reduce it
7
The second audit of the
APDP, in 2006, suggested a series of differences that needed solutions.
Graph Nº 1
Evolution of the annual concentrations of
PM10
100
97
96
80
80
77
71
75
70
72
68
66
2004
2005
40
anual
60
Norma
Annual concentrations (ug/m3)
120
20
0
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2006
Source: CONAMA: Follow up report for the implementation of the APDP. 2005;
INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas) National Institute of Statistic of Chile,
Environment, Annual report 2006.
The evaluation of the experts stated that there isn’t a clear
relation between the pollution and
the people’s health; it is also not
possible to assure the quality of
the system of collecting data,
which may not be effective; the
emissions inventories have to be
considered as an estimate, because there are no analytic studies
of those emissions nor their
sources. There isn’t any adequate
meteorological information or information from a good source that
allows us to predict critical episodes, among others.
All this, makes it harder to
initiate efficient and effective
measures, prioritize them and establish their
health benefits. It is also necessary to upgrade
the equipment of the existing stations and increase their coverage, establish good emissions inventories and find the exact causes of
problems in air quality.
45%, in the next 5 years. That is, without taking
into account that in 2012 the daily regulation
for environmental quality for PM10 will be 120
ug/m3. That will require another decontamination plan for Santiago.
This task is not easy, considering the difficulties that the energy crisis imposes for the
reduction of emissions, especially the lack of
natural gas, the Transantiago (new public
transport system) problems, which was supposed to reduce PM10 considerably and the
precursor elements of ozone and the need for
cost effective elements, like decontamination
bonuses. All of this is going to make it harder
to achieve the goal of emissions reduction established by the APDP.
Critical Episodes
Critical episodes start and are reverted
by changes in meteorological conditions in the
city. The impact of control measures is minimum and its cost surpasses its benefits.
In 2003, CONAMA estimated the costs
associated to the stoppage of steady pollution
sources to be $ 1.073 million Chilean pesos
and the benefits only $ 78 million Chilean pesos. The daily cost of vehicle restriction during
a pre-emergency is estimated in $ 332 million
Chilean pesosi. That is, in a pre-emergency
situation $1.322 million Chilean pesos or US$
2,6 Dollars are spent, not considering the costs
caused by errors in the weather forecast system.
Between 1997 and 2001, a sustained reduction in the pollution levels was achieved.
However, from 2001 the PM10 concentrations
have been relatively stable, but they increased
in 2006.
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Graphic 1
PM10 Regulations
Surpass
divided by Measuring Stations
Graph Nº 2
Evolution
of the PM10
level from
1997-2007 Santiago
ICAP
Cerro Navia
Pudahuel
El Bosque
Cerrillos
(average daily)
100 – 200
4
6
6
6
2
200 – 300
5
3
3
0
1
400
375
más de 300
2
0
0
0
3633
Total
12
11
9
6
3
335
350
292
300 www.asrm.cl
Source:
284
278
276
La Florida
1
0
0
1
Las Condes
0
0
0
0
274
262
246
250
ug/m3
Independ.
3
0
0
3
200
150
100
50
0
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Source: CONAMA: Follow up report for the implementation of the APDP. 2005; INE (Instituto
Nacional de Estadisticas) National Institute of Statistic of Chile, Environment, Annual report
2006.
and once in Santiago.
The rest of the city, except
Las
Condes,
which rarely exceeds
the PM10 regulations,
was exceeding the limit, but were not generating critical episodes.
The pollution in Santiago is well known and
happens every year as
mentioned previously.
In spite of the high
concentrations observed in Pudahuel and
Cerro Navia, during each pre-emergency situation, it is necessary to enforce the regulations
for the whole of Santiago. Therefore, 60% of
the non catalytic vehicles and 20% of the catalytic vehicles can’t operate, and almost 850
steady sources, among industrial sources and
boilers within the city, also have to stop working. Additionally, schools must cancel their gym
classes as well as any sporting event scheduled for those days, no matter what commune
the schools are in.
Even more serious is the fact that the
measures are not effective in lowering the pollution levels, because the critical episodes are
generated and reverted by meteorological conditions of the basin. In order to recover the environmental quality in the presence of a preemergency situation, it is necessary to reduce
the PM10 concentration by 55% and it is estimated that the measures taken reduce the
emissions by 12%, without taking into account
that in these cases there’s an atmosphere pollutant concentration.
Between June 1st and July 1st this year,
the environmental regulation for PM10 went
over the limit for 12 days (Chart 1). In consequence, there were 5 environmental alerts and
3 pre-emergencies.
Due to the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the measures applied during critical
episodes and the fact that pollution is concentrated in the air, we should face the problem
from another perspective: attack it with drastic
measures, in order to prevent critical episodes
and avoid pollution consequences on the most
affected people.
However, only in Cerro Navia and Pudahuel stations, the PM10 concentrations exceeded 300 (environmental pre-emergency).
The level needed to announce environmental
alert was also exceeded in El Bosque station
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How to face the Problem?
Decontamination Bonuses
People most affected by high pollution
levels are those who live in Pudahuel, Cerro
Navia, El Bosque and Cerrillos communes.
Considering the damages and health costs, the
mandate of the region should tend to discourage the population growth in the most polluted
communes.
Considering the difficulties previously
mentioned, we must look for a way to reduce
pollution levels by actions that benefit everyone
and at the lowest possible cost. Considering
the shortage of natural gas (gas cleaner than
propane and petroleum) and the increase in
energy costs, it is difficult to impose further restrictions and costs to the sources and citizens
in general.
But that is not the case. Between 1997
and 2007, the population of Pudahuel increased by 34%, like Quilicura, Maipu and
Puente Alto. Even so, it is expected, with the
most recent modifications to the Municipality of
Pudahuel’s strategic plan, to double the population in that commune in 10 to 15 years. Cerro
Navia and the rest of the communes of the
Metropolitan Region decreased its population
during that period.
Because the state has failed in this matter, we should allow the affected themselves to
design a solution. Human creativity might find
solutions to pollution problems. That is why it
requires a system where emission reduction
goals are clear and encourage the owners of
different emission sources to achieve their
goals at a lower cost. The Decontamination
Bonuses Bill has been in Congress since 2003.
It is considered by CONAMA itself as “the basic
element to allow the operation of an integrated
system of emission compensation”iii.
However, in Cerrillos, where the airport
used to be located, multiple resident housing
are being built as well as recreational areas,
which intends to attract people. Therefore, this
will increase the population of the commune
resulting in higher health costs.
This system assigns emission quota to
the different emission sources, which total sum
is a level where the environmental quality regulations are not surpassed. In addition, those
quotas may be freely traded on the market.
In the region there is an average of
3.22m2 of parkland per person. However, Pudahuel and Cerro Navia, have 1.29m3 and
2.83 respectivelyii. It is necessary then, to increase parkland in most polluted neighborhoods. It is also necessary to avoid raising dust
particles.
The Government itself is contributing to
increase the population in the most affected
areas.
New real state developments should
consider health costs caused by high levels in
pollution and inform future buyers of the risks
that they are being exposed to by buying in
those areas.
The location of public housing, besides,
should consider the social cost of locating multiple resident housing in highly polluted areas.
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In consequence, if someone can reduce
their emission levels under the established
quota, they have the incentives to do so, because they can sell that difference to those
who are going to surpass the quota or sell it to
new sources that intend to establish in the Metropolitan Region. Therefore, two objectives
are achieved: maintain the economic development and fulfill the emission reduction goals at
a lower cost and at a shorter period.
To implement a system that has been
successful, tested and accepted by other countries in reducing the greenhouse effect, doesn’t
require an Air Manager, just the political will in
order to make it happen.
i
It is estimated that non-catalytic cars have approximately
70,4 restriction days per year and catalytic cars have 1,2
restriction days per year. The daily cost of not circulating
is estimated around $ 650 Chilean pesos for non-catalytic
cars and $ 1.270 Chilean pesos for catalytic cars.
ii Sistema Nacional de Información Municipal – National
System of Municipal Information (www.sinim.cl)
iii CONAMA: Follow up report for the implementation of
the APDP. 2005
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