Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
At the time of industrial pollution the relationship between pollutant emissions
and air quality could be described as being linear. Due to the concerns that existed at
the time, most of the attention was focused on periods of peak pollution in order to
try and limit the amount of industrial emissions during these periods so as not to
exceed the threshold level of pollutants present in the air, as allowed in the
European Environmental policy. At the time, acid particle pollution was much
higher than it is today, and it became necessary to remove the peak pollution periods
in areas which were vulnerable to such pollution. These areas included areas in
France such as the Étang de Berre, Dunkirk, the lower-Seine, Grenoble, Lyon, etc.
Over the last 20 years many different devices have been successful at removing
these peak pollution periods. The devices were drawn up by the DRIRE and
different industrialists, and also became an integral part of different prefectoral laws.
The result of such actions is generally positive, and in order to achieve such a result
it is necessary to rely on the use of basic weather forecasting. Measurement tools,
however, make it possible to continuously monitor pollution and to easily detect
areas of peak pollution.
The aim of these alerts is to remove any periods of peak pollution. In order to
achieve this, the alerts serve as a way to force industries into using low sulfur fuels.
The alerts, which are operated by the prefects and which are not exposed to much
media coverage, rely on the principle of improving air quality by reducing emissions
of acid particle pollution. An alert is raised by the DRIRE, based on advice given
from meteorologists who rely on weather forecasts. Local negotiations, which
involve prefectoral services, measurement networks and industrialists, try to decide
on the device that is to be used to help remove the periods of peak pollution. The
creation of such devices is based on two main indicators: the first is predictive
(forecasting a high-risk weather situation); the second is optional, and refers to the
level of air quality. In industrial areas, models that forecast the levels of sulfur
pollution are used. These models are relatively easy to use once factors such as
temperature, atmospheric pressure, absence of wind, and the existence of a
temperature inversion in the lower layers of the atmosphere are known. The alert is
preventative, and it can be preceded by a pre-alert during which industrialists are
told to pay attention to the amount of pollution that is being produced by their
industries.
The use of such a device has come into question with the emergence of car
pollution. Preventing car pollution is a much more complicated process. Air quality
management, which focuses on monitoring industrial emissions, has changed
dramatically with the introduction of many other sources of pollution. At the time
when heavy industry in towns started to decline, atmospheric pollution from cars
started to increase and became part of a renewed vision of the urban environment,
urban ecology and the sustainable city.
