IMPLEMENTATION OF EU AQ LEGISLATION IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

J. FIALA

Czech Hydrometeorological Institute

Prague, Czech Republic

• Democratic changes in the CR have enforced also the improvement of environment

=>Adoption of environmentally friendly legislation

• Privatization, restructuring of economy (decline from heavy industry), liberalisation of prices of energy

Implementation of necessary abatement measures (desulphurization of large power plants, gasification etc.)

Air emissions and consequently ambient air concentrations of basic pollutants (SO2, PM and NOx) have decreased remarkably in the Czech Republic after 1990

Air Pollution in CR in the Last Decade

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NH3 Emissions Ostrava Region mean Northw est Region mean

Prague mean

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EU Enlargement and Environment

• EU Enlargement is an important stimulus also for further improvement of the environment in CEEC

• The accession process requires the adoption of the European environmental legislation

=> Transposition and implementation of EU legislation into the national legislation to be in a compliance with the EU environmental laws

Approximation of AQ Legislation• Accession countries have been facing to transpose

and implement more than a dozen of EU AQ related directives and regulations:– Integrated Pollution Prevention Control

– National Emission Ceiling and

– Air Emission related directives

• In ambient air quality transposition and implementation of:• Framework Directive 96/62/EC• Daughter Directives 1999/30/EC, 2000/69/EC and

2002/3/EC• Exchange of Information (EoI) Decision

97/101/EC• Approximation of EU legislation led in the CEE

candidate countries to the adoption of new clean air acts

New Clean Air Act in CR

• On 1 June 2002 new Clean Air Act (CAA) No. 86/2002 Coll. came into force

• About five Regulations and for Decrees transpose the directives of NEC, AE and AQ (and IPPC)

• The new legislation fully reflects the requirements of the EU air protection directives

• Regulation No. 350/2002 Coll. setting new air pollution limit values came into force on 14 August 2002

• This Regulation brings also the stricter limit value for cadmium in comparison with the limit value set by the preceding Decree of 1991 and introduces also the limit values for arsenic, nickel, mercury and benzo(a)pyrene

Harmonization of air quality monitoring

• Daughter Directives (99/30/EC, 2000/69/EC, 2002/3/EC) specify the detailed minimum requirements concerning

–the site selection for monitoring stations, –basic requirements as concerns criteria on localities both at micro- and macro-scale, traffic sites –data quality objectives, –general requirements for AQ assessment procedures

• During the year 2003 the national air quality monitoring network reflecting requirements of CAA is being innovated (monitoring of PM2.5 , extension of monitoring of benzene etc.)

Areas with Deteriorated Air Quality (Non-attainment Areas)

• The new AQ Directives require that the member states divide their territories into zones and agglomerations as basic units for air quality management

• The Clean Air Act introduces the term areas with deteriorated air quality ~ non-attainment areas

• These are the areas with the exceedance of the values of one or more air pollution limit values

• The identification of the non-attainment areas is a necessary prerequisite for the preparation of action plans and plans for air quality improvement in these areas

Agglomerations in CR

• Special AQ protection is required in agglomerations (inhabited areas with the population of at least 250 000)

• Air quality assessment in these areas will be determined mainly on the basis of regular and quality measurements

Agglomeration Number of population

Cities involved into the proposed agglomeration

Praha 1 217 023 Praha Ostrava 576 958 Ostrava, Karviná, Havířov, Český Těšín Ústí nad Labem

517 413 Ústí n. L., Děčín, Teplice, Most, Chomutov,

Litvínov, Klášterec n. O., Kadaň Brno 390 112 Brno Total 2 701 506

Mapping of territorial distribution of air pollution levels

• Delimitation of non-attainment areas by mapping

• Objective interpolation of point measurement

• Representativeness of monitoring sites

• Mapping involves assimilation procedures of

model results with measured values

(spatially disaggregated emission inventories)

PM specific emissions

Mapping of Emission Fluxes of Primary PM, HM and PAHS

Cd specific emissions

As emissions from 5x5 km gridPAHs emissions from 5x5 km grid

AQ Assessment-Health Protection, SO2Time Courses of SO2 Air Pollution

Characteristics

Time Courses of PM10 AP CharacteristicsOf the total number of 121 stations at which PM10 measurements are carried out, 57 stations reported exceedences of 24-hour PM10 limit value, while 29 stations of them reported also exceedences of the limit value including the margins of tolerance

AQ Assessment-Health Protection, PM10

AQ with Respect to Limit Values for Health - PM10

36th highest 24-hour PM10 concentrations, 2002

AQ with Respect to Limit Values for Health - PM10, 2. stage

Annual average PM10 concentrations, 2002. 2. stage LV

AQ with Respect to Limit Values for Health - NOx

Annual average and 19th highest 1-hour concentrations of NOx as selected stations in 1992-2002.

76th highest maximum of daily 8-hour moving average concentration of ozone, 2000–2002

AQ with Respect to Limit Values for Health - Ozone

Annual mean concentrations of Cadmium, 2002

AQ with Respect to Limit Values for Health - Cadmium

AQ with Respect to Limit Values for Health - BaP

Annual mean concentrations of BaP, 2002

Non-attainment Areas (Areas with Deteriorated Air Quality)

Health Protection

Summary AQ Characterisation

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Charakteristika

SO2-24H 2,55 0,2 0 0,10 0,20

PM10-24H+RP 34,37 21,1 10,768 22,10 24,50

NO2-RP 0,33 0,25 0,287 0,30 0,30

CO-8H -- -- 0,575 0,40 0,35

Benzen-RP -- -- 3,189 2,10 2,20

Cd- RP -- -- 0,451 0,50 0,50

O3-8H -- -- 56,654

% populace ~° AQIh,x

% of population in areas with deteriorated AQ

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=> % of population within zones (areas) where limit values (and LV + MT) for protection of health are exceeded (AQ Indicator)

% of population in areas classified according to EU DD, protection of public health

Non-attainment Areas (Areas with Deteriorated Air Quality, (1DD + 3DD))

Protection of Vegetation an Ecosystems

Conclusions of AQ Assessment More than 64% of population is exposed to ozone concentrations

exceeding the target limit values. Air pollution caused by suspended particles (PM10 fraction) exceeds the

limit values including the margins of tolerance. The areas in which PM10 concentrations exceed the limit values are

inhabited by more than 23 % inhabitants. In 1998 this share amounted even to more than 34 %.

PM10 limit values for 2010 are exceeded on more than 75 % of the territory.

Benzo(a)pyrene limit value is exceeded on more than 3 % of the CR with more than 20 % of population.

The problem of exceeding concentrations of suspended particles should be solved both at local and regional levels, especially by measures aimed at the reduction of emissions caused by transport.

High share of secondary particles shows that the necessary reduction of PM10 concentrations will be feasible only by further reduction of emissions of the precursors (NOx, SO2, VOC) of secondary particles of atmospheric aerosol.

Further emission reduction of NOx and VOC emissions at large scale is the only way how to reduce the environmental loads caused by exceeding ground-level ozone concentrations.

Programs and Plans for AQ Management

• National Emission Reduction Program is being prepared to achieve NECs for SO2, NOX, VOCs and NH3 by 2010.

• Under these national plans, regional emission reduction programs are being prepared for each of 14 Czech regions.

• These programs cover all pollutants for which either ECs or ambient AQ limit values are laid down.

• In accordance with the FWD, additional regional air quality management programs are being prepared for pollutants with exceeded limit values.

• Integrated permitting according to the IPPC directive is a major tool of air quality management.

• All the programs to be completed before the date of accession of the Czech Republic to the EU, i.e. before May 1, 2004.