How clean is the air where you live? How you heat your home, whether or not you live near a busy road and emissions from farming and power generation can all impact the quality of the air we breathe.
Poor air quality has serious health implications – the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described air pollution as the “single biggest environmental health risk”.
Having an open fire or stove, traffic fumes, and chemicals and emissions from local industry really aren’t good for you. Those suffering from asthma and respiratory conditions are worst affected, but others can experience things such as frequent headaches and eye irritation from bad air.
That’s not the worst of it. Breathing in poor quality air over time can contribute to serious illnesses such as stroke, heart disease and even lung cancer, says the WHO.
It’s hard to believe there are approximately 1,600 premature deaths in Ireland each year due to poor air quality, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Clean air really matters.
The main concerns in Ireland are fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from solid fuel burning and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂).
NO₂ is a pollutant gas that mainly comes from traffic emissions and other oil and gas combustion processes. It can also come from home heating, power stations and the use of nitrogen fertiliser and manure in agriculture.
Being exposed to NO₂ gas, even for short periods, can have harmful effects on your health and wellbeing, says the EPA.
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Clean Air Together Waterford is a citizen science project that’s aiming to do something about clean air. Led by the EPA in partnership with Waterford City and County Council, Clean Air Together Waterford is recruiting 400 participants to measure levels of the traffic-related air pollutant, nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), across Waterford city and its environs.
It follows the success of similar Clean Air Together projects in Dublin, Cork and Galway city in recent years.
The goal is to get a better understanding of air pollution so as to drive policy and behaviour that can improve air quality in the future.
Residents, businesses and community groups in Waterford can apply to participate and those chosen will be sent a measurement tube to be placed on an outside window on October 2nd. The tube will measure NO₂ levels over a four-week period. Then the tube should be free-posted to a laboratory for analysis.
Participants will be able to see how NO₂ levels in their area compare with other parts of Waterford city.
So if you live in Waterford and you would like to know what the air quality is in your area, now is your chance to find out. At the same time, you could also be contributing to scientific research that could ultimately improve your area. You can apply at cleanairtogether.ie.
Some of the ways Government policy can improve the air we breathe include better, clean public transport; incentives for electric cars and better charging infrastructure; more pedestrian and cycle-friendly routes to work and school; more energy efficient buildings; restrictions on burning smoky solid fuel such as turf, wood and coal, and grants for upgrading old heating systems.
We can all do our bit too. By walking or cycling for shorter trips instead of using the car, taking public transport when feasible and changing our driving habits, we can make the air cleaner for ourselves.
Simply switching off a car engine when the vehicle is stopped instead of idling will reduce the amount of pollution pedestrians and cyclists breathe in. Indeed, every 10 seconds that a car is idling produces more emissions than restarting the engine.
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When cars and buses idle outside schools to drop or pick up children, this can be particularly damaging. Young people are at the greatest risk from air pollution because their lungs are still developing, according to An Taisce’s No Idling toolkit for schools. Children are shorter than adults, so they are physically closer to car exhaust pipes too.
Making your home more energy efficient by installing solar power or heat pump technology is good for air quality, though even with Government grants this can be costly. Turning your engine off instead of idling, or walking instead when you can is something we can all do for free.