Air quality in Be'er Sheva

What is the current level of air pollution in Be'er Sheva?

Beersheba or Be'er Sheva is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. A census was conducted in 2019 which estimated the population to be approximately 210,000 people which would place it as the eighth most populous city in Israel.

At the beginning of 2022, Be’er Sheva was going through a period of air quality that was classed as being “Unhealthy for sensitive groups” with a US AQI reading of 120. This United States Air Quality Index number is an internationally used set of metrics supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and is used to compare the air quality in different cities throughout the world using comparable standards. It is calculated by using the levels of the six most commonly found pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and both sizes of particulate matter, which are PM2.5 and PM10. If all six figures are not always available in which case, a level is calculated by using what data there is. In Be'er Sheva there were three main pollutants measured which were; PM2.5 - 43.2 µg/m³, nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) - 62.1 µg/m³ and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) - 4.7 µg/m³.

This level of PM2.5 is just over four times the recommended safe level of 10 µg/m³ as suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as being an acceptable level. Although no amount of air pollution is considered to be safe.

When air pollution is classified as being “Unhealthy for sensitive groups” the given advice would be to remain indoors as much as possible, closing doors and windows to prevent the ingress of more polluted air. It is highly recommended to operate an air purifier, if one is available, but ensure it is set to recirculate the existing air and not import more dirty air from outside. Those who are more sensitive to poor quality air should avoid venturing outside until it improves. If this is unavoidable, then a good quality face mask should be worn at all times. All types of outdoor exercise should be avoided until the air quality improves. There is a downloadable app from AirVisual.com which is suitable for all operating systems and gives the latest information regarding air quality in real-time.

Does the level of air pollution vary much throughout the year in Be'er Sheva?

Air quality can be affected by many things, therefore it can and does change rapidly depending on the local conditions. Looking back at the 2020 figures published by IQAir.com, it can be seen that during the month of June, the recorded figures were from the “Good” classification with a reading of 10.9 µg/m³. The remaining eleven months of the year saw figures from the “Moderate” group with readings between 12.1 and 35.4 µg/m³. The worst month for air quality was October with a reading of 27.9 µg/m³. These figures are all expressed in microns per cubic metre.

Records regarding air quality were first held in 2017 when a figure of 17.7 µg/m³ was recorded. The following year saw an improvement with a figure of 16.1 µg/m³. Unfortunately, in 2019 the figure declined sharply to 19.2 µg/m³, before bouncing back a little in 2020 to 16.1 µg/m³, but this lower figure was almost expected because it would have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as many vehicles were no longer in daily use because the offices were closed and the staff encouraged to work from home, in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus. Many factories and non-essential production units were also required to close which removed their emissions from the atmosphere, albeit on a temporary basis. Worldwide, cities reported a much better quality of air due to the general lack of traffic pollution in city centres due to the pandemic.

What is the main source of air pollution in Be'er Sheva?

Air pollution has man-made sources, the most important of which are transportation, power plants, factories. In addition to these there are natural sources of air pollution (like dust storms) as well as pollution migration that brings additional pollution from the direction of Europe or the desert.

According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, in recent years there has been a significant decrease in some air pollutants such as lead, sulphur oxides, and nitrogen oxides but there is no similar decrease in two serious and common pollutants such as particulate matter and ground level ozone which are a problem in most Israeli cities.

Can anything be done to improve air quality in Be'er Sheva?

The existing reduction in some of the pollutants in the field of pollution from transportation was achieved thanks to the improvement in fuels and engines as well as taxation on diesel vehicles. There is a decrease in some common pollutants due to air pollution originating in factories and power plants - especially in industrial pollution centres due to a combination of legislation, public pressure and growing awareness leading to the adoption of cleaner technologies, technologies for cleaning and filtering pollution.

The Israeli government is promoting various initiatives to reduce air pollution, for example the transition from coal-fired power plants to natural gas stations, the promotion of renewable energy, the installation of eliminators in chimneys, incentives to switch to cleaner fuels and more.

What are the detrimental effects of breathing in polluted air?

Air pollution in Israel contributes to health, social and environmental problems. The most immediate and obvious harm is harm to the health of residents by increasing the incidence of heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respiratory diseases (such as bronchitis and asthma), cancers, and infectious diseases of the lower respiratory tract in children.

Even healthy people can experience health impacts from polluted air including respiratory irritation or breathing difficulties during exercise or outdoor activities. Your actual risk of adverse effects depends on your current health status, the pollutant type and concentration, and the length of your exposure to the polluted air.

In general, diseases associated with air pollution are more harmful to patients, the elderly and children. In these, the immune system is weaker. Children are also more likely to develop health and respiratory infections than adults because of the large volume of air they breathe and their presence in the open air for longer hours.