Air quality in Tatabánya

Is Tatabanya currently a very polluted city?

Tatabánya is a city in north-western Hungary, in the Central Transdanubian region. It is the capital of Komárom-Esztergom County. According to a census conducted in 2017, Tatabánya had an estimated population of approximately 66,000 residents. It is located in the valley between the Gerecse and Vértes Mountains, about 55 kilometres from the capital, Budapest.

At the beginning of 2022, the city was experiencing a period of “Moderate” air quality with a US AQI reading of 72. 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 Tatabánya there were three of the main pollutants measured which were; PM2.5 - 22 µg/m³, PM10 - 24 µg/m³ and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) - 3.3 µg/m³.

This level of PM2.5 is slightly more than twice 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 “Moderate” the given advice would be to remain indoors as much as possible, closing doors and windows to prevent the ingress of more polluted air. 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 Tatabánya?

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 May, June and July, Tatabánya achieved the WHO target figure of being less than 10 µg/m³. The months of February and August saw air quality in the “Good” category with respective figures of 10.3 and 10.5 µg/m³. For the remaining seven months of the year, the air quality was “Moderate” with figures between 12.1 and 35.4 µg/m³. The dirtiest month was January with a reading of 24 µg/m³.

Historically, there were no records for air quality kept before 2020 when the annual average was noted as being 12.7 µg/m³. This 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 Tatabánya?

Currently, the main problems in air pollution at the national level are increasing amounts of nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and, in summer, ozone (the main component of summer smog), the primary sources of which are exhaust gases, but the concentration of the latter two pollutants depends significantly on weather conditions. Transport currently accounts for a quarter of total solids emissions, more than half of nitrogen oxide emissions and more than 70 per cent of carbon monoxide emissions.

Suspended particles (PM) consist of solid and liquid particles floating in the air. These include a wide range of substances, from sea salt and pollen to carcinogens such as benzo (a) pyrene and soot. Suspended particles are divided into two groups depending on their size: PM10 (coarse particles) and PM2.5 (fine particulate matter). In parts of Europe where households still often heat with solid fuels, the colder the winter, the higher the emissions of air pollutants (especially PM).

Can anything be done to improve air quality in Tatabánya?

Although Tatabánya was known as one of the “dirty 12” until the early 1990s, the decline of industry after the change of regime, the closure and modernisation of obsolete power plants led to a spectacular boom in improving the quality of the environment. In fact, the concept of “dirty 12” has become obsolete today, as air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are now not primarily linked to industry, but to transport, and thus to densely populated cities with high throughput.

What are the detrimental effects of breathing polluted air in Tatabánya?

The WHO identifies particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ground-level ozone as the most harmful air pollutants for human health.

The report shows that fine particles (PM2.5) have caused the premature death of around 400,000 EU citizens; nitrogen dioxide is responsible for 75,000 and ground-level ozone for 13,600 premature deaths.

According to the WHO, heart disease and stroke account for 80% of premature deaths due to air pollution. This is followed by lung diseases, including lung cancer, and other diseases.

Emission limits vary in different parts of the world, even by country. They are not easy to define, as a particular air pollutant affects the elderly, children or those who already have a health problem (such as asthma) that can be exacerbated by polluted air.

Flying dust - measured in different size ranges. PM10 is defined as particles smaller than 10 micrometres, which includes PM2.5 (particles smaller than 2.5 microns) and PM1. Anthropogenic sources include transport, combustion and combustion processes (heating) and various industrial processes. PM2.5 is extremely dangerous to health because it is so tiny that it enters the lungs and is hardly or not excreted at all. Flying dust can cause heart and respiratory disease. Flying dust also reduces visibility. This includes the so-called "black carbon", the source of which is the burning of fossil fuels and biomass.