Air quality in Narathiwat

What causes air pollution in Narathiwat and is it highly polluted?

Air pollution has a prevalence in Narathiwat due to many of the reasons that afflict other cities, towns and regions throughout Thailand as well as neighboring countries. These include ones such as the burning of vast swathes of forest or farmland, conducted in a practice known as slash and burn farming. Whilst this is most prevalent in the northern regions of the country, it can also affect many other provinces, causing the pollution levels to spike drastically towards the end of the year and stay elevated into the early months of the following year, with some cited figures from years past demonstrating this, which will be discussed in the last two questions of the article. Other causes of air pollution in Narathiwat include exhaust fumes emitted from the numerous vehicles in use, with a large amount of them being of the aged or defunct variety. Whilst there have been many steps taken to remove those excess pollution-causing vehicles from the roads, particularly in major cities, their use is still prevalent throughout many rural areas or outside the larger or more densely populated regions. Due to the extremely poor combustion process that takes place (often coupled with low-quality fuels or fossil fuels), considerably higher amounts of noxious oil vapors are released into the atmosphere, along with the usual chemical compounds such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone (which forms afterward as the various pollutants are exposed to solar radiation, thus forcing a reaction take place which forms ozone, or smog as it is more commonly known as). Other causes include factories and power plants, which also rely heavily on burning fossil fuels to meet their power needs. Road repairs, construction sites and other similar areas also release high amounts of ultrafine or coarse particles into the air, raising the PM2.5 and PM10 levels, which can cause prominent spikes in the particle pollution readings. The combustion of raw and organic materials remains as one of the more prevalent causes of pollution in Narathiwat, compounded further by anthropogenic and industrial activities.

What are some of the main pollutants in Narathiwat?

The main pollutants found in the air in Narathiwat are those that are part of the US AQI aggregation, which is calculated by the volume of these pollutants and their prevalence in the atmosphere. These are chemical compounds that include among them nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide as well as the two main forms of particle pollution, PM2.5 and PM10. Out of these two forms of particulate matter, PM2.5 remains as the more dangerous of the two, being comprised of any material that is 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter (with these particles ranging from several extremely dangerous materials such as metals, bacteria and mold spores, nitrates, sulfates and a variety of liquid-vapor droplets, along with ultrafine dust, which can cause scarring to the lung tissue when inhaled along with some of them being carcinogenic). Other pollutants found in the air are ones such as black carbon and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), both of which are released prominently by the combustion of organic material as well as fossil fuels. Some examples of VOCs are benzene, which is known to be highly carcinogenic, as well as styrene, methylene chloride, toluene, xylene and formaldehyde. VOCs can also make up a large portion of indoor air pollution levels, with many household items (particularly toiletries) releasing them steadily into the air. Air fresheners, paints, glues, and varnishes can all release them, along with other innocuous items such as scented candles.

Is breathing polluted air damaging to health in Narathiwat?

Gradual and long-term exposure to elevated amounts of polluted air in Narathiwat can cause many individuals to be subject to extremely negative health effects and other serious conditions, particularly prominent to those individuals who fall under the sensitive group's bracket. Of note though, is that even healthy adults may fall ill or sustain damage when air pollution exposure is excessive, or exposure takes place over many years, with this phenomenon being particularly salient for those who live in closer proximity to highly polluted areas in Narathiwat, which include industrial districts or near busy roads and highways, where the air quality will be poor for a majority of the year. Some conditions that may appear due to this exposure would be short-term ones such as dry coughs, as well as chest pains and subsequent infections of the respiratory tract and lungs. These typically resolve themselves fairly quickly when exposed to air pollution is halted. They may also progress into more long-term or chronic issues, with continuous bouts of chest infections and coughing leading to scarring of lung tissue, which can result in permanently decreased lung capacity and function. Furthermore, having sustained inflammation of the lung tissue can cause those affected to be far more vulnerable to a whole host of other respiratory illnesses, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often being part of these ailments. COPD is an umbrella term that encompasses several lung and respiratory tract ailments that carry with them some different symptoms. Breathing in polluted air when an individual already suffers from pre-existing conditions can cause them to worsen, and thus progress into potentially more life-threatening forms of said illness. Some of the conditions that can be classified under the COPD bracket are aggravated forms of asthma, as well as emphysema, pneumonia, and bronchitis. Other forms of damage that can happen within the body include increased risk of cancer, heart attacks, strokes and arrhythmias, as well as ischemic heart disease and many other cardiac or pulmonary conditions that can bring about decreased quality of life as well as lower an individual’s life expectancy in Narathiwat.

When are pollution levels highest in Narathiwat?

Utilizing air quality data from 2020 as longitudinal examples, it can be seen that the months of January through to April had the highest readings of PM2.5, although they were significantly less in severity than many other cities and towns throughout Thailand. All of these months fell within the 'moderate' rating bracket, which requires a PM2.5 reading of 12.1 to 35.4 μg/m³ to be classified as such. August, September and November also came in within this bracket, showing the sporadic nature of air pollution in Narathiwat when compared to other areas in Thailand. Out of all of these months, January was the most highly polluted with its reading of 17 μg/m³.

When is the air safer to breathe in Narathiwat?

The months of June, July, October and December had the cleanest readings present in 2020, once again showing that the pollution levels had a more random nature to them, although it was clear that the first quarter of the year had the highest levels of air pollution. The above-mentioned months all fell within the 'good' air quality rating bracket, which requires a PM2.5 reading of 10 to 12 μg/m³ for classification.