The number of “pollution” days, where the measures exceeded the regulatory framework, has never been as low as in 2022, Airparif announced on Thursday April 12. In 2022, 10 days of pollution were recorded, compared to 11 in 2021. In addition, the levels of nitrogen and particles “continue to drop” continuing their “improvement started for two decades”, according to the organization in charge of monitoring air quality in the Île-de-France region. This is particularly the case for PM10, particles with a diameter of less than 10 micrometers, or 10 thousandths of a millimeter, which are particularly dangerous.
Thus “for the first time, no Ile-de-France resident is exposed to air whose concentration exceeds the regulatory limit value for PM10 particles”, i.e. 40 micrograms per cubic meter on an annual average according to French regulations, notes Airparif. This drop is due in particular to the regulations put in place, leading to a “trend decrease in emissions from the residential sector and road traffic”, and to favorable weather conditions which have limited emissions related to heating.
French regulations fall short of WHO recommendations
However, the levels of pollution observed in the Paris region are still far from respecting the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), added Airparif. PM2.5 particles (particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers or 2.5 thousandths of a millimeter, also dangerous), are not included in the threshold for triggering these alerts, underlines Airparif.
The UN organization recommends exposure to PM10 not exceeding an average of 15 micrograms per cubic meter of air over a year. As for PM2.5, the limit on average per year is set at 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air. According to these latter criteria, “nearly 90% of Ile-de-France residents” were, last year, exposed to exceeding the thresholds for PM10 and “all” of them were also exposed for PM2.5. As for nitrogen dioxide, 40,000 Ile-de-France residents are still exposed to air whose concentrations exceed the imposed limit value, set in France at 40 micrograms per cubic meter as an annual average. The limit set by the WHO is four times lower.
Another negative point, the ozone concentration shows no improvement and would even tend to increase, the quality objective being exceeded everywhere in the region in 2022, both with regard to French regulations and WHO recommendations. According to the Île-de-France Regional Health Observatory (ORS) and Airparif, 7,900 premature deaths linked to air pollution would have been avoidable in 2022 if adequate measures had been taken, i.e. as many as in 2021.
