Air Quality: Smog Map of Santiago
Here is a government smog map for Santiago Chile. It is a useful map, bookmark it and check it before you go outside to exercise or whatever. (This week it's been raining, so smog levels are temporarily way down).
But before using this map, there are two extremely important problems you should be aware of, and adjust for as best you can:
1. What is measured - ICAP
Santiago's Quality of Particulated Air (ICAP) only measures, well, particles in the air. More specifically, PM-10, which are counted per cubic meter. So when PM-10 levels reach 30, it means that for every cubic meter of air, there are 30 particles with a diameter of 10 microns.
PM-10 is a great place to start when measuring air quality. These microscopic particles dig deep into the respiratory tissue and increase the risk of throat cancer. Their PM-2.5 compatriots dig deep into lungs, and portend lung cancer. Once diagnosed, lung cancer patients have a 15% survival rate after five years.
But an accurate measure of air quality is so much more than just particles. There are chemicals, too, and Santiago isn't measuring them. Or warning its citizens about them. Or taking any direct action to reduce these chemicals.
As I pointed out last year in a post about air quality in Santiago Chile, a study conducted in 2004 by the University of Santiago points out that the government is failing to prevent 40%-50% of the days that Santiago residents are exposed to dangerous carbon monoxide levels.
Live Los Angeles air quality monitoring uses the Air Quality Index, which in addition to PM-10, factors the following:
-Ozone (O3)
-Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
-Carbon Monoxide (CO)
2. What is "good"
Santiago's ICAP declares that levels of PM-10 up to 100 is "good". Up to 200 is "regular". And only when it becomes "bad", at 200+, do vehicle restrictions begin going into place.
Unfortunately, half of what's considered "good" in Chile is considered extremely dangerous in the developed world.
An article about smog in Thailand notes:
In London, the United States and the European Union as a whole it is considered a serious pollution ‘episode’ if the PM-10 level exceeds 50...In Chile, up to 4x that is A-Okay.
Patricio Pérez, the author of the above mentioned carbon monoxide study, was recently quoted in an article about smog in Santiago:
It's as if we were swimming at a beach not suitable to bathe in. Santiago's air, during four or five months (each year), is not suitable to breathe, and the government throws these lifesavers when there are people who are 'drowning', so that they don't 'die'".It's true. The government only takes action after children and the elderly are forced into hospitals.
For all her motherly daycare initiatives, Chile's President Michelle Bachelet didn't once mention smog in her state of the union address Wednesday.
Last week was particularly bad. The Icelandic grad student who told me about the smog map writes:
I hadn´t noticed the smog too much (well of course I could see it) but it first started affecting me last week, when I started having sore eyes and coughing like crazy. It´s nasty shit.And according to 123.cl, Santiago hospital visits for respiratory problems shot up by 30%:
María Teresa Parada, a lung and respiratory system doctor at Las Condes Clinic, said that, "it's like smoking, exactly the same. If this stays the same...it will provoke inflammatory damage that becomes chronic."That's not hyperbole. And just like smoking, the negative health effects go on and on. Not only is air pollution thought to cause blood clots, but scientists believe children's mental development is impeded by smog.
In other words, raising children in Santiago is likely a form of child abuse.
And extending the analogy, the government's negligence to find and enact a real solution, as well as their abysmally unhealthy standards, is abuse of its citizens. From the article:
If the ICAP is higher than 200, an "environmental alert" is called, if it is greater than 300 "pre-emergency" an when it exceeds 500 an "emergency" is declared, for the damage that these particles represent upon entering the human respiratory system.There are many causes of smog, and many solutions which aren't being taken. On the automobile end, if enough people stopped driving (as recommended) then it would completely collapse the already dysfunctional public transportation system in Santiago, Transantiago.
The objective of the government's package of measures is not very ambitious in this regard: it hopes not to exceed the 22 "environmental alerts" and the six "pre-emergencies" that were registered in 2007.
Pérez advocates that smoke-producing factories relocate outside of Santiago. There's a thought.
In the meantime, I suggest you stop breathing.
posted by Chileno @ 12:56 PM
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12 Comments:
Dear Chileno
You should seriusly consider to have a version of your blog in spanish. Honest. The information you are giving is vey important for the health of the santiaguinos and most of them do not know about it.
I volunteer to translate if you have no time.
Congratulations for another excellent post
I arrived in Santiago in February 2008 for a research and teaching position at the university. I find the pollution level here hardly believable. I feel sick half of the time, and tired the other half, when before coming to Chile I was almost never sick.
Pollution will not only affect the health of the Chilean people, but also affect its immigration, on which it depends for its development: I am thinking about bouncing elsewhere and not recommanding the place to my students.
They are installing bike paths on most streets downtown Santiago. If they combine it with a bike renting/sharing policy, it could help reduce the pollution without saturating public transportations?
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/05/bike-sharing--.html
Of course, if people refuse to take bikes because it is polluted, we are in a cycle without end (or other than the death by asphyxia of the whole population...)
@Cristian, that'd be great. Email me. Thanks.
@Teach': yeah, interesting enough that while Bachelet didn't bother tackling smog, she announced a US $40 million investment in improving Chile's "Country Image". I think it corresponds more to investment. By the looks of it they could care less about people immigrating, or people who immigrate aren't aware just how bad the health effects of smog are. It's like taking up smoking. Or if you already smoke, then smoking twice as much.
@jyby: anyone who exerts themselves in this air is a true martyr. What really needs to happen is severe gov't action (carrots, sticks, whatever) on all levels:
- move factories outside of santiago
- enforce smog checks
- clean public tranport
- criminalize wood burning stoves
I live in an affluent barrio where people can damn well afford to heat their houses with natty gas, yet almost invariably the penny-pinchers burn wood cuz its cheapest.
Poor people kinda depend on cheap heating methods. So...subsidize it! Chile can spend 40 million on its "Country Image" it can sure as hell invest in preventing what are now routine public health disasters.
And even without a subsidy, I live in the pre-cordillera and haven't heated my apt once. Everyone says gringo's are woosies cuz we depend on central heating. I actually like the austere chilean way of living. I wish more chileans did too, then we'd have less smog.
Nice blog entry. I've been wondering about air quality here. There's the air quality index on emol, but the air quality is always "good", even when my eyes water on the extra-polluted days. After my first year living in Santiago I had my first three sinus infections ever. Ironically my first sinus infection was the month Transantiago started, but I don't think it was caused by Transantiago. I now take antihistimines every day and use a neti pot as a temporary solution.
Christian, I think it's a good idea to translate this to Spanish, please do, so I can send a link to my friends who live in Santiago. Although perhaps they'd rather not know. It's depressing to read.
Hi Will
Interesting post. The problem is serious and it's a shame the democratic governments have not managed to solve it yet.
However, I do remember having a similar conversation years ago about the pollution levels of London vs Santiago, and why in London so many died while Santiaguinos aren't dying, and I mean Londonders dropped dead on the street.
And the difference is that Santiago's pollution is different. I did some research just now and I can't really tell but I fear the most dangerous particles are NO2 (I'm not sure though). Santiago is dusty and has some less dangerous particles, that's why the level was raised to 300.
I also wanted to check the government version, and I found this report. The fact is that there's been a dramatic reduction in the number of pre-emergency days, from the peak in 1997. If you consider the sustained economic development of the country against the sustained reduction in pollution, the improvement has been remarkable. That doesn't make Santiago a clean city though.
And Mr Pérez really does not understand the underlying problem. Most industries and factories are located in poor districts so they are taxed there to contribute to the poor municipalities coffers. "Pérez advocates that smoke-producing factories relocate outside of Santiago. There's a thought", it would be of course the solution, but to implement that would make things worse. Jobs will be lost too.
I got really worried when I read "scientists believe children's mental development is impeded by smog". That explains everything about me (it was just 3 IQ points though according to the article).
Cristian: you say "vey important for the health of the santiaguinos and most of them do not know about it", but the problem is that we all know the problem very well but we couldn't care less. It never prevented any of us from playing football (which ctually intensified our mental retardation). There's an attitude problem, most people think that there's no solution so there's no point in complaining, let alone doing something about it
In theory, the solution would be to privatise the atmosphere, so companies would be charged for their pollution by the atmosphere's owner. It would be good even to stop climate change. In practice, it is of course ludicrous.
I think a solution would be to incentivise the technology exchange between developed countries and developing countries (and good to stop climate change, by the way). Most rich countries are cleaner (except the US, but that's different) and their factories pollute less.
Unfortunately, Transantiago was meant to help but as we all know it's an utter disaster.
But to be honest, I fear the government doesn't have a clue how to stop this and nobody knows. It is really grim and demoralising.
BTW, check out Google Translate tools.
@Carlos:
>>>Santiago is dusty and has some less dangerous particles, that's why the level was raised to 300 [PM-10]
Meanwhile, first world countries (I'm not talking about London) sound alarm bells at 50.
Why? Because particulate matter is deadly, no matter where it comes from. In Santiago, as it so happens, some of it comes from dirt being kicked up by construction. But the adage "God made dirt so dirt don't hurt" does not apply here.
Dirt, in the form of PM-10, causes cancer, blood clotting, cognitive impediment, etc, just like PM-10 from diesel or burning wood or any other source.
Also, the report you linked to only goes till 2004. Big problem: as I pointed out last year 2007 was the worst smog year since 1999. Note what Perez wrote two months ago:
Up to now there is no sign that this year will be better than 2007...
He says last year was worse than 2002 (as opposed to my "1999", which I derived from local press at the time). Point is, it's not getting any better.
Furthermore, Santiago is not just "dusty" as you say. Did you not notice that when I wrote:
the government is failing to prevent 40%-50% of the days that Santiago residents are exposed to dangerous carbon monoxide levels. (emphasis retained).
Also NO2 can be measured. If the gov't is measuring it, it sure ain't publicizing it.
Smog scientist Patricio Perez doesn't make policy, he recommends. It's policy makers who are dropping the ball. They need to follow his recommendations post haste, relocate factories, relocate jobs. Santiago could use some population curbing anyway, it's home to 40% of Chile.
Carlos, you write:
>>>But to be honest, I fear the government doesn't have a clue how to stop this and nobody knows.
Bullshit. Perez (and I) have pointed to real, obvious, and really obvious measures:
-Relocate factories
-Enforce smog checks, all the time
-Criminalize wood-burning stoves
-Etc, etc.
Yet meanwhile you throw up this red herring of "privatize the atmosphere". Despite all your moping about the "demoralizing" state of the environment, your argumentation would suggest that you're an agent of corporate polluters, on a secret campaign to preserve the profitable status quo. Or, if you're not, then you might as well apply for the job and cash in on your disingenousness.
You write:
the problem is that we all know the problem very well but we couldn't care less.
Speak for yourself, dude. (Or your employer, as the case may be). Santiaguinos DO care, but the reasons for not acting are complex. Many are obliged to stay in the city, many others have no sense of how to have their voice heard. Remember, for all the progressive patina this country puts up, it's still recovering from a brutal military dictatorship that shunned political involvement, literally through the barrel of a gun.
Yes, many people leave their cars idling, and many more play soccer. Again, the reasons are complex, but I think Cristian's right that citizens are severely underinformed. Meanwhile the government tells them smog is "Good" or "Regular".
It is sad, but it's not something that can't be solved.
I personally have little hope that it will be solved, ever. But it's far from impossible, it's just that there's not enough political will (thanks in part to the government not informing its citizens) and that it's in many peoples' short-term economic interest to continue polluting unregulated.
Cristian, you're still invited to translate this if you want. Google Translate sucks (but I've been linking to it from my sidebar for years, because it's passable in a pinch).
I basically agree with everything people are saying in terms of symptoms...stinging eyes, runny nose, constant cough, it's really all a good time. I went to the Bodies exhibit in Espacio Kennedy over the weekend and was disgusted to see that lungs from a non-smoker living in an urban area were almost as black as those of life-long smokers. I don't have plans to spend the rest of my life in Santiago, but I think even if I did I would have to seriously consider the effect that it would have on my health.
As far as Bachelet, I do think it's awful that in her entire 2+ hour speech yesterday she made no mention of global warming, pollution, etc, which is arguably the largest current international problem and something that obviously affects a huge number of Chileans, between Santiago's smog and that little hole we have in the ozone.
Dear Chileno,
once again my morning reading was informative and intellectually stimulating.
I was also going to suggest you translate this into Spanish. I really think stating the facts makes a big difference.
Sure, the Santiguinos can see and feel the polution, but until you make it clear to them just how dangerous it is, there won't be enough pressure on the politicians to move their profit-orientated asses.
I am concerned about this "Feinstaub" (fine dust) problem here in Klagenfurt as well. A small city, yet as you pointed out to me with your links last time we chatted, levels of up to 100 (PM-10) are recorded in the winter due to bad air circulation.
Thanks for making me aware. I will send a link to your blog entry to my friends here in Klagendorf.
Ramsey
hey chileno
you did it again!!
i felt so good before and now i almost wont breath anymore.
last time i had a salmon in the pan when your bolg told me its full of chemicals.
i life in santiago the way it is, but its always interesting to read about facts that i probably try to ignore.
its a great idea to translate your blog to spanish, most chilenos wont like it. they have a problem when a foreigner criticize their country, hope you dont stop.
thanks for your interesting and informativ posts.
I guess more than 95 % of the woodstoves in Santiago have an unsufficient burning temperature and produce bad gasses. Modern woodstoves should burn at over 1000 centigrades and wil hardly pollute. The Chilian government schould subsidize the spread of better stoves (Finnish style as developed by the university of Tampere or German types Brunner stoves wich have a perfect burningtemperature and produce almost no smoke.)
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