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The new EU guidelines and the possibility of their realisation

Edited synopsis

Requested by the
Building Commission of the Bavarian State Ministry
80539 München

The newly recommended EU thresholds for air pollutants, which are intended to become national law 1st of July 2001, are in part a heavy change of the criteriae of air quality.

The possibility of conforming to these thresholds seems inlikely to the author, due to insufficient measures.

The following table briefly outlines the seperate substances, the thresholds, and the tolerance margins for each substance.

Substance	Hourly average			Yearly average
Substance	Threshold	Tolerance	Annual decrease	Threshold	Tolerance	Annual decrease
Sulphur Dioxide	350 µg/m³	120 µg/m³	30 µg/m³	-	-	-
Sulphur Dioxide	In 1999, two measurement points registered hourly average values of over 470 µg/m³ in Bavaria. At nine measurement points, values far above 125 µg/m³ were measured. High hourly averages of SO2 with concern to the new thresholds pose a problem.
Nitrogen Dioxide	200 µg/m³	90 µg/m³	10 µg/m³	40 µg/m³	18 µg/m³	2 µg/m³
Nitrogen Dioxide	In "clean air areas", it should be possible to comply with the threshold. Vegetation protection in botanic gardens and recreational areas can most likely not be guaranteed.
PM10	50 µg/m³	20 µg/m³	5 µg/m³	40 µg/m³	6.4 µg/m³	-
PM10	The threshold of 46.4 µg/m³ cannot be acchieved in most of Bavaria's larger cities. On busy motorways with little wind activity (Bayreuth, Augsburg, Wuerzburg), the threshold of 46.4 µg/m³ can still be exceeded 40m away from the street when a high number of heavy trucks are on the road.
Lead	-	-	-	0.5 µg/m³	-	-
Lead	Owing to the fact that lead is no longer mixed into fuels, lead pollution is only a problem in the vicinity of lead production plants. The threshold is unlikely to be exceeded in cities.
Benzine	5 µg/m³	5 µg/m³	1 µg/m³	-	-	-
Benzine	The concentration of benzine in fuels will continue to decrease. The threshold can most likely be held.
Carbon monoxide	10 µg/m³ [/8h]	6 µg/m³	2 µg/m³	-	-	-
Carbon monoxide	Apart from busy tunnels, it is to be expected that the threshold will not be exceeded.

Remarks

When assessing the new thresholds, the following must be considered:

1. The Shell prognosis assumes a 7-10% increase of vehicles.
2. Most of the beforementioned measurements were at a height of 4m above ground.
3. The emission data HEFA Version 1.2 used in the computer simulations seem to underestimate the immission situation.

Literary references

1.Ecoplan, (1995) Abschlußbericht über die Durchführung von Immissionsmessungen verkehrsbedingter Schadstoffe im Freistaat Bayern 1994/95, Bericht 94/250 243 für das Bayerische Landesamt für Umweltschutz 1995

2. Landesamt für Umweltschutz, Bayern (1998):

2.1 Bericht über Luftschadstoffmessungen an einer Bundesautobahn A6, Anschlußstelle Nürnberg-Langwasser

2.2 Bericht über Immissionsmessungen an der Bundesautobahn A8, Anschlußstelle Hofoldinger Forst

2.3 Bericht über DOAS Immissionsmessungen an der Bundesautobahn A6, Anschlußstelle Nürnberg-Langwasser

3. Schorling&Partner (2000) Neue EU Grenzwerte für Luftschadstoffe und die Möglichkeit ihrer Einhaltung, Auswertung von Meßwerten und Prognosen in Bayern. Bericht für die Oberste Baubehörde im Bayerischen Staatsministerium des Innern

4. Shell AG (1999): Mehr Autos – Weniger Emissionen, Szenarien des Pkw-Bestandes und der Neuzulassungen

5.TÜV Bayern (1998) Immissionsmessungen verkehrsbedingter Schadstoffe im Freistaat Bayern 1996-1998, Untersuchung für das Landesamt für Umweltschutz, Bayern

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