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Description
The main applicant is the KORIDOR D8 association which started its activities as an association of municipalities and associations of the Koridor D8 in 2017. The municipalities involved in the project, based on a signed letter of intent, consider the measurement of air quality to be very important. These are 10 municipalities of the Ustecky Region: Bohušovice nad Ohří, Hrobce, Mnetěš, Straškov-Vodochody, Přestavlky, Račiněves, Černěves, Dušníky, Kleneč, Dobříň.
A network of sensor measurements and meteocomplete will be installed in these locations in order to locate the problem and inform about the state of the environment and propose measures to improve air quality. Based on this, the project will have a positive impact on the environment in these locations. Regular air monitoring will also enable the municipality to better influence the citizens and increase their ownership of air pollution, as well as improve their readiness to request additional funding for the right measures and to implement these corrective measures. In the municipalities, 30 sites in the area with local heating installations will be surveyed and verified by reference measurements.
All data will be transferred online to the MYSQL data repository and further displayed as points, areas and graphs. The data can be further exported for further work. Each measured site will have a card (location, description, photos), the system will also store sensor information, especially valid factors determined at the beginning and during monitoring. Operation, data analysis and interpretation will be provided by the project partner VŠB TU Ostrava.
Summary of project results
The project focused on the acquisition, operation, and evaluation of sensor technology. The primary goal was to verify the suitability of sensor technology for air quality measurement in municipalities, particularly with regard to local heating. The growing popularity of using sensors to measure almost anything, including air quality, without basic responsibility for quality of acquired data is becoming a fundamental problem. The market is literally flooded with sensors that lack laboratory validation. However, municipalities are part of public administration and need to carry air quality measurements for their citizens. Their results are used to implement measures such as replacement of local heating sources, traffic optimization, or industrial interventions. Therefore, it is necessary to approach measurement responsibly. In the project, a database was prepared for further use by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ) and for experience sharing with other projects. The database is native, meaning it contains all events that occurred to the sensors, such as outages, extremes, high or low sensitivity episodes, etc. This is to understand the correct selection and ensure responsible operation of the sensors. The project also found that municipalities are very heterogeneous areas, and the pollution by PMx is uneven. This can be due to local influences or sensor errors, which will need to be further analysed in the acquired data. At the same time, the project brings extensive experience on how to adequately set measurement quality. The measurement proved that sensors cannot replace reference measurements, which are much more robust and under constant control. Ultimately, Desepite all the reservations, complaints and objections, the data from sensor networks can be used for interpretation.
The sensors were procured from a supplier ENVITECH Bohemia through a public tender, with the crucial basic requirement being their calibration prior to the start of measurement. Calibration was conducted at the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ). It was carried simultaneously for all sensors and a dust measurement device FIDAS was used as a reference. The measurement lasted for 40 days and resulted in a validation protocol. Before the heating season, monitoring locations for the sensors were selected, and the sensors were placed in selected locations before the temperature dropped and the heating season started. The validated sensors were continuously monitored by the operators, and the data was transmitted online to the Smartenvi.eu web server. The data set was handed over to ČHMÚ in the agreed format for further use, and the data is described in the Final Project Report. The management of the involved municipalities used the results for regular updates to citizens and plans to continue using them for sustainability purposes. The main benefit for air protection is the created data base, which can help with future data autovalidation, sensor autocontrol, and advanced interpretation. It is already evident that the sensors can be used to understand emission/immission dynamics in the municipality and can be a useful tool for air quality protection. This need will grow with the European Union''s pressure to tighten limits from 2030 onwards.
The main output is a supervised database that will further serve to set up sensors as auxiliary measuring devices. The measurement also demonstrated that the advantage of sensors lies in their deployment in a network; sensors correlate very well and their measurements are acceptably accurate. The issue remains in correctness of the measured data comparing compared to reference methods. The project''s results show that sensor measurements are indicative in relation to limits and that the sensors need to be continuously supervised. Additionally, the situation is well described across the area (in space), e.g. whether there are any local sources of air pollution in the municipality, like burning low-quality fuels. The municipality has a strong interest in the measurements as an educational tool and for negotiations with citizens. An interesting finding is the extreme air pollution at midnight during fireworks, which led to concentrations in the range of 10,000 micrograms, raising the question of whether such activities should be eliminated. This also includes the burning of grass and leaves or negligence during construction work. The municipal leadership wants to invest in air protection measures in the future if possible, and continuous measurements will help them select and control these measures effectively. The average PM10 concentrations during the heating season in some municipalities exceed the current limit; for example, in Mnetěš, the PM10 concentration during the heating season was 126 µg/m³ with a maximum hourly concentration of 350 µg/m³, but the situation was also bad in Hrdly, Přestavlky, and Židovice. The maximum hourly concentration was nearly 500 µg/m³. The sensors correlate with each other in the range of 0.8 to 1.0, which means the network is consistent. The yield of sensor measurements exceeds 90% in most cases. The Ústí Region, or more precisely the applicant organization, is also addressing the problem of transportation (highway corridor), which may also contribute to increased dustiness.
Air quality remains a crucial issue for our citizens, and therefore the public administration focuses on its protection. The Koridor D8 project was aimed at continuous monitoring of suspended particles PM10 and PM2.5. Municipalities generally know that they need to address dust pollution, but despite their knowledge of the area, they cannot even identify the biggest offenders. In combination with the TENT (TROMSO) project, the measurement is one of the outputs of Action Plans and supports sensible activities in the locality – from caring for greenery and cleaning roads to transport infrastructure and energy. Action Plans are a repository of possible measures, which need to be continuously checked. Given the EU deadlines in the Green Deal policy, the year 2030 is very close, and in this year, there will be significant changes in legislation related to air quality protection. If municipalities are not prepared, it will be very difficult to achieve changes that have a positive impact on health. Conversely, it is a pity that the entire public administration is not systematically affected, as problems can also arise in areas that currently appear to be in good condition.