In Lombardy the air quality is out of control:Pm10 above the limits in six capitals

Arpa data for the first quarter of 2024 published.The problem of pollution does not only concern large cities, on the contrary

MILAN - Fine particulate matter values ​​(Pm10) higher than normal in 6 out of 10 Lombardy capitals. According to data provided by the ARPA of Lombardy, the first quarter of 2024 ends with “a merciless picture of the quality of the air breathed by the citizens of Lombardy”. Legambiente writes this in a note.The worst air was recorded, in order, at Monza, Cremona, Brescia, Mantua, Lodi and Milan. In the six capitals, the average concentration of PM10 exceeded 40 micrograms per cubic meter, the threshold value indicated by the European standard as an annual average. The situation is slightly better in Bergamo and Pavia, and then in the foothill cities of Como, Varese, Sondrio and Lecco. "In any case, none of these cities recorded values ​​lower than those required by the new European directive on air quality, which once it comes into force will lower the annual average to 20 micrograms per cubic meter", explains the environmental association.Which defines as "equally disheartening" the data relating to the number of days in which the air was unbreathable, recording values ​​higher than 50 micrograms per cubic meter as a daily average.“Two capitals - Cremona and Brescia - as of March 31st have already broken through the maximum limit of 35 days of unbreathable air per year set by the directive, while four others (in order:Milan, Monza, Mantua and Lodi) have almost exhausted the 'excess' days allowed by the directive", reads the note.Pavia and Bergamo are also in the balance:“For these two cities it is unlikely that the year will end without exceeding the threshold, while the days of toxic air are decidedly fewer in the Insubrian capitals and in the Valtellina area".

THIS IS WHY INTENSIVE FARMING IS A PROBLEM FOR THE AIR

The medium-term balance of air quality for 2024 confirms for Lombardy the record of the most polluted capitals, which include not only those located in the center of the metropolitan area (such as Milan and Monza), with their unresolved urban and motorway traffic problems, but also those that delimit the Po Valley agricultural area, in which they are concentrated intensive farming.The quadrilateral between Mantua, Brescia, Lodi and Cremona produces in fact over 40% of milk and 50% of Italian pork, but also tens of millions of tons of sewage and manure, from which volatile organic substances and above all ammonia are released.In the cold semester, over 90,000 tonnes of this gas per year, according to data from Arpa Lombardia, are at the origin of the formation of fine atmospheric particulate matter.Also for this reason “It's not just big cities that suffer from bad air, but also small towns,” observes the environmental association.

The record also goes to this year Soresina, in the province of Cremona, with 40 days of exceeding since the beginning of the year. A fact that "is well explained by the enormous concentration of intensive farming in the surrounding countryside". For Barbara Meggetto, president of Legambiente Lombardia, "spring opens with a heavy toll on air quality that only the rain of recent weeks has stopped".And he adds:“Urgent action is needed to prevent Lombardy from another winter with a smog emergency. Unfortunately, current measures are now insufficient to solve the problem.It is necessary to rethink the policies introduced in recent years and even more so to act on the sector which today, together with traffic and domestic heating, has the greatest impact on the release of pollutants:agriculture of the Po Valley".