A UNR report reveals that values ​​were recorded that exceeded 17 times the limit established by the WHO.

The “Air Quality and Satellite Measurements” working group of the Environmental Studies and Sustainability Platform of the Universidad Nacional de Rosario presented a report that shows in detail the level of contamination caused by smoke from the fires that were detected in the Wetlands area in front of Rosario. It shows a notable increase in the amount of particles in the air and, consequently, damage to the health of all the inhabitants of the area.

The report measured air quality from July 22 to August 21, 24 hours a day. This was achieved thanks to own resources provided by the UNR and the active participation of researchers from the institution: Adriana Ipiña, Rubén Piacentini, Raúl Bolmaro, Gamaliel López-Padilla, Montserrat Dávalos and Karen López-Cárdenas.

For the monitoring of air quality, the measurements of PM 2,5 and PM10 were used as reference. These types of measurements focus on the analysis of the size of the particles, and if their concentration exceeds the rates established by the World Health Organization (WHO), it indicates that the air is contaminated.

The researchers used a measuring instrument located in the center of Rosario, one block from the Teatro El Círculo. “It measures the concentration of particulate matter, less than 2,5 and 10 microns. That is, it measures the same variable but in different sizes”, said Adriana Ipiña, Director of the working group.

The instrument is portable, it is placed on a terrace and it measures minute by minute the concentration of the amount of particles in the air, which marks its quality level. The researchers used it to analyze this concentration over time, since this tool allows monitoring 24 hours a day. “It is important because the worldwide reference, both from the WHO and from other countries, is based on an average of 24 hours. Anyone who measures air quality and wants to compare it with an international standard, has to do it under those parameters”.

The researcher clarified that normally in Rosario, as it is an area that is not surrounded by mountains and that has a topography that allows the winds to circulate, the concentrations of aerosols or particulate matter are low throughout the year. “This is because it has a natural lung, such as the Paraná River Wetland. So every time the winds enter, they clean the city's own pollution. What happened with the fires is that the rates rose a lot. This means that we depend on the direction of the winds because they are the ones that carry the particulate material to Rosario”.

This means that if there are many sources of fire and the winds blow in an easterly direction, all the smoke and pollution is drawn into the urban area. “It must be taken into account that many times it is not necessary for the fires to be right in front of Rosario, for example, on July 22 they were occurring at the height of Villa Constitución and San Nicolás, and thanks to the southeasterly winds, the pollution reached our city”.

The drought that has been plaguing the region from 2019 to the present, added to the lower level of the river and the indiscriminate use of fire to eliminate native grasses, caused record numbers of fires in the Paraná River Delta in that period. The frequency of these biomass burning events and the lack of precipitation have intensified their impact on the wetland in recent years.

The WHO has established that air pollution has health effects even at very low concentrations; in fact, no threshold could be identified below which no harm to health has been observed. Therefore, the limits recommended by their guidelines are intended to delimit the lowest possible concentrations.

It should be noted that in recent days, the inhabitants of the city of Rosario have been exposed to extremely high levels of contamination, which threatens the lung and heart recovery capacity of people. “There are specific moments, where the values ​​exceeded 17 times more than the limit established by the WHO, which speaks of the great problem that it brings with it to the health of the population. It must be taken into account that this is a specific value, but there are moments of the day when we have very high concentrations and throughout the day they drop. On average for 24 hours, it may not seem so much, but it does not mean that the health impact is not serious because we are subjected to high concentrations in very short periods of time.

For this reason, the researchers consider that close attention must be paid to those short intervals where contaminated air is received. “It is as if we were in a gas chamber with a high concentration, and during the rest of the day we did not have any contamination. In other words, we have a very high shock and suddenly it clears up, but the recovery capacity of the body is not the same as that of nature”, indicated the specialist.

The limits established as a 24-hour average are a control reference for the emissions of polluting material from large cities, which have been rapidly exceeded thanks to the fires caused in the spaces in front of Rosario. The report highlighted that Cabe "the concentrations of PM2,5 reached in a few hours have generally been higher than those reported in other large cities," which effectively generates pollution of the air that the city's inhabitants breathe.

For all the above, the serious impact on health should not be underestimated regardless of the period of exposure. “There were several days that the daily average established by the WHO was far exceeded. For example, on August 8, PM2.5 was twice the limit, which indicates the health danger to which we are exposed."

Journalist: Gonzalo J. García / Photographers: Camila Casero – Ramiro Ortega.