The City of Cape Town\u2019s specialised health service is concerned about the impact of the ongoing rail network woes on Cape Town\u2019s ambient air quality.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Thursday (19 October), the service said that motor vehicle emissions are the biggest contributor to air pollution in the city, and the failing rail service is exacerbating the problem.<\/p>\n
“A number of air quality monitoring stations have recorded increased levels of nitrogen oxide (NOx), which supports the contention that vehicle emissions are on the rise,” said the city\u2019s mayoral committee member, Alderman JP Smith.<\/p>\n
Smith noted that while Cape Town\u2019s air quality complies with the annual average ambient air quality standards, periodic episode days do occur where the daily ambient standards have been exceeded.<\/p>\n
“In the last financial year, 13 episode days were recorded,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The pollutant that most frequently exceeds the standards is particulate matter (PM10), with occasional episodes where ground-level ozone exceeds allowable limits.”<\/p>\n
Smith added that the severe drought experienced over the last three years has also contributed to these PM10 episodes, leading to an increase in windblown dust and also exacerbating the incidence of veld fires.<\/p>\n
Detection hardware<\/strong><\/p>\n Cape Town currently has a range of monitoring and evaluation systems and processes to detect and act on air pollution.<\/p>\n This includes an air quality monitoring network that is managed by the Scientific Services Air Quality Laboratories.<\/p>\n The network consists of 40 analysers at 14 ambient air quality monitoring stations located across the city. Currently, a process is under way to replace ageing analysers, with City Health providing R3.7 million towards the replacement cost over a three-year period.<\/p>\n The City has also installed a high-powered camera monitoring network on the antennae located on Tygerberg Hills. The Air Quality Management Unit has access to live feeds from this network which allows for remote monitoring of dark smoke emissions, it said.<\/p>\n “By and large, industries are generally compliant,” said Smith<\/p>\n “However, administrative enforcement actions are embarked upon where industries fail to ensure full compliance with licence conditions.<\/p>\n The aim of these actions is first and foremost to ensure environmental protection; and secondly, they bring non-complying industries back into compliance.<\/p>\n With a maximum fine of R5 million for a first offence prescribed by legislation, and the fact that company\u00a0directors can be held personally accountable, we find that this is a big enough deterrent to ensure good levels of compliance,” he said.<\/p>\n Traffic<\/strong><\/p>\n While Cape Town’s traffic has been exacerbated by ongoing rail network issues in recent months, the city has routinely been named as the most congested in South Africa.<\/p>\n