Air Quality in Bogota, Colombia
Bogota, Colombia is ranked at 153 on the air quality map, resulting in unhealthy conditions. There are over 8.5 million people living in the busy capital of Bogota, driving over 1.4 million vehicles on the road every day. In December of 2013, 1,447,335 private vehicles were registered in the city, with a 76% increase in only seven years. This is not even taking into account government owned vehicles, public transportation, or shipping trucks. The massive amount of vehicles traveling in this urban area means more emissions. Road traffic in Bogota is responsible for over 90% or emissions, resulting in large quantities of air pollution. This type of pollution causes respiratory diseases which are the main cause of child death and infant mortality in Bogota, with about 600,000 children under the age of five treated each year and more than 6000 premature deaths each year in Colombia as a whole. Some of these respiratory diseases include asthma, bronchitis, COPD, cystic fibrosis, and emphysema.
Many of these conditions stem from the five main pollutants of automobiles, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds. The dangerously high concentrations of particulate matter is a major health concern for the people in the capital. Several of those five main pollutants are also results of industrial sources in Bogota, where 4700 industries are located. These industries use coal, fuel oil, diesel, and natural gas in heaters in boilers and the majority of them do not have emission control devices or programs to reduce and prevent air pollution.
While the capital Bogota is one of the most air polluted cities in all of Latin America, there has been little government involvement solving some of the prevalent issues. Little has been done to improve the quality of diesel fuel in Bogota, which currently contains higher sulfur levels than other major cities. Emission from public bus transit is responsible for 90% of the particulate matter from vehicles. In a recent transportation strike, the concentration of particulate matter in the city dropped 54% from the previous week just from the reduction of vehicles on the road. This source should be a red flag for government authorities to make changes to transportation systems in order to regulate air pollution. Despite small interventions such as car-free day the first Thursday of February and "Pico y Placa" which restricts certain cars from driving on designated days according to their license plate number, the smog and air pollution is clearly evident in the city. The population of Bogota is currently awaiting solutions for air pollution through more public transportation and new policies, which are said to get started in 2015 and be more prevalent by 2018. With the capitols air quality continuously deteriorating, it is essential for policies to be put in place and interventions to be established immediately by both local government and Colombian officials.
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