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Air quality |
Air quality monitoring system
Data on air quality, collected by the State
Office of Atmospheric Air Control is processed at the Main
Department of Hydro-meteorological and Environmental Monitoring
('Hydromet'), which is a part of the Georgian Ministry of
Environment. For the evaluation of air pollution (over 1/2 hour)
they used criteria widely accepted in former Soviet monitoring
systems: single maximum concentration of pollutants and mean daily
(or mean annual) concentrations of the same substances. Numbers are
given in relation to Maximum Permissible Concentration (MPC). Before
1998 monitoring of air pollutants was carried out on 8 stationary
points. Four main parameters were measured: total particulate matter
(dust), sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide; and
five specific substances: ozone, nitrogen oxide, formaldehyde,
phenol and soluble sulphates. Other air polluting substances, like
hydrogen sulphides, ammonia, benzo(a)pyrene and heavy metals, were
measured only at specific points. Unfortunately there has been no
monitoring of greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons
(CFC), methane or others. Since 1990, due to the energy crisis and
the collapse of the old economic system, the air quality monitoring
system has almost completely disintegrated and currently only minor
capabilities are maintained on 7 stationary points. For instance,
they stopped to measure ozone (very important substance for
detecting summer smog), lead and other harmful heavy metals. As to
data on sulphur dioxide, only on one monitoring point is it still
available.
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