Urban Air Quality Plans and Integrated Assessment Methodologies

Abstract

The 2008 European Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) requires European Member Statesto design appropriate air quality plans (AQPs) for zones and agglomerations where the air quality does not comply with the limit values and to assess possible emission reduction measures to decreaseconcentration levels. The Portuguese agglomeration of Porto Litoral is one of the several European Union urban areas that had to develop and implement AQPs to reduce particulate matter with a 50% efficiency cut-off at 10 μm aerodynamic diameter (PM10) due to PM10 exceedances to the AQD limit values. The AQPs were initially designed based on a scenario approach and using an air quality model, which was applied over the study region for the reference situation with the current PM10 emissions, and for a reduction scenario with PM10 emissions re-estimated considering the implementation of abatement measures. The purpose was to investigate the impact on PM10 levels of the designed abatement measures. Aiming to cost-efficiently optimize Porto Litoral PM10 abatement measures the assessment procedure was repeated using an optimization approach based on the RIAT+ Integrated Assessment tool. Porto Litoral urban area’s technical and non-technical measures were characterized (including associated costs) and, through the application of the air quality model to 20 emissions abatement scenarios, Source-Receptor (S-R) relationships were created. The developed system was trained to cost-efficiently optimize abatement measures to be applied to Porto Litoral agglomeration.

This paper comparatively describes the air quality plans designed to improve PM10 levels in the Porto Litoral Portuguese agglomeration based on both the scenario and the optimizationapproaches.