In Ukraine, on the morning of Wednesday, January 17, the air quality in Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Chernivtsi and Kurakhove (Donetsk region) deteriorated to harmful levels.
The PM2.5 dust content in Kryvyi Rih reached 174 AQI at 5 Ivan Avramenko Street, according to the SaveEcoBot online air quality map.
The worst air quality was also recorded by online monitoring stations in:
- Chernivtsi (Prospekt Nezalezhnosti, 89) – AQI PM2.5 163;
- Khmelnytskyi (Torfyana street, 13) – 162;
- Kyiv (10 Mykola Shepeleva Street) – 155;
- Zhytomyr (1st Fruit Lane, 7 and Svobody Street, 90) – 154 at both points;
- Kurakhove (Berestki village) – 152.
Solid PM2.5 particles have a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller and can only be seen under an electron microscope. They are formed during the burning of wood and fossil fuels, as a result of the operation of power plants and the operation of vehicles, as well as during some industrial processes.
Research by a number of scientists has shown that particulate matter and other pollutants in the air increase:
- the risk of developing chronic and acute diseases of respiratory organs (contribution – 48%), blood and hematopoietic organs (contribution – 25%);
- mortality among people living near highways (contribution – 25%).
Due to their small size, PM2.5 is able to penetrate into the respiratory and circulatory systems. Their inhalation adversely affects health both during short-term exposure (hours or days) and long-term (months or years).
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, in the air of Kyiv during the week from January 8 to 13, an excess of the average daily maximum permissible concentration of sulfur dioxide by 2.7 times was detected.
