“Mérida’s air monitoring station is currently under maintance, in order to have it ready to start working again next year,” said the Director of Planning and Climate Change of the Secretariat for Sustainable Development, Roberto Vallejo Molina.
The official said that unlike Central Mexico, Yucatán does not have high levels of air pollution.
The specialist said that this device is designed to provide information on the air quality conditions, the levels of contamination and possible damage to the population’s health, however, at this time it is not operating.
“It is still in the calibration process because that station is connected to a national air quality monitoring system, and it has been out of service for the last 18 months. But right now it is currently under a maintenance process, ”he said.
He pointed out that contrary to other Mexican states, Yucatán is well below the established limit of pollutants, unlike places such as Mexico City, where air pollution is a big problem.
“Here the pollution is different and is largely due to the burning of garbage, which although it is a prohibited practice, it is still carried out by a sector of the Yucatecan society, mainly in rural communities of the state. And another way in which the air is contaminated in Yucatan is through the forest fires generated by high temperatures during certain times of the year.
In these forms of contamination, particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers are generated, hence the importance of having the measuring station, which also detects the levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide.
“We expect the station to be operational by 2020, because the maintenance works are being carried out by specialized personnel and around 500 thousand pesos are allocated every year to these tasks, in order to have the air monitoring station working properly,” concluded the Director of Planning and Climate Change of the Secretariat for Sustainable Development, Roberto Vallejo Molina.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom
