MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Smog leveles force Santiago to declare pre emergency

Santiago de Chile registered the year's highest level of smog Wednesday, leading authorities to declare a pre-emergency that lasted 24 hours. Air contamination dropped to a safe level Thursday due to a frontal system bringing higher humidity and better ventilation.

The El Bosque and central Santiago neighborhood were most affected by high concentrations of particulate matter, which peaked at 376 and 329 respectively, compared to normal levels of 200. Concentrations of 300 and above warrant a pre-emergency, posing significant health risks.

Poor ventilation within the Santiago basin, and the burning of combustible fuel to substitute for a reduction in Argentine gas imports, were blamed for the unusually high smog levels.

"A lot of people use paraffin ovens and 40 percent of vehicles do not use catalytic converters, which contributes to Santiago's long-term struggle with air pollution," said El Bosque Councilor Sadi Melo.

With 15 environmental alerts and three pre-emergency alerts, this year has seen an increase in air contamination over 2005, which registered five alerts and two pre-emergencies. An alert is issued at smog concentrations of 200 and above.

Metropolitan Region Governor Víctor Barrueto called yesterday for inspections of vehicles, industrial plants and chimneys. Twenty-five out of 602 buses failed gas emission inspections, and over 400 cars were ticketed yesterday due to a driving prohibition on certain license plates.

Several weeks ago, Chilean government authorities announced a multi-pronged anti-smog initiative to protect the residents of Santiago. Some of the key initiatives include a public education campaign, higher standards for gas quality and an increase in the frequency and rigor of car and industry inspections.

As part of its long-term campaign, the Metropolitan government approved a budget of 500 million pesos (US$911,000) for an advisory committee of air-quality experts to conduct studies on air contamination. Their policy recommendations, however, will not be implemented until 2007

By Renata Stepanov The Santiago Times - News about Chile