Ambient air quality criteria

Ambient air quality criteria or standards are concentrations of pollutants in the air (usually outdoor air but sometimes indoor air) specified for a variety of reasons including for the protection of human health, buildings, crops, vegetation, ecosystems, as well as for planning and other purposes. There is no internationally accepted definition but usually "standards" have some legal or enforcement aspect, whereas "guidelines" may not be backed by laws. "Criteria/criterion" can be used as a generic term to cover standards and guidelines.

Various organisations have proposed criteria e.g. WHO, EU, US EPA and they are often similar - but not always, even if they are proposed for the same purpose (e.g. the protection of human health).

Specifying the Criteria

Important for any numerical standard is to ensure that averaging period, unit, and statistical measure are given (e.g. 98th percentile of hourly means measured over a calendar year in micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3)). Without all of these three aspects the criterion is confusing and meaningless. Criteria can be set in different units (e.g. µg/m3, parts per billion by volume (ppbv), parts per billion by mass (ppb(mass)), parts per million (ppm)) and it is possible to convert between all of these units if you know the molecular mass of the pollutant and the temperature at which you want to convert. Different temperatures are used throughout the world and so it is important to state the temperature of conversion (if relevant). Most pollutants have ambient criteria in the parts per billion (ppb)/µg/m3 range. Some have smaller units (e.g. dioxins are often in pico grams /m3); others have larger units (e.g. carbon monoxide (CO) in mg/m3). Particle pollution (e.g. PM10, PM1.0) is specified in units of mass (e.g. µg/m3) and not in units of volume (ppmv).

In the EU, the limits are specified in Directive 2008/50/EC.

The Criteria

Below is a list of available criteria around the world. There is a lot of cross referencing (e.g. the International Finance Corp (IFC)) has their own criteria but they are a copy of those specified by the WHO. It is important to check the reference as not all the related caveats/controlling parameters of the criterion can be put in the table. Also some criteria require certain specific ways of monitoring to demonstrate compliance.

PollutantAbbr.ValueUnitsAveraging PeriodStatistical Measure# exceedencesOrganisationStatusApplicabilityNotes
Nitrogen dioxideNO240µg/m3AnnualMeanNoneWHO [1]GuidelineGlobal
Nitrogen dioxideNO240µg/m3AnnualMeanNoneEU [2]Limit ValueEU Member StatesCalendar Year
Nitrogen dioxideNO2100µg/m3AnnualMeanNoneUS EPA [3]LegalUnited StatesQuoted as 53 ppb
Nitrogen dioxide NO2 100 µg/m3 Daily Mean New Zealand Ministry for the Environment[4] Guideline New Zealand Calendar Year
Nitrogen dioxideNO2113µg/m3DailyDaily mean of hourlyNoneJapanese Ministry of Environment [5]LegalJapanQuoted as 0.06 ppm
Nitrogen dioxideNO2100µg/m3AnnualYrly mean of dailyNoneSCENR [6]LegalQatarCalendar Year
Nitrogen dioxideNO2150µg/m3Daily (24hr)99.7%ile1 day/yrSCENR [6]LegalQatarCalendar Year
Nitrogen dioxideNO2200µg/m31 hour99.79%ile18 hrs/yrEU [2]Limit valueEU Member StatesCalendar Year
Nitrogen dioxide NO2 200 µg/m3 1 hour Mean 9/yr New Zealand Ministry for the Environment[7] Legal New Zealand Calendar Year
Nitrogen dioxideNO2400µg/m31 hour99.7%ile26 hrs/yrSCENR [6]LegalQatarCalendar Year
PollutantAbbr.ValueUnitsAveraging PeriodStatistical Measure# exceedencesOrganisationStatusApplicabilityNotes
Sulphur dioxideSO2125µg/m324 hourAny 24 hour periodNoneWHO [1]Interim Target (IT) 1GlobalWas the guideline in 2000
Sulphur dioxideSO250µg/m324 hourAny 24 hour periodNoneWHO [1]Interim Target (IT) 2GlobalCalendar Year (1 Jan - 31 Dec)
Sulphur dioxideSO2125µg/m324 hourAny 24 hour meanNoneWHO [1]Interim Target (IT) 1Global
Sulphur dioxideSO250µg/m324 hourAny 24 hour meanNoneWHO [1]Interim Target (IT) 2Global
Sulphur dioxideSO220µg/m324 hourAny 24 hour meanNoneWHO [1]GuidelineGlobal
Sulphur dioxideSO2500µg/m310 minuteAny 10 minute meanNoneWHO [1]GuidelineGlobal
Sulphur dioxideSO21300µg/m31 hour99.99%ile1 hr/yearRas LaffanLegalQatarCalendar Year
Sulphur dioxide SO2 350 µg/m3 1 hour Mean 9/yr New Zealand Min.for Environment[7] Legal New Zealand
Sulphur dioxide SO2 570 µg/m3 1 hour Mean None New Zealand Ministry for the Environment[7] Legal New Zealand
Sulphur dioxide SO2 120 µg/m3 24 hour Average New Zealand Ministry for the Environment[8] Guideline New Zealand
PollutantAbbr.ValueUnitsAveraging PeriodStatistical Measure# exceedencesOrganisationStatusApplicabilityNotes
Fine particlesPM10125µg/m324 hour99th %ile3 days/yrWHO [1]GuidelineGlobal
Fine particles PM10 50 µg/m3 24 hour Mean 1/yr New Zealand Ministry for the Environment[7] Legal New Zealand
Very fine particlesPM2.525µg/m324 hourAny 24 hr meanNoneWHO [1]GuidelineGlobal
Very fine particlesPM2.575µg/m324 hourAny 24 hr meanNoneWHO [1]Interim target (IT) 1Global
Very fine particlesPM2.550µg/m324 hourAny 24 hr meanNoneWHO [1]Interim target (IT) 2Global
Very fine particlesPM2.537.5µg/m324 hourAny 24 hr meanNoneWHO [1]Interim target (IT) 3Global
Very fine particlesPM2.510µg/m3AnnualMeanNoneWHO [1]GuidelineGlobal
Very fine particlesPM2.535µg/m3AnnualMeanNoneWHO [1]Interim target (IT) 1Global
Very fine particlesPM2.525µg/m3AnnualMeanNoneWHO [1]Interim target (IT) 2Global
Very fine particlesPM2.515µg/m3AnnualMeanNoneWHO [1]Interim target (IT) 3Global
PollutantAbbr.ValueUnitsAveraging PeriodStatistical Measure# exceedencesOrganisationStatusApplicabilityNotes
OzoneO3100µg/m38 hoursAny 8 hour meanNoneWHO [1]GuidelineGlobal
OzoneO3160µg/m38 hoursAny 8 hour meanNoneWHO [1]Interim targetGlobal
OzoneO3235µg/m31 hour99.9%8 hrs/yrSCENR [6]LegalQatarCalendar Year
OzoneO3120µg/m38 hours99.8%2x8hrs/yrSCENR [6]LegalQatarCalendar Year
Ozone O3 150 µg/m3 1 hour Mean None New Zealand Ministry for the Environment[7] Legal New Zealand
PollutantAbbr.ValueUnitsAveraging PeriodStatistical Measure# exceedencesOrganisationStatusApplicabilityNotes
Carbon monoxideCO40000µg/m31 hourMaximumNoneSCENR [6]LegalQatarCalendar Year
Carbon monoxideCO10000µg/m38 hourMaximumNoneSCENR [6]LegalQatarCalendar Year
Carbon monoxide CO 10 µg/m3 8 hour Running mean 1/yr New Zealand Ministry for the Environment[7] Legal New Zealand

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Air quality guidelines - global update 2005 www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/outdoorair_aqg/en/
  2. 1 2 DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32008L0050
  3. ↑ National Ambient Air Quality Standards https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants/naaqs-table
  4. ↑ "Nitrogen dioxide | Ministry for the Environment". www.mfe.govt.nz. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  5. ↑ Japanese Ministry of Environment, Environmental Quality Standards - Air Quality https://www.env.go.jp/en/air/aq/aq.html
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Supreme Council for Environment and Natural Resources, Executive Bye-law for the Environment Protection Law Issued via the Decree Law No. 30 for the Year 2002, Annex 3"
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Air Quality) Regulations 2004 (SR 2004/309) (as at 17 October 2014) – New Zealand Legislation". www.legislation.govt.nz. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  8. ↑ "Ambient Air Quality Guidelines" (PDF). New Zealand Ministry for the Environment. 2002.
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