CATCH Articles:
Vehicles main air pollution threat in Hamilton
Jun 10, 2007
The city’s air quality watchdog says emissions from vehicles are causing most of the air pollution health problems afflicting Hamiltonians. In it’s annual report to councillors, Clean Air Hamilton also pointed to some “extremely high levels” of vehicle pollutants along the 403 as it passes through west Hamilton.
“Traffic and the emissions from traffic sources, oxides of nitrogen and particulate material, account for about one half of the overall air quality impact on people in this area,” the group’s chair, Brian McCarry, told this week’s planning committee, “and the oxide emissions are a significant precursor to ground level ozone.”
Ozone is responsible for an additional third of adverse health effects. Most of that pollution experienced in Hamilton blow in from coal-fired power plants in the Ohio Valley, or sometimes from Nanticoke, depending on the wind direction.
“The oxide emissions that we’re creating out of our cars and trucks today are actually making ozone for our friends in Oakville, Toronto and east of that,” McCarry reminded councillors, also presenting extensive evidence that vehicles and the road dust they stir up cause much of the city’s particulate pollution.
The group’s mobile monitoring equipment recorded levels of 583 parts per billion of nitric oxide (NO) along the 403 hill to Ancaster. NO is a precursor to both nitrous oxides and ozone – the two largest air pollution health risks.
“There’s always this perception in Hamilton that if you go to the industrial area, you know it’s dirty and it’s so on, but for the oxides of nitrogen the levels as you go through the 403, and up the hill there, are phenomenal.” Denis Corr told councillors.
Corr heads Clean Air Hamilton’s health policy and research subcommittee. He used a mobile monitoring truck to get the readings and believes the drivers are likely facing the highest exposures.
“The NO levels measured along this highway corridor are the highest NO levels measured to date in Hamilton and are much higher than NO levels observed directly downwind of large industrial sources,” says the group’s annual report.
Corr found much lower levels in the nearby Macklin Avenue residential area, leading him to conclude that “the major exposure is actually for people who are right on the highway.”
He blamed heavy diesel trucks for driving up the pollution levels, especially when they are climbing the escarpment. He praised the city for being “a real leader” in the purchase of hybrid vehicles and taking other measures to reduce its engine emissions.
But he pointed out that there are many private diesel trucks operating through the city, and suggested the provincial Ministry of the Environment should be taking action against the badly-tuned ones.
“You can get these infra-red monitors that you just put across the highway that will check as the trucks go by what they’re emitting,” Corr noted. “We should sit down and think about how we can ensure that, whether it’s a public vehicle or a private vehicle, there are no badly-tuned, dirty diesels in Hamilton.”
The 403 revelations led Bob Bratina to ask if similar pollution problems are likely to occur along Red Hill Valley when the expressway is opened in November. Clean Air Hamilton chair Brian McCarry quickly confirmed Bratina’s fears, noting that the group had issued warnings about this in the nineties.
“There’s no question when cars are going up the hill here they’re pushing out a lot of stuff because they’re working hard,” said McCarry, noting that this area in here, right now, is actually a very clean area, always has been … but that’s going to change when the expressway goes through, in my opinion.”
This year’s report continued to show declines in industrial emissions, but McCarry said similar improvements were not occurring in pollution coming mainly from vehicles. He pointed to studies showing “significant health impacts associated with exposures from living and working in major traffic corridors” and said Clean Air Hamilton’s monitoring confirmed this for Hamilton.
Premature heart attacks are the main health effect of air pollution. The report pointed to one study that found heart attack victims were twice as likely to have been driving, on transit or otherwise exposed to traffic within an hour of having the heart attack.
McCarry explained that it’s now thought the mechanism is “very very small particles that get across the blood membrane, get into your lungs, go to the heart muscle and cause myocardial infarctions.”
His group’s report says that new findings show that “urban design within cities plays an equally significant role” to the presence of major industrial pollution sources.
“Specifically, greater street connectivity and increasing the ‘walkability’ of neighbourhoods decreases driving, and decreases the amount of air pollution associated with automobile emissions,” says the report. “Since most sources of particulate matter are local, Hamilton can take measures to reduce the burden of illness associated with poor air quality.”
A 1997 study estimated that about 100 people die prematurely each year in Hamilton and over 600 are admitted to hospital because of air pollution. More than three-quarters of those admissions are for cardiovascular problems, with the remainder suffering respiratory afflictions.
McCarry described those numbers likely an underestimate. “They’re quite conservative numbers. If you told me it was 200 deaths, I’d believe you.” And while noting that the main victims were people already in ill health, he said another major victim group is kids "who suffer exacerbation of asthma and other respiratory problems."