Air Quality in Areas with High Risk of Environmental Crisis (AERCA) in Sicily

Abstract

In this work the assessment of the ambient air quality, carried out by the Regional Agency for the Environment Protection of Sicily Region (ARPA Sicilia), in the “High-Risk Environmental Crisis Areas” (AERCA) is presented. In the five-year period from 2016 to 2020 citizens of AERCA areas were exposed to O₃ level above Italian legislation, but also to NO₂ and PM₁₀ levels above the WHO Guidelines in the monitoring stations where the vehicular traffic adds to industrial pressures.

The most significant influence of industrial pressure on air quality, however, is highlighted in reference to the concentration of benzene and nonmethane hydrocarbons in the AERCA of Syracuse where many monitoring stations record numerous very high benzene peaksespecially in the vicinity of industrial plants.