Principal Programme Officer at the Environmental Quality Department of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Maxwell Seyram Sunu has confirmed to 3FM Sunrise Morning Show on 21 February 2023 that the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Accra is red indicating very low quality where as that of Tamale is very hazardous.
“Currently the quality of air in Accra as we measured from one of our monitoring stations at Legon is red which means it is unhealthy and other areas like Tamale the quality is maroon colour which means it is hazardous, so actually Tamale is even more polluted than Accra” he disclosed
Mr. Seyram Sunu mentioned that the air quality in Accra started deteriorating from 17 February 2023 which is not a normal occurrence in Accra and will go away as soon as the harmattan goes away but there are environmental health issues associated with the situation.
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“The situation we are currently facing is not an issue gaseous pollution of carbon monoxide but what is happening now is actually been caused by dust particles in the atmosphere and the source of these particles is mainly from the harmattan unlike the other cities of the world that has hazardous air throughout the year” he stated.
According to a survey by IQAir, Accra is ranked number one on the cities with unhealthy air quality in the world followed by; Lahore in Pakistan, Delhi in India, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Milano in Italy, Mumbai in India, Hanoi in Vietnam, Chengdu in China, Hong Kong and Chiang Mai in Thailand.
Vehicular emissions, industrial emissions, open burning of waste, dirty fuel and other natural sources such as the harmattan are the main causes of air pollution in Accra.
The principal programme officer at EPA pointed out that if there were more trees they would have served as a source of filter to trap those particles. He also hinted that the EPA has put in place an Air Quality Management Plan for Accra and other Regulations to control pollution from the various sectors identified as the major areas that contribute to pollution when they are passed.
Chief Weather Forecaster at Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) Felicity Ahafianyo has also advocated that given the current state of the air within the atmosphere people should go back to wearing nose masks for self-protection for the time being because it is not yet established if it is acidic or something else.
Source:3news.com