Dr. Sari Libiki, Expert in Analyzing Air Monitoring Data
- According to Dr. Libiki, there are two types of measurements that are usually done in the field of air quality: measuring emissions and measuring air concentrations.
- Emissions measurement measures the amount of chemicals coming from a source of emissions – typically smoke chimneys, exhaust pipes from vehicles, or diffuse emissions of pollutants from various activities.
- Air concentration measurement measures the amount of pollutants in the air by taking air samples. Air concentrations measure the total amount of pollutants in the air regardless of their source. Air concentrations are a measure of pollution from industry, transportation sources, sources of dust from roads, and emissions from daily life such as cooking, cleaning, or heating homes. Air concentrator networks are typically designed to allow each monitor to reflect the air quality in the neighborhood in which it is placed.
- Air concentrations are a combination of air emissions, meteorology, and air quality that may have been affected by other pollutant sources. The assumption is that emissions from the factories are not evenly distributed in Haifa Bay, but rather are distributed in directions that depend on the direction of the wind at the time of emission, and decrease as the distance from the source increases. In addition, some emissions may be converted into other chemicals by interacting with each other or with sunlight.
- Most developed countries set quality standards for pollutants that are considered harmful to public health and the environment. EU quality standards are based on WHO standards and other considerations. In Israeli regulation, there are three levels of air quality standards: target values, environmental values, and warning values. Target values are ambitious and are used to establish a national plan to reduce air pollution and are not binding. Environmental values are based on the target values while incorporating the feasibility of achieving these values, and they are the binding values in Israel. Alert values with short-term values only.
- According to her, Haifa has an extensive air monitoring network established by the Association of Haifa Bay Cities – Environmental Protection (hereinafter: "the Association of Cities"). The network includes 15 stationary monitors that are located in a wide variety of locations in Haifa. The monitoring network in Haifa is quite dense and monitors a wide range of components. According to Prof. Libiki, these are the conclusions that emerge from the analysis of the data collected in the air monitoring network of the Association of Cities.
- Haifa has one of the world's densest networks of regulatory air quality monitors compared to other urban locations. The air monitors in Haifa monitor all the major pollutants emitted from regional emission sources in Haifa and which are related to the effects on human health. No evidence or data was provided to indicate any defect or errors in the monitoring network's pollutant monitoring data. The data are reasonable and consistent in terms of absolute values and trends.
- The emissions are dispersed, influenced by meteorology and terrain, and undergo chemical reactions as they disperse. The concentrations of pollutants in Haifa are not uniform, but vary both by location and by time, day and season. Dispersion models are currently insufficient to link sources of emissions to residential exposures in Haifa.
- A comparison between the data of the monitoring network in Haifa and the data of monitoring stations of the Ministry of Environmental Protection located in various locations in Israel shows that for the vast majority of pollutants, the concentrations in Haifa are similar to or lower than the concentrations in other cities and regions in Israel. The data prove that Haifa does not stand out as having particularly high concentrations of pollutants compared to other cities in Israel.
- The concentration of air pollutants in Haifa is similar to that of cities with a similar dry and Mediterranean climate, such as Athens and Barcelona in Europe, and Seattle and Oakland in the United States. This is due to similar solar radiation and similarities in activities and background concentrations of a number of pollutants.
- Limited scientific research on synergistic effects of pollutants indicates that synergistic effects are very difficult to characterize in multi-pollutant mixtures of high uncertainty. These mixtures may also have antagonistic effects, and these effects have been observed only in very limited pairs of specific ingredients, and this too in much higher concentrations of pollutants than those found in the air of Haifa Bay.
- The report of the Scientific Committee (see M/46) which reviewed the preliminary findings of a research group that tried to assess exposure to the ambient air in Haifa. Audited the results and provided a detailed description of the level of rigor required to assess impressions. The committee pointed to flaws in the use of air monitoring data to correlate air pollution and disease prevalence, and concluded that the study was not properly based on scientific evidence and that caution should be exercised in drawing conclusions regarding the relationship between air quality and morbidity.
Testimony of Dr. Sari Liviki