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COUNCIL OZONE COMPLAINT REJECTED

Friends of the Earth has rejected Pembrokeshire County Council's complaint, featured in last week's Western Telegraph, about its use of ozone pollution data for the County.

The group points out that the figures they used are those issued by the Government to indicate levels of air pollution which are likely to impact on health. Although the figures for the last six months have not yet been officially verified, they are sufficiently reliable for use in Government health warnings.

Figures for previous years show a similar level of ozone, once climatic factors have been taken into account, to last year [1].

Friends of the Earth Cymru's researcher, Dr Max Wallis, said:

"We should not pretend that there are no air quality problems in Pembrokeshire."

"The Council should be concerned that excessive levels of ozone, which harm both human health and plant growth, occur in west Wales during sunny anti-cyclonic weather. They should work with other local authorities in south Wales and with the Welsh Assembly to identify polluting sources in south Wales that worsen the problem and develop a programme to curb such sources."

"Although ozone pollution is a national and international problem with pollutants drifting hundreds or thousands of miles from their source, each area also needs to do its bit to reduce the traffic and VOC pollution which give rise to ozone."

Dr Wallis, who sits on the Department of the Environment's Air Quality Forum, has praised Pembrokeshire County Council for its extensive air quality monitoring which is additional to the Government monitoring at Narberth. Friends of the Earth has written to the Council offering to discuss the air pollution problem constructively.

Notes

1. Ozone levels were excessive at the Narberth site on 41 days in 1997, 30 days in 1998 and 42 days in 1999