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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Mexico City’s air quality worsens in 2022, and post-omicron activities aren’t the only cause

Meteorological conditions have also played a role in this year’s heightened levels of smog in the Mexico City metropolitan area, raising concerns of health officials and environmentalists.

MEXICO CITY (CN) — Heightened air pollution levels in the greater Mexico City area have caused environmental authorities to issue more air quality alerts in the first half of 2022 than in all of 2021. 

The Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis, which coordinates environmental programs between the federal and municipal governments in the Valley of Mexico and surrounding metropolitan areas, has issued five air quality alerts so far in 2022, already topping the four issued the previous year. 

While the return of economic and academic activity after the fourth wave of Covid-19 infections due to the omicron variant is partly to blame, that doesn’t tell the whole story, according to Dr. Ana Rosa Moreno, a Nobel laureate and public health researcher at Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM). 

“It’s also due to meteorological conditions, among them the high temperatures that we had in the first months of the year,” said Moreno. 

Mexico’s National Water Commission has issued three heat wave alerts so far this year. Temperatures in April and May registered as high as 10 degrees Fahrenheit above seasonal averages.

The lack of strong spring winds also played a role in this year’s air quality issues, Moreno said, causing harmful gases and particulates to stagnate over the city. 

When the air finally moves, Mexico City’s pollution enters into a system of contamination exchange with other cities surrounding the Valley of Mexico, such as Pachuca, Cuernavaca, Toluca and Puebla.

“It’s a very dynamic process,” said Moreno. “In particular, the pollution from Toluca and Pachuca is the product of industrial emissions and cargo trucks, and it gets added to that of the metropolitan area of the Valley of Mexico.”

This activity produces two types of harmful pollutants, according to Horacio Tovalín Ahumada, an environmental medicine researcher at UNAM. 

Substances like ozone and nitrogen oxides cause an immediate reaction, such as irritation of the eyes, nose and throat. These can exacerbate conditions like asthma and allergies. 

Particulate matter, however, has a more insidious effect on the human body. These particulates, like sulfates and nitrates, are the product of the burning of fuels, primarily diesel, and to a lesser degree gasoline and natural gas. 

“These can increase the risk of death due to heart or cerebrovascular problems,” said Tovalín. “Here in Mexico City, we also see high rates of these particulates worsening health conditions like bronchitis and emphysema.”

This effect was also seen during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Areas of the city with higher air pollution levels saw higher rates of death from the disease. 

Greenpeace estimates that particulate matter — known as PM2.5 air pollution — led to as many as 15,000 premature deaths in Mexico City in 2020. While pandemic restrictions in 2020 and 2021 lowered air pollution levels slightly, PM2.5 air pollution has caused an estimated 8,800 deaths since Jan. 1, 2021, according to Greenpeace’s calculator. 

To lower air pollution levels in the city, Tovalín recommended programs that incentivize the use of public transportation and also exhorted his fellow citizens to be better consumers. He said that society must curb its love affair with SUVs and trucks. 

“If you drive an SUV you really end up hurting yourself, because you’re polluting much more than if you were to drive a sedan,” he said. 

Tovalín is not alone in calling on the government to implement better programs to address the air pollution in the capital. Earlier this month, a consortium of civil society organizations called the Citizens’ Air Quality Observatory called for stricter regulations in the vehicle inspection program in the metropolitan area. 

“We have to once again promote programs to deal with this, because we can’t stop breathing,” said Tovalín. “We can stop eating an unhealthy food product or quit a harmful activity, but not breathing. We can’t stop doing that.”

Courthouse News correspondent Cody Copeland is based in Mexico City.

Follow @copycopeland
Categories / Environment, International

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