Air monitoring results make bad reading for Latvian officials

Air monitoring tests have shown that parts of Riga contain excessive levels of particulate matter (PM10).

Studies completed last week showed that the acceptable volume of PM10 was breached on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Riga City Council's Housing and Environment Department representative Janis Kleperis told LETA that the new data was as yet unverified and official figures would not be available until the start of August, after the information has been scrutinised by the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre.

If the results are correct, the Latvian city could face punishments from the EU, as the area has broken the legal PM10 limit on 37 occasions already this year.

The EU has previously threatened the government with hefty fines, as no city should be in breach of the regulations more than 35 times throughout a 12-month period.

Latvia is in close proximity to the Baltic Sea, which is being targeted by the EU in its fight against pollution levels.

This week, the European Commission revealed that new environmental legislation would be brought in to regulate the amount of sulphur emissions released in the shipping industry.

Posted by Joseph Hutton