Madrid's airs and graces

The Plaza de Fernández Ladreda is not one of the capital's best-known spots, and is certainly not one of its most attractive. Sometimes known as the Plaza Elíptica, it is a major junction in the southwest of the city on the road to Toledo. It also has the worst air quality in Madrid. So far this year, the measuring device placed in a small park in the area by the right-wing Popular Party run-City Hall has registered an average of 70 micrograms per cubic meter of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The legal limit is 40. This piece of news comes as no surprise to Eusebio García, a pensioner who lives in the densely populated area. He admits to not understanding much about the science involved in determining the quality of the air he has to breathe every day. "All I can say is that my throat is constantly dry and irritated, and that my wife complains that the curtains are filthy within a couple of months of washing them." He looks out of the window. "There, you can see the pollution."

Levels in Madrid's dormitory towns are no better than they are in the city center

"Smokers use the same argument: I could die, but not from this cigarette"

The conditions for City Hall to issue a warning to the public are very strict

Madrid is failing to meet European Union air-quality standards. Last year, when its recommendations became law, the Spanish capital registered an average of 44 micrograms of NO2. Now into the third quarter of the year, traditionally the worst months in terms of air pollution, the average is already 43 micrograms. The levels in the capital's dormitory towns are no better: Leganés in the south has 46, and Coslada in the northeast, 44. The Popular Party-run regional government has some explaining to do about how things have gotten this bad, and what it intends to do about the problem. Instead, successive administrations have consistently ignored the issue, including the present regional government, which insists that the air quality of Madrid is "excellent" and accuses anybody who disagrees of "propaganda and alarmism," in the words of Popular Party spokeswoman María Isabel Mariño. Ana Botella, responsible for the city's environment, has said that "unemployment is a bigger problem" and has challenged the World Health Organization's assessment of the threat to health posed by air pollution.

The problem, says ecology professor Francisco Díaz Pineda, is that the politicians are in denial, and the electorate is failing to push the issue. "There is not the slightest awareness of environmental questions," he says. And it's not through lack of information or education, he adds. The negative effects on health of poor air quality have been established in report after report over the years. "But nobody actually drops dead on the spot because of air pollution. It's the same argument that smokers use as they light up: sure, I could die, but not from smoking this cigarette."

There are organizations out there trying to raise awareness. Environmentalist group Ecologists in Action last week released a report noting that eight measuring devices in different parts of central Madrid had registered more than 200 micrograms of NO2 on October 4, at 9pm. The majority of residents living near the measuring device located at the Ramón y Cajal avenue in the north of the city were blissfully unaware that the air they and their children were breathing contained 364 micrograms per cubic meter of a gas that irritates the lungs and makes life very hard for those suffering from asthma, allergies and lung illnesses. They would have had to look on the City Hall website, and then clicked through a series of links - at least four, if you know what you are doing, and much more if you don't - to find out.

The atmospheric conditions required for City Hall to issue a warning to the public are very strict. "Things have to be very, very bad for a warning to be given. It is incredible that the legal limits are constantly being passed and we don't even see a warning," says Paco Segura of Ecologists in Action. In February, weeks of a high-pressure front resulted in a dense layer of pollution over the capital, which finally prompted City Hall to issue a request to motorists via signs on the capital's M-30 inner ring road to use public transport. Meanwhile, the Environment Ministry has promised to put together a national plan to reduce air pollution. It was due in July, but there is still no sign of it being published. In the meantime, the capital's air quality has worsened, but there is still no sign of any warning from City Hall. The requirement for a warning to be issued is for two measuring devices in the same area to pass the level of 250 micrograms for at least two hours consecutively. Which means that people living in Ramón y Cajal can be breathing air with more than 250 micrograms for three hours at a time (which happened on October 4) and not be aware of the danger they face because two measuring devices in another nearby area are at 240 micrograms.

So far, neither Botella nor Mariño have asked the Environment Ministry to push Brussels for a five-year moratorium on complying with European Union-set pollution levels. There probably isn't much point. It's a request that can only be made in extreme cases - for example in an area where serious measures have been taken to reduce air pollution but have failed.

This means that in all likelihood, Spain will end up appearing before the Luxembourg Court for not complying with European directives such as 50/2008, which carries a fine. The Environment Ministry gave Madrid City Hall until September 30. Botella has decided to interpret what is admittedly a vaguely worded article in the EU's environmental legislation, and insists that she can put off the request for a moratorium until the end of 2012.

The Environment Ministry has reason to doubt the success of moratorium requests. The EU has denied practically all such extensions sought by Spain for suspended particle levels. Compliance with pollution limits has been obligatory since 2005. Given Spain's non-compliance, the government requested extensions for 13 areas in 8 regions, in 2008 and 2009. The Commission's response was unequivocal: it denied all requests, except for one. Only Puertollano, in Ciudad Real, was granted an extension - until June 2011 - to comply with the daily limits.

The list of faults that Brussels found in Spain's petitions is long. Countries must show that they have done everything possible to reduce pollution and that, if the moratorium were to be approved, they would put into place efficient measures to do so.

Madrid's city and regional administrations both know that they have been failing to meet EU legislation on air pollution since last year. But Brussels has been trying to prepare member states for the new regulations for several years, recommending ever stricter maximum levels in a bid to get them up to scratch by 2010. Ecologists in Action, along with opposition parties and experts, are now asking what the regional government has done, and what it intends to do. The regional government's approach to improving air quality is called Plan Azul, or the Blue Plan, and is based largely on encouraging residents to use public transport. "The executive will continue to implement measures to guarantee that the air Madrid's residents breathe is cleaner than ever," reads a press statement, issued last week. Among the measures: "Educational programs in Madrid's schools about environmental behavior."

Ana Botella's environment department at Madrid City Hall has been preparing a plan to improve the capital's air quality for several months. She has said that it will soon be presented. Will it include any of the traffic restrictions that other European cities have introduced? The regional government suspects it will, and has made it clear that it will not support such moves, saying it would negatively impact on the economy. Ecologists in Action says that a report by the European Commission estimated the cost of air quality improvement and that the benefits far outweigh spending. "According to the evidence, air pollution has a bigger negative impact on the economy than the cost of reducing it," it says.

Madrid City Hall denies that it has been ignoring the problem, outlining the measures it has taken. For example, expanding pedestrian areas throughout the center of the city, while making improvements to public transport at a regional level. In which case, why not follow the lead of other countries and limit the number of motor vehicles allowed into the center of cities, or at least reduce speed levels? Barcelona last week imposed an 80-kilometer speed limit on the city's ring roads, hardly the most radical of measures, but it's one that Madrid is unwilling to copy. Nobody wants to admit it publically, but the truth seems to be that politicians believe that persuading motorists to leave their cars at home is a vote loser. Madrid Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón has said that this term in office, his third, will be about the environment, with ambitious plans to tackle air pollution. He won't be introducing a London-style congestion charge, but he may make parking in the center of the capital much more expensive, for example.