Poluição atmosférica em comunidades residentes próximas a áreas industriais: um indicativo de injustiça ambiental

Abstract

Communities residing close to industrial establishments complain about health problems and environmental damage caused by polluting gases emitted by these establishments. The lack of access to data on the concentration of these pollutants in their territories is a limiting factor, which makes it impossible for these communities to prove the burden of exposure to pollution they are subjected to. Objective: This work seeks to carry out, the monitoring of atmospheric emissions from chemical industries installed near a resident community close to the industrial port of Aratu, Ilha de Maré, Baía de Todos os Santos (BTS), Bahia, as well as to carry out a comparative analysis between laws that deal with on air quality standards adopted in several countries around the world with the current norm in Brazil. Method: For the monitoring of atmospheric pollution, portable monitors of low cost and good performance were used. The values of the concentrations obtained, for each pollutant, were compared with the standards established by national and international technical standards for environmental monitoring. A comparative study was also carried out between the values of air quality standards defined by standards in different countries around the world. Results / Discussion: The comparative analysis of air quality standards has shown that Brazilian legislation, currently, is more permissive than the laws in force in other countries, with regard to limit values of air quality standards. Regarding the monitoring of air pollutants, the monitors showed a satisfactory performance to monitor the particulate materials present in the air: PM1, PM2.5 and PM10. Although pollutant concentration values above air quality standards, as defined by Brazilian and international technical standards, were not found, there were acute exposures, that is, releases of a large concentration of air pollutants in short periods of time, which can be highly dangerous to human health.