97% of Spanish population breathe contaminated air

Around 45 million Spaniards, or 97 percent of the country's population, breathe contaminated air which is above the level recommended by the World Health Organization, according to a study published on Tuesday.

The study titled: The Quality of Air in the Spanish State during 2018, which was published by the pressure group 'Ecologists in Action', reflects data taken from 800 different measuring stations distributed throughout Spain.

Although the study reflects a fall in the levels of suspended particle matter (PM10 and PM2.5) as well as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and Sulfur dioxide (SO2), the report coordinator Miguel Angel Ceballos explains that this was mainly down due to Spain having unseasonably wet weather in the spring which was "the wettest since 1965."

This not only helped clear the air, but also led to an increase in the amount of energy generated by hydro-electric power and a drop in energy produced by coal fueled power stations.

The report explains that according to the European Environment Agency around 30,000 people die in Spain a year as a result of illnesses provoked or worsened by poor air quality.

Ecologists in Action comment that the World Bank calculates it costs Spain around 50 billion U.S. dollars a year (around 3.5 percent of Spain's GDP) to treat illnesses provoked by poor air quality; "without taking into the account the cost of damage caused to crops and natural ecosystems."

Ecologists in Action coordinator in Spain, Paco Segura, said the Spanish government was "obliged to act against chimneys and exhaust pipes," and he also asked for the creation of a low emissions zone in the Mediterranean sea "similar to that which already exists in the Baltic."

The document is published as the debate continues in the Spanish capital of Madrid over the plans of the recently elected local government to do away with 'Madrid Central' traffic scheme implemented by the previous left wing administration to limit the access of vehicles to the city center and drastically reduce emissions.

Ecologists in Action called the plan of the People's Party mayor of Madrid, Jose Luis Martinez, to scrap Madrid Central as "dreadful news, the effect of which has still to be calculated."