11 February 2014 11/02/2014 - The Kosovo Environmental Protection Agency, through the Hydrometeorological Institute, conducted the measurement or monitoring of air quality throughout the territory of Kosovo through 24-hour automatic measurements without interruption. Throughout the territory of Kosovo, the air quality monitoring network has a total of 12 monitoring stations of the automatic system. At these stations, the following pollutants are monitored: Sulfur Dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Ozone (O3), and suspended particulate matter in the air called PM10 and PM2.5. In Prishtina, there are two air monitoring stations, one located at the Rilindja building and one at the Kosovo Hydrometeorological Institute (KHMI).
From the data collected by the air quality monitoring system in Prishtina, it turns out that there are no exceedances of the allowed values for gaseous pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O3). However, the air in Prishtina is made of not so good quality by pollution from suspended particulate matter in the air, so-called PM10 and PM2.5 particles, which exceed the allowed values according to local and EU standards.
The sources of PM10 and PM2.5 pollution are considered to be: industry, transport, and the fuels used for heating in the winter season. Also, for gaseous pollutants such as SO2, CO, NO2, the sources of pollution are considered to be industry and transport, but during the winter season, these two sources are added to pollution from household heating emissions.
During the period October 2013 - February 2014, the concentration values of sulfur dioxide, which is released into the atmosphere mainly from the burning of fuels and coal, reached a maximum one-hour average value of 90.1 µg/m³ during the month of December, which does not exceed the allowed one-hour average value of 350 µg/m³ according to EU standards and the standards of the Republic of Kosovo.
Air quality monitoring is divided into two monitoring periods, the summer season period and the winter season period. This period, for which panic has been created around air pollution from pollutants, belongs to the winter season period. During this period, not only this year but in all previous years and in all countries of the world, the concentration of certain pollutants in the air increases compared to the summer season, because during this period, in addition to other sources such as transport and industry, emissions from domestic heating are also added as a source of pollution. However, in the territory of Prishtina, gaseous pollutants such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), and particulate matter suspended in the air called PM10 and PM2.5 do not exceed allowable limit values.