Bogotá D. C., jul. 05 de 2012 - Agencia de Noticias UN- UN researchers found out that elevated coal pollution levels in the department of Cesar, higher than that in Bogotá, are in part due to its transportation, and that of other related materials, in addition to the wind.

“Part of the air pollution is not directly attributable to extraction, but rather to coal and soil transportation. This phenomenon is known as resuspension. In other words, this is the dust that rises into the atmosphere after a vehicle passes through on a dry unpaved road”, says Rodrigo Jiménez Pizarro, UN professor.  

Pizarro guided the thesis of Luis Alberto Morales, an Environmental Engineering Master’s degree candidate from the Universidad de Santander (where the Province of Cesar coal mining monitoring network operates). He also says that they found a natural dust re-emission process associated with wind.  

“We confirmed that the dust particle layer within the atmosphere is reducing solar radiation, which could have an effect on agriculture. I had only seen this before in China, but everything suggests that this is a real phenomenon and not only near direct mining activities but rather in relatively far away places as well” said the researcher.  

During the last four years we have performed several meteorological assessments, carried out by the air quality monitoring network. The coal area located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the  Serranía del Perijá produces more than half of the coal in Colombia” said the professor.  

“Water management is an issue, since watering the soil would prevent the rising of the material from the ground, reducing particle concentration in the atmosphere. The problem lies in that this area is not rich in water resources, therefore we are analyzing other options”, said Pizarro.

(Por:Fin/SSG/clc/su)

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