4. Air quality limit values

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Air Quality in Europe, 1993 - A Pilot Report
- 4. Air quality limit values

4. Air Quality Limit Values

Guidelines and limit values for air quality have been set by EU in various Council Directives, by the World Health Organization (WHO) and also by many of the national states.

The table below lists the Limit and Guide values of EU, and the Guideline values of WHO, for the following components:

- SO2 (with associated values for black smoke/suspended particles)

- Black smoke (BS)

- Suspended Particles

- Lead

- NO2

- O3

- CO

More details around the values are given in the section on each component in chapter 6.

Table .1: Overview of EU Limit and Guide Values and WHO Guideline Values (WHO, 1987) for the listed compounds (µg/m3).
Reference to EU Directives are given in chapter 6.

Compound Type of value	Median value		98 percentile value	Maximum value
Compound Type of value	Year	Winter	98 percentile value	24h	8h	1h
SO2
EU Limit Values	80-1201)	130-1801)	250-3501,3)
EU Guide Values	40-60 (mean value)			100-150
WHO Guidelines	502) (mean value)			1252)		350
Black smoke
EU Limit Values	80	130	2503)
EU Guide Values	40-60 (mean value)			100-150
WHO	502) (mean value)			1252)
Suspended particles
EU Limit Values	150 (mean value)		300 (95 percentile)
WHO				120 (TSP)2,4)
				70 (TP)4)
Nitrogen Dioxide
EU Limit Values			2005)
EU Guide Lines	50		1355)
WHO				150		400
Carbon Monoxide
WHO					10 000	30 000

Lead
EU Limit Values	2
WHO	0,5-1
Ozone
EU Threshold Values
- Health protection					1106)
- Vegetation "				65		200
- Population info.						180
- Population warning						360
WHO					100-120	150-200

1) Dependent upon the associated black smoke/suspended particle concentrations.

2) Assuming approx. equal concentrations of SO2and black smoke/suspended part.

3) Not to be exceeded for more than 3 consecutive days.

4) Values of total suspended particles (TSP) and thoracic particles (TP ~PM10), to be considered tentative.

5) Based upon 1 h averages. (All other 98-percentile values are based upon 24 h averages)

6) This value is a mean value over 8 hours and is a non-overlapping moving average; it is calculated four times a day from eight hourly values between 0 and 9.00, 8.00 and 17.00, 16.00 and 1.00, 12.00 and 21.00.

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