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Way down the WHO's latest ranking of cities by air quality, a handful of Canadian communities exceed the international organization's health guidelines -- just.

Report: The Canadian cities with the worst air quality


Daniel Martins
Digital Reporter

Saturday, May 14, 2016, 5:39 PM - Way down the World Health Organization's latest ranking of cities by air quality, a handful of Canadian communities exceed the international organization's health guidelines -- just.

Regina, Sask., and the B.C. communities of Courtenay and Vanderhoof, are all slightly over the WHO's recommended maximum measure of PM10 particles -- air particles of 10 or less micrometres in diameter.

The WHO's recommended PM10 level is 20 micrograms per cubic metre. Courtenay, on Vancouver Island, has a PM10 level of 30, followed by Regina at 25. 

Vanderhoof, in B.C.'s northern Interior, just squeaks over at 21.

The Canadian cities in the WHO's report are pretty low on the rankings. Courtenay, for example, ranks somewhere between 990th and 1,022nd, sharing its PM10 measure of 30 mostly with cities from the U.S. and Europe, with a handful from Brazil and East Asia.

Moving further down the Canadian cities on the list, it gets harder to make a definitive ranking. Many have the same PM10 content as several other communities, rendering a cut-and-dry top-10 rank impossible to make.

Trois Rivieres, Que., just makes it below the limit with a PM10 rating of 19. Fort St. John, B.C., Lemieux, Que., and Quebec City all share a rank of 18.

Trois Rivieres, Que. Image: abdallahh/Wikimedia Commons

More than 120 Canadian cities appear on the WHO's list, based on mean data measured in 2013 by the National Air Pollution Surveillance Network.

Major cities at the higher end of the list include Winnipeg, Man., and Windsor, Ont., at 17, Hamilton, Ont., and Montreal at 16, and Kitchener and Edmonton at 15. Toronto has a PM10 level of 14, which it shares with several GTA suburban communities. Vancouver and Halifax are at 12, and Ottawa shares an 11 rating with the Alberta cities of Calgary and Fort McMurray. At the bottom of the Canadian ranks, Auclair, Que., shares a 5 rating with Norman Wells, in the Northwest Territories.

Image: Norman Wells, N.W.T. Image: mattcatpurple/Wikimedia Commons

Developing world cities dominate the list

Higher up on the list are cities with air quality many times the WHO's PM10 guideline of 20 micrograms per cubit metre.

Communities in Nigeria, India, China and the Middle East dominate the top-10 rankings.

By the PM10 measure, the Nigerian river port city of Onitsha tops the list, at 594, or almost 30 times higher than the WHO guidelines.

Image: Port of Onitsha. Image: Nwabu2010/Wikimedia Commons

Second on the list is Peshawar, Pakistan (540), followed by Zabol, Iran (527) in third. Out of the top 10 cities with highest PM10 ratings, three are in Nigeria, two are in Pakistan, two are in Saudi Arabia and Iran, India and Afghanistan each host one.

The WHO also says more than 80 per cent of urban-dwellers live in communities where the air quality doesn't meet WHO standards -- rising to 98 per cent in cities in low and medium-income nations. For higher-income countries like Canada, the number falls to 56 per cent.

Global air pollution levels rose eight per cent from 2008 to 2013, but the WHO says more cities have begun to take air quality monitoring seriously, though some regions have less comprehensive coverage, and some cities' estimates are based on data recorded as far back as 2008.

"It is good news that more cities are stepping up to monitor air quality, so when they take actions to improve it they have a benchmark,” Dr. Flavia Bustreo, the WHO assistant-director general in charge of family, women and children's health, said in a release from the organization. "When dirty air blankets our cities the most vulnerable urban populations—the youngest, oldest and poorest—are the most impacted."

SOURCE: World Health Organization

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