Campaign For A Living Venice

The unit was installed after numerous requests from residents to monitor the quality of the air

After the string of requests regarding air polluted by water traffic presented in the past years to the Procura della Repubblica di Venezia, and the request of the last and the current city administration, ARPAV has finally decided to install a new unit to monitor the air quality in Venice, in addition to the one already existent at Sacca Fisola, which maintains a baseline of pollution, the so-called ‘urban background’.

This is another ARPAV environmental campaign in Venice, alongside that recently given to ARPAV by the City to monitor noise pollution, also caused in this case by water traffic, on the Venetian rii starting at Rio Manin, then moving to Rio Novo, and from there to four other Venetian rii.

The new fixed station for monitoring the quality of the air which we breathe is housed, in order to not cause any problematic impact on the area, in a police box which has been closed for years and which was reworked for the new purpose.

The new monitor is set to begin functioning tomorrow at Rio Novo, near Rio del Malcanton, an area greatly impacted by motorboat and transport boat traffic of every type, which crosses nearby to reach Piazzale Roma via the Canal Grande.

The monitoring campaign at Rio Novo will last twelve months during which monitoring will be done of concentrations in the air of Nitrous Oxides (Nox, No and No2), carbon monoxide (Co), Ozone (O3), and particulates (Pm10). By next Monday these data will be available to consult on ARPAV’s web site, as is already the case for the other five monitoring stations existent and active at Sacca Fisola and at Mestre and Marghera (via Tagliamento, Parco Bissuola, via Becccaria).

ARPAV plans for Venice, furthermore, for the first months of 2018, the realization of a “campaign of thorough analysis to evaluate the contributions of marine emissions to the concentrations of PM10 particulates”. At the conclusion of the new monitoring at Rio Novo, ARPAV technicians will make available a report with the data revealed and the conclusions regarding the air quality in the monitored zone. “Not yet available”, explains a Press Release, “the final report will be published on the ARPAV web site in the section dedicated to the Provincial department”.

Other monitoring campaigns could be added to that in Rio Novo in the near future, taking advantage also in these cases of some of the twelve unused police boxes throughout Venice, also in areas of high atmospheric pollution – such as Canal Grande and Canale della Giudecca – caused, other than by water taxis and cargo boats, by vaporetti, ACTV ferries, and the cruise ships which come and go from the Marittima di Santa Marta station.

Source: La Nuova Venezia, 31 August, 2017