The Tehran Department of Environment and Japan International Cooperation Agency will launch a study in May into the contribution of mobile and stationary sources of air pollutants to the pollution problems in the capital.
Although mobile sources, such vehicles, are responsible for 80% of Tehran’s air pollution, Muhammad Hadi Heydarzadeh, director of the Tehran office of the DOE, says the contribution of stationary sources “are grossly underestimated.”
Speaking to ISNA, he said the common belief is that stationary sources such as residential buildings contribute to only 2% to the air pollution, “but if that were true, we’d notice an improvement in air quality on the weekends and public holidays, which of course we don’t.”
The official said without regular inspection, central heating systems can and will “emit the same amount of air pollutants” as decrepit vehicles.
The sprawling capital is home to around a third of the country’s industries, which add to the city’s unending pollution woes caused mainly by the five million vehicles that ply the overcrowded streets.
Since the onset of the cold season, the state-run radio and TV has been urging people to avoid the streets of the capital and stay indoors due to the dirty and polluted air. Schools have been cancelled for a total of seven days so far.
