Ambiental

Challenges in Bogota Air Quality: Policies and
Technology
Extended abstract # 58 vbCrLf
Jorge E. Pachon
Universidad de La Salle. School of Environmental Engineering. Bogota, Colombia.
Georgia Institute of Technology. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. 311
Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332.
Eduardo Behrentz
Universidad de Los Andes. Environmental Engineering Research Center.Bogota,
Colombia.
Néstor Y. Rojas
Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Department of Chemical Engineering. Bogota,
Colombia. Transversal 30A 40-04, Chemical Engineering Laboratory, Of. 206.
Introduction
Due both its increasing emissions inventory and lack of effective environmental
policies, Bogota, Colombia’s capital and largest city, has become one of the most air
polluted cities in LatinAmerica. During the last 10 years, annual concentration of PM10
has exceeded the standard in several parts of the city.
The decline in the city’s air quality is explained by technological and policies
issues. Even though the correlation between diesel-vehicle particulate matter emissions
and the sulfur content of the fuel is widely documented, little has been done to improve
the quality of thediesel fuel, in terms of its environmental performance. The current
sulfur content of the diesel fuel sold in Bogota (1,200 ppm) is higher than that found in
major Latin American cities. It is, however, lower than that of the diesel sold in the rest
of the country – 4500 ppm -.
Notwithstanding the successful implementation of the new bus-rapid-transit
(BRT) system, the city’s transit bus fleet isold and oversized and responsible for more
than 90% of the PM10 emissions generated by mobile sources. During a recent public
transportation strike, where most of public buses not associated to the BRT system did
not run, the concentration of PM10 in the city dropped 54% with respect to the same day
in the previous week.
This paper analyses the gaps in the air quality management strategiesin Bogota
and recommends the steps to fill such gaps, based on the opportunities given by the
public awareness to the problem, the state of local scientific knowledge and the current
political will to finally curb air pollution.
Bogota’s Air Quality
Air quality has been widely related to health problems on main urban centers1.
Historically, Mexico City and Santiago have been demonstrated ascities with the worst
air quality in Latin America, and therefore, are associated with strong implications on

public health 2,3. During the last few years, Bogota’s air quality has been continuously
deteriorating, showing noncompliance with air quality local standards4,5.
It has been estimated that mobile sources are the main cause of air pollution in
major Latin American cities6,particularly those located at high elevation like Bogota.
Given both significant emission rates and stable meteorological conditions, poor air
quality can contribute considerably to disease and hospital rates for high risk populations
such as children and elderly people7. Air pollution also reduces visibility and has direct
effects on climate change8.
Bogota, Colombia’s capital and largest city islocated at 2,660 m (8,700 feet)
above MSL, with 6.8 million inhabitants9. Bogota’s economy is the biggest in the
country, and grows at an accelerated rate. Bogota has approximately 4,700 industries10
and 1.1 million vehicles11, of which more than 90% being private.
Bogota’s air quality network (BAQN) consists of 14 stations distributed
throughout the city that have been monitoring criteriapollutants since 1997 (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Location of Air Quality Monitoring Stations in Bogota

Through the years, particulate matter has become the most concerning pollutant,
accounting for the majority of non-attainment days, as it can be seen in Figure 2. The
PM10 annual standard in Bogota has been gradually become more stringent since 2003,
beginning with 80 ug/m3 and curbed to 55 ug/m3...