What is AQUILA ?

1. AQUILA’s input to the Air Quality Directive Revision:items related to the EMEP monitoring activitiesA. Borowiak, J.P. Putaud, F. Cavalli, P. BallestaEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and SustainabilityR. Gehrig, P. Woods, P. Quincey, K. Torseth

2. What is AQUILA ? • AQUILA is a network of 37 Air Quality Reference Laboratories from the 27 EU Member States + CH, IS, and NO. • They are legally responsible for assuring the quality of air pollutant measurements in their country, which implies: • the organisation of national QA/QC programmes, • the participation in European QA/QC programmes

3. Air Quality Directives– EMEP relationships EMEP Monitoring Strategy: “Although it is not a formal requirement at level 1 sites, the EU Member States that have commitments under Directive 2008/50/EC are recommended to undertake the required background measurements at their existing EMEP sites” Air Quality Directive 2008/50/EC: Detailed measurements of fine particulate matter at rural background locations should be made […] in a manner consistent with those of the cooperative programme for monitoring and evaluation of the long range transmission of air pollutants in Europe (EMEP)

4. DRAFT DRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFT AQUILA: 17 items for the review of air policy 1) Inter-laboratory comparisons 2) Type approval 3) Roles and responsibilities of NRL 5) Terms and definition 6) Ions in PM 7) Siting criteria/Classification/Representativeness 9) Ozone precursors (VOC) 10) Mercury and other heavy metals 11) EC and OC 13) Average Exposure Indicators 14) Deposition 15) EN standards use & impact 17) Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons

5. AQUILA item 1: Inter-laboratory comparisons — Institutions that operate national monitoring networks, or monitoring stations at a national level, have an established recognized and independently assessed quality assurance and quality control system, which provides for regular maintenance to assure the accuracy of all the measuring devices, and this should be reviewed by the relevant National Reference Laboratory, where this is different. These institutions shall participate in the related Community-wide quality assurance programmes — Institutions that operate other (e.g. regional) monitoring networks and/or individual monitoring stations have an established, recognized quality assurance and quality control system, which provides for regular maintenance to assure the accuracy of all the measuring devices, and this should be reviewed by the relevant National Reference Laboratory. Where possible these institutions should participate in the related Community-wide quality assurance programmes

6. AQUILA item 6: Ions in Particulate Matter AQUILA, in consultation with the EMEP Chemical Coordinating Centre, proposes to take into consideration the following modifications to AQD 2008/50/EC Annex IV Part B on the occasion of the revision of the AQD: B. Substances Measurements of PM must include at least the total mass concentration and concentrations of appropriate compounds to characterize its chemical composition. At least the list of chemical species given below shall be included. Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+,NH4+, SO42-, NO3-,Cl-, elemental and organic carbon In the absence of EN standard measurement methods, Member States are requested to use the methods described by the EMEP programme, by CEN Technical Reports or international standards. Member States shall inform the Commission on the sampling and analytical methods used to determine the aerosol chemical composition. In addition in Article 6 (point 5) the expression “(PM2.5)” should be deleted.

7. AQUILA item 9: Ozone precursors (VOCs) Conclusions, recommendations So far the measurements of the organic ozone precursors have been heterogeneous across the Europe. 1.- Measurements shall be taken in particular in urban or suburban areas in accordance with the Directive’s requirements 2.- Monitoring of the present list of individual VOCs should remain part of the requirements of the Directive. 3.- There is a need for a definition of DQOs for VOC ozone precursors in terms of their data capture and a target measurement uncertainty only. 4.- There may be a need for development of EN standards for the analysis of these compounds in ambient air. 5.- When appropriated, low cost sampling and analysis methods should be used; i.e., when the final uncertainty of the data agrees with DQOs. 6.- Collaboration with other international programmes would require the adoption of the same DQOs, reference methods and protocols for analysis.

8. AQUILA item 10: Mercury and other heavy metals (1) a. Hg speciation measurements are currently required to be made at rural background sites. Speciated Hg measurements (level 3) should not be mandated in the revised Directive and should remain a recommended measurement. b. Total gaseous mercury concentrations are often elevated significantly in urban and industrial areas. Given the risks to health posed by TGM (level 2), measurements of this could be mandated in urban and Industrial areas. c. The ‘manual’ method for TGM (level 2), measurement referred to in the Annex of EN 15852 should be allowed as an alternative measurement method (i.e. either as a second reference or equivalent method) since it is significantly easier and cheaper to operate. d. Measurements of Hg in PM at rural background sites (level 3) are recommended in the Directive. It is proposed that a standard CEN method for Hg in PM is developed soon. Meanwhile guidance should be given in the revised directive on how these measurements should be made (i.e. in the same manner as EN14902 but with a different digestion method).

9. AQUILA item 10: Mercury and other heavy metals (2) e. Digestion of mercury and other heavy metal PM samples (level 2): It should be specified explicitly that metals, including mercury, that are taken with PM samples at different times, may combined in bulk for digestion and analysed as a composite sample. h. Combining daily samples over weeks/months in order to calculate the annual mean should be unambiguously allowed for heavy metals (level 2) as long as it does not compromise the DQO. i. Weekly sampling should be explicitly allowed for Heavy Metals (level 2).

10. AQUILA item 11: Organic and Elemental Carbon (1) Proposals for recommendations (1) Change the title of Annex IV to “Measurements of PM composition”. Keep the requirement for measurements at rural background locations (which supports the work of the EMEP network). Measurements at urban background locations, for example some of those used for the AEI, and roadside locations, would be interesting but it is not proposed that they should explicitly feature in the Directive. (2) Insert Total Carbon, defined as the mass concentration of carbon in PM samples in the list of components in Annex IV. Insert text “Total Carbon shall be reported as subdivided into categories including OC and EC, using methods to be reported by Member States.” There will be a need for a CEN Total Carbon standard method, which can be the main part of the updated CEN/TR 16243: 2011. This would include a standard EC/OC method as an Informative Annex.

11. AQUILA item 11: Organic and Elemental Carbon (2) Questions, possible issues, perspectives Measurements of BC are also problematic and method dependent. A number of biases from ideal soot measurements have been identified. There is therefore a need to standardise BC measurements before they could be considered for regulatory purposes.

12. AQUILA item 14: Deposition of HM and PAHs (1) EMEPlevels 1 & 2 • Technical questions • Three existing EN standards • - EN15841 (2009): As, Cd, Pb, and Ni in atmospheric deposition • - EN 15853 (2010): Hg deposition • EN 15980 (2011): deposition of (7) PAHs •  Harmonisation would be needed (but will be difficult) for: • Sampling strategy / site requirements • Material for sampling • Sampling time, storage conditions, sample treatment

13. AQUILA item 14: Deposition of HM and PAHs (2) Possible synergies with EMEP monitoring - Siting criteria Only remote rural sites are concerned, with “stringent recommendations”. How to deal with usual rural sites (representative for regional scale)? How to deal with urban / industrial sites ? - Data Quality Objectives EMEP DQOs are mostly laboratory objectives whereas the EU DQOs consider the total uncertainty. - Monitoring strategy The requirements of the Directive and EMEP should be coordinated. The scientific basis for EMEP monitoring of Cu, Zn and Cr should be examined with a view to whether the Directive should include it too. - Technical recommendations on sampling methods (materials, sampling time, analyses, etc…) It will be difficult to achieve harmonisation for all items

14. AQUILA item 17: PAHs atmospheric concentrations (level 2) • Clarification of the Technical Requirements in Directive 2004/107/EC • PAH vapour phase monitoring: • It should be clarified that measurements of PAHs in the vapour phase need not be included in the directive because the compounds with the highest toxic load are all particulate bound. • b. Ozone scrubber requirements: • Discussions in CEN TC264 WG21, and elsewhere, are clear that ozone scrubber technology is still not yet developed sufficiently to allow use of these devices in the field. Therefore it is recommended that requirements to use these scrubbers are not included in the revised directive. • The methodology that the Member State has applied must be reported to the EC together with the PAH data. • c. Sub-sampling of PM filters for PAHs for subsequent analyses • should be explicitly allowed, providing there is evidence that the sub-sample is representative of the whole, and provided that the detection sensitivity is not compromised.

15. AQUILA: 17 items for the review of air policy Conclusions A much larger level of consistency between the Air Quality Directives is looked for. Full convergence between EMEP requests and the EC Air Quality Directives could be difficult to achieve on a limited number of items.

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