Toulouse: end of the air pollution episode, emergency measures are lifted
Despite the persistence of cold weather and the absence of wind, fine particle pollution levels are down in Toulouse and Haute-Garonne. The prefecture has decided to lift the emergency measures.
The pollution alert, in force since Sunday January 16 in Toulouse and Haute-Garonne, will be lifted on Tuesday January 18. The atmospheric conditions and the emergency measures adopted by the prefecture of Haute-Garonne, since Sunday January 16, have made it possible to bring down, from Sunday, the levels of pollution observed.
According to Dominique Tilak, director of Atmo Occitanie, the organization in charge of observing and measuring pollution in the region, it is in particular the presence of fog, this Monday, January 17, which allowed the drop in fine particle levels.
“When the fog is present, a nucleation phenomenon occurs, that is to say that the fine polluting particles are washed out”. This Tuesday, there should also be a little more wind, which also facilitates the dispersion of particles.
Consequently, the prefect of Haute-Garonne has decided to lift the emergency measures from Tuesday January 18, at midnight. The lowering of the maximum authorized speeds, the ban on agricultural burning and the report of industrial polluting operations will therefore no longer be in force.