Air

Air is a mixture of gases. It mainly consists of nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%), smaller amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases, and a variable amount (average around 1%) of water vapour. Living beings need air, water and food to live. A man can sustain only five minutes without oxygen not suffering risk of health. Therefore, the air quality we are breathing is very important.

Beside above mentioned permanent ingredients, some other substances, which can harm living beings and materials, may locally and temporarily occur. Their presence is a result of human activity as well as due to natural sources.

Monitoring of air quality, expertise about emission sources and knowledge about spreading of pollutants around are necessary for air quality assurance. The level of concentrations, above which people’s health and environment could be affected, should be known. Based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations, limit values, target values, information thresholds and alert thresholds were determined for several pollutants. At the situation when concentrations go beyond those values, the state is obliged to ensure air quality improvement with corresponding programmes and measures.

The Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia (EARS) has the following duties in the field of air quality protection:

• Monitoring of outdoor air quality
• Collecting emission data
• Performing administration procedures for air quality protection