Winter pollution hits French capital

PARIS: Paris was smothered Wednesday by its worst winter pollution in a decade, with commuters enjoying free public transport and half of the cars ordered off the road in an effort to clear the air.

The surge in pollution has been driven by cold weather and near windless conditions that have trapped car exhaust, wood smoke and other pollutants, said the French capital’s AirParif air monitoring service.

Although bad by local standards, current levels of fine airborne particles known as PM10 in Paris are around 60 per cent of levels in Beijing and a fraction of readings in New Delhi, the world’s most polluted capital.

City authorities announced traffic restrictions would be extended to Thursday, with a ban imposed on private cars with registration plates ending in odd numbers from between 5:30 am (0430 GMT) and midnight.

The rules have been in place since Tuesday, alternating between odd and even plates.

Public transport in the city was also free for a second day running to encourage commuters to leave their vehicles at home, while school children are being prevented from exercising outside.

“This is a record period (of pollution) for the last 10 years,” Karine Leger of AirParif said by telephone.

For more than a week now, Airparif has published readings of PM10 at more than 80 microgrammes per cubic metre of air particles, triggering the pollution alert.

It recorded the highest level of pollution last Thursday, reporting 146 microgrammes/m3.

Other parts of France were also facing pollution.

Officials in the southeast Rhone valley region said they would introduce measures to restrict car use from Friday to tackle the problem in the city of Lyon.

Pollution levels were also high in the Alpine towns of Chambery and Annecy.

The environmentalist candidate in next year’s presidential election, Yannick Jadot, said that politicians needed to target the most polluting vehicles and restrict the use of diesel engines.