Project Sinica – Our air is at stake

In Slovenia the air that we breathe is often polluted for known reasons, namely the majority of the population lives in valleys and basins with high concentration of particles during winter time due to heating from old furnaces running on solid fuel, as well as due to everyday and transit traffic. During the warmer period the air is polluted because of the ozone. Nitrogen oxides and other pollutants also pose a threat. This is why we need to gather reliable information on air pollution from various geographic and meteorological areas in Slovenia.    

Project Sinica – Upgrading the system for monitoring air pollution, identifying the causes for abnormal burden and analysing the impacts of improvement measures – is implemented by the Slovenian Environment Agency. The project will enable providing reliable, up to date, high quality and geographically representative measurements of air quality. The project will enable the Slovenian Environment Agency to develop air pollution forecasts and evaluations.    

The project also covers upgrading the monitoring site in Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje, Kranj, Novo mesto, Nova Gorica, and the Zasavje municipalities Hrastnik, Trbovlje and Zagorje, and Murska Sobota, Koper, Žerjav, Iskrba, Otlica and Krvavec. New monitoring sites will be set up in Ljubljana, Celje, Nova Gorica and Murska Sobota. 13 monitoring sites have been established. Monitoring stations for performing occasional measurements will also be set up. The latter will enable monitoring air quality in different parts of Slovenia and gathering information on geographical pollution.  

National measuring network for monitoring ambient air quality, renovated in the framework of Project Sinica

In addition to upgrading the network for air quality monitoring, the project, which ends in spring 2021, will also result in upgrading the laboratories and computer centres as well as the analytical and information centre. Slovenian Environment Agency believes that the “data gathered in the framework of this infrastructure and processed by the new and upgraded modelling tools will improve how well people are informed as well as raise awareness on the state of play in terms of air pollution. Having precise data available is also a good basis for developing measures for improving air quality. New equipment and tools as well as in-depth knowledge will improve monitoring of the adopted measures”.

Additional information about the project      

PHOTO: Črt Slavec