Waterford had the worst air quality of any Irish city in 2020 and 2021 according to a report by the EU Environmental Watchdog.
None of the Irish cities included in the report of over 300 cities were classified as having “good” air quality over the past two years.
The European Environment Agency’s updated rating of air quality in cities across Europe in the period 2020-2021 found the air quality in Waterford as well as Cork, Dublin and Limerick was rated as “fair".
The report ranks cities from the cleanest to the most polluted on the basis of average levels of fine particulate matter such as dust, soot and smoke.
A “fair” rating means the level of air pollution is just above the annual guideline recommended by the World Health Organization of 5 micrograms per cubic metre of air (µg/m³).
Dublin (35th) had the best air quality among the Irish cities, ranking in 35th place overall with a score of 7.4µg/ m³
Cork (38th) ranked slightly worse, with the Rebel County deemed to have the 38th best air quality of European cities with a reading of 7.5µg/m3.
Limerick was ranked in 73rd place at 8.5µg/ m³.
Waterford ultimately came in 130th position out of 344 European cities surveyed with 9.5µg/ m³.
The results are based on over 400 monitoring stations across 31 European countries.
Only 11 cities were classified as having good air quality, with Umeå in Sweden and Faro and Funchal in Portugal scoring as the cities with the best air quality in Europe.
The three most poulluted cities were Nowy Sacz in Poland and Cremona and Padova in Italy.
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