www.CostaRicaTicas.com

The Tico Times had an article last Friday about the quality of the air in downtown San Jose and surrounding areas. It has been scientifically monitored in 20 or so different locations for the last couple of years. The results show that the air quality is marginal six months a year and is unsafe six months a year.

For someone who would like to live within 20 minutes of the center of San Jose, where would be the areas with the cleanest air?

As you go uphill, such as from San Rafael de Escazu up to San Miguel de Escazu and then further up to San Antonio de Escazu, does the air pollution decrease, stay the same, or increase? Does air pollution rise, fall, or stay at the same level?

What is the direction of the prevailing winds around San Jose, and thus which side of the city would have the cleanest air, north or east or south or west? What areas are upwind of the San Jose pollution?

Does one need to live in a small town outside of San Jose, like Atenas or Sarchi, to get reasonably clean air?

Any meteorologists or air quality experts onboard?

San Jose benefits from higher elevation and clear wind patterns. It is lot like LA, which is a geographic bowl that holds the smog for a lot longer. I don't know the prevailing wind patterns in the central valley, but you are better off in more elevated areas where the wind would be more consistent.

As for air pollution migration/dispersion, there are generally two types of air pollution to consider - particulates that get suspended in the air column due to higher energy that keeps it elevated. This would be dust and some particulates from diesel exhaust. Other contaminants are more or less dissolved in the air and become part of the atmosphere and don't necessarily settle out like particulates will. For example, petroleum molecules (like benzene) that volatilize easily.

So in general, particlutes will stay suspened in the air until the air velocity slows down, then there is not enough energy to keep the particles suspended.

Think of this like trying to dissolve too much sugar in a glass of water. Some of the sugar will actually dissolve and more or less become a part of the liquid. Once the liquid has dissolved as such sugar as it can, the rest falls to the bottom of the glass. Liken this to the volatile petroleum compounds. The rest of the sugar will get suspened in the water if you stir it (add energy) but will then settle back out once the stirring stops.

So to answer your question, one would need to know the actual nature of the contaminants. I would guess that most of the air quality relates to particulates from diesel exhaust.

Say then, that you live in SJ, and the prevailing wind is from the west to east and there is a mountain east of SJ. Once the wind hits the mountain, the velocity will decrease, and the particulates will fall out on the prevailing wind side of the mountain. The air on the other side of the mountain will be much cleaner. Of course, you'd still be better off living upwind of SJ altogether.

As far as the volatile compounds that become part of the atmosphere, of course your best bet would also be to live upwind.

Either way, the farther you get from the source of contamination, the less the concetrations will be due to dispersion - the mixing of the dirty air with the clean air. Also other factors at play would be living in a home in a dense forest where the foilage cleanses the air vs. living in the middle of a 10,000 acre cattle ranch with nothing but stubble grass around you.

If you are concerned about air quality, you also need to look around your immediate area. Living next to a gas station in the middle of the country, you will still get heavy concetrations of volatiled petroleum in the air. In the USA previously (and probably still in CR) when tankers filled underground tanks at gas stations, there was no vapor recovery. Picture the underground tanks 1/4 full of gasoline, with the airspace in the tank heavy with petroleum vapors. Now you drop 15,000 gallons of gasoline into the tank, and the contaminant-laden air is forced out the tank vent and into the surrounding area.

Also, building materials (oil-based paint, carpet, laminated counters and cupboards, glues, etc.) often make air quality inside a home much worse than outdoors - even in populated areas. I once had a customer (a church) that did some air quality testing in their building and found elevated concentrations of a chlorinated solvent. They thought that maybe the carpet or other material in the building was causing this problem and rang recent remodeling contractors through the ringer. After much BS, they called me, and I asked them "when were the samples collected?" Answer: "Sunday" I then said, "Sample on a day when you don't have a service." They did, and guess what, they found no contamination even though the building had been closed up all day. Why? Because all of nice, freshly dry-cleaned garments people wore to the church service provided a nice source of chlorinated solvents to volatilize from the clothing into the air. In another instance, I had a client who was a school, and several of the staff were found with elevated chlorine in their blood. Of course the first (and only) area that was investigated was a pool. After the school contacted us, we quickly narrowed the problem down to the gym showers, where the hot water dispersed through shower heads allowed chlorine to easily volatilize into the indoor air.

So air quality is a complicated subject, but the two general rules if you want clean air are: Move as far away from the sources as you can, and be alert to on-site sources of contamination.

Good information.

To digress a little, when a new house is built and new carpet and cabinets are installed, the air in the house becomes worse than the air outside due to pollution from these new items. Does this pollution slowly decrease over a month or two, or maybe over a year or two, so that at some point the carpet and the cabinets completely stop polluting? Or do they continue to pollute over the many years or decades that they remain in the house?

Interesting topic and I've also wondered where the freshest air would be in SJO, isn't in the gulch that's for sure. Latinoheat described it as being in one of the unhealthiest environments on the planet as we walked by all the buses on the way to Mas x Menos. Since the prevailing winds are from the NE, I would guess the air would be better in Barrio Amon than say San Pedro or Zapote, or better in Heredia and Santa Ana than Tres Rios or Cartago but with the differences in altitudes and wind patterns this logic may not apply. Did that article you saw have detailed results of air quality and the locations?
Some climate info-

Formaldehyde in new homes isn't talked about much but is a big issue IMO. A friend built a new home and went cheap on the plywood buying chinese import, the formaldehyde released from the glue was so strong in the summer heat the trim carpenters eventually refused to work with it and left the job for a week until the house aired out. I went in there during construction and was shocked how bad it was, it choked me in smaller rooms like the closets and bathrooms. Once the plywood was primed and painted it sealed it and wasn't as bad but paint and carpet also release it. In fact pretty much everything in a new house from the wood procducts, paint and glues to the carpets, new furniture and drapes release formaldehyde and other fumes. A new house could literally make you sick, look what's happening with the Katrina FEMA trailers. I don't know the answer to your question but it does diminish over time with ventilation, I read someplace a recommendation to first let certain products off-gas: leave them outside the home for several days before installation to reduce the amounts released inside.

_________________

Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

What a great thread on an important topic not previously treated! A strong kudos to each poster.

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

This is not really any news. Most of us have known for years that the air quality in San Jose sucks. I couldn't find the exact article that you were talking about (including a link to it would have been nice), but I did find other articles from earlier including:

this one in InsideCostaRica from 2 weeks ago http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2008/may/21/nac01.htm

and this one from the Tico Times from 2 YEARS ago http://www.ticotimes.net/dailyarchive/2006_01/daily_01_25_06.htm#story2

Some things never change (or else get even worse).

Some other points of view on the discussion thus far:
1) I stongly suspect that worrying about indoor air "pollution" in a place like CR really misses the mark. Of course, that might be one element of pollution ANYWHERE but most likely not any more so in CR and certainly not the major driving force in the high pollution readings that prompted your initial concern. In fact, there are a number of reasons why indoor air pollution is probably much LESS of a concern in CR than it would be in some place like Detroit from which Crooked hails. Homes and buildings up north are MUCH more throughly insulated than ones in CR which are often left open for refreshing and cooling breezes rather than using expensive air conditioning. Also, you see a lot more ceramic tile flooring in most places in CR than you see carpeting.

2) Underground tanks are also a source of air pollution and might relatively be more of a source of pollution in CR due to lack of any fancy vapor recovery mechanism, but I still also suspect that this source is minor compared to much more obvious ones.

3) Those articles point to VEHICLE emissions as being responsible for 75% of the pollution. 88% of the cars in CR are in the greater SJ metro area. And a much higher percentage of those cars are older, more poorly maintained, and not emission tested compared to the US. There is also a much greater use of dirty diesel fuels as a higher percentage of the population depends on buses for their transportation. If SJ were able to do anything about vehicle emissions, I strongly suspect that would take care of the vast bulk of the air quality problem bringing its pollution levels down to something more comparable to most US cities (ie still bad enough).

4) There is no one right answer to your question concerning prevailing winds. It all depends on a number of factors including time of year and even time of day. During the winter months (our winter), the prevailing trade winds are westerlies that blow in off the Atlantic, shed moisture as it passes over cooler higher altitudes and becomes relatively dry as it passes back down the Pacific slope (hence the drier weather during those months). This means that the winter winds would generally pass DOWN the valley meaning from SJ past Heredia and Escazu, Alajuela, Atenas and San Ramon etc., ie many of the areas that most gringos would be considering for relocation. During the summer months, the prevailing trade winds pass much further north and the normal morning evening cycle of ocean breezes take over (blowing in warm moist air during the morning and afternoon and then blowing back out as things cool in the evening). What that means for where the pollution ends up is anybody's guess. Most pollution is created during the day so presumably SJ's air ends up blowing towards Cartago or up the mountain slopes during the day. OTOH, all that polluted air that had built up all day blows back out in the evening so maybe it winds up down slope in places like Alajuela. (oops, I see where Paco already covered this while I was writing)

5) Personally, I think the answer to this question is fairly obvious if you're that concerned about clean air - move as far away from the traffic and development as you can get. Unfortunately, while I'm sure that probably appeals to something in almost all of us, most of us don't want to completely give up the conveniences and amenities that come with ready easy access to the urban commercial centers, with its shopping, medical care, nightlife and chicas, etc. (not necessarily in that order). Sure you could live up high in the mountains in someplace like Poasito, but do you really want to be in some sleepy little hamlet where nothing ever happens and you have to wait hours for a bus to take you to the city an hour away?

On a related note- I just remembered a gringo that's building a house in CR saying last week that Cartago has some of the worst drinking water in the country and that he would not recommend living there. Anyone know if the water in Cartago is really that polluted and if so, the cause?

_________________

Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

Air what? The locals down the mountain from where I live burn sh*t every f*cking day and I hate that sh*t. Air quality would be nice. But the practice of burning your garbage in the other rim of San Jose affect the air quality in San Jose. San Jose is like any big city state side too much cars and buses.

_________________
Living Life To the Fullest {Pura Vida}

Living downtown as I do, it seems that the weather tends to come towards downtown from the Northeast more often than not. I have lived in the outskirts of San Pedro and the air was definitely better than downtown.

_________________
"The only normal people are those you don't know very well." Joe Ancis

The article I referred to was in the hard copy edition of The Tico Times on May 23, 2008. It was written by Nick Wilkinson, Tico Times Staff, and his e-mail address is: nwilkinson@ticotimes.net. I don't know if it is on the internet. It was on page three of the main section of the newspaper, and the headline was "Cars Drive Rise in San Jose's Bad Air Days". It is the fourth annual report on the subject by a coalition of government and university researchers. It says they published a scathing indictment on the state of the capital's air quality.

I hope this helps.

The article had a graph which showed that in 1990 there were about 300,000 vehicles in Costa Rica. Johnny Araya, the Mayor of San Jose, said that now there are 1,600,000 vehicles in Costa Rica. That growth rate is incredible. It said that each household in San Jose now has 1.65 cars. That also is incredible. I thought that this was a poor country.

Eight years ago when I first came to Costa Rica I did not see many women driving. Now in the afternoon in Escazu I see tons of women driving nice cars and they typically have a cellular phone in one hand and a cigarette in the other. They've come a long way baby.

That does help explain why I couldn't find it. You had said "last Friday" so I was looking in the May 30th edition. Unfortunately, past articles from the Tico Times can be found on the internet BUT to read the full article you have to pay$2 (sorry, I aint that curious).

Like I said before they've been publushing studies like this for a long time, so it didn't seem like news to me. what I didn't realize was that this was part of one longitudinal study. Not only is the air in SJ bad, but this series of studies reveal the TREND line which is that it is also getting worse and worse.

The other part of your post also supports what I said earlier. The title of the article says it all. The rise in SJ's bad air days is DRIVEN by CARS (ie drastically increasing vehicle traffic not formaldehyde in homes or fumes from underground storage tanks).