Progress in air quality management

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Speaking on Monday, 28 September, at the 10th Annual Air Quality Governance Lekgotla, Environmental Affairs Deputy Minister Barbara Thomson said the improvements were a result of the development, by government, on several regulatory tools and interventions to manage air quality.

All air quality management interventions are aimed at achieving ambient air quality that is not harmful to health and well-being.

Deputy Minister Thomson said air quality is about health and the quality of life which is a constitutional matter.

"The people that are exposed to the smog, are almost always the people that cannot afford to pay the doctors' bills for bronchitis, asthma or worse, lung cancer," she said.

Thomson told the air quality officials at the Lekgotla that she is proud of the work that they have accomplished in the development of the South African Atmospheric Licensing & Inventory Portal (SAAELIP).

The portal will bury the outdated paper-based management of air quality licensing and reporting.

"From now on, all licensing and reporting of emissions will be done at the click of a button, thereby drastically improving efficiency and service delivery," she said.

The Department of Environmental Affairs will launch the South African Atmospheric Emission Licensing and Inventory Portal on Wednesday.

The SAAELIP will be launched in addition to the existing 102 government-owned monitoring stations.

"While monitoring stations report to the South African Air Quality Information System (SAAQIS), the members of the public are able to see for themselves how the quality of the air is in the areas where they live," Deputy Minister Thomson said.