NEPA Monitoring Air Quality in the Corporate Area

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) continues to monitor the air quality in the Corporate Area, as the Government intensifies efforts to extinguish the fire at the Riverton City Landfill.

Acting Manager of the Air Quality Management Branch at NEPA, Steven Panton, told JIS News that the agency is using the “necessary resources to capture accurate data” on the air quality, which he noted, has deteriorated since the fire started on March 11.

“We have industry monitors that we get data from as well as our own monitoring,” he informed.

Mr. Panton said the smoke from the fire has affected a wide cross section of the Corporate Area.

“We see that the coverage is much more than the last fire that we had, and as far as Papine has been affected (by the smoke). The intensity of the fire would have caused that as well as the strong winds between yesterday and this morning,” he pointed out.

In the meantime, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) is advising the public to exercise extreme caution when traversing the Spanish Town Road area in the vicinity of the Riverton City Landfill.

Also, persons with respiratory problems, who are affected by the smoke, are encouraged to seek medical assistance.