Effect of the pandemic on the particulate matter concentration in a Colombian municipality
Introduction. Vehicular, industrial, and commercial restriction measures because of the COVID-19 pandemic could have affected the levels of particulate matter. Aim. Carry out a comparative analysis between the levels of particulate matter 10 (PM10) in the months of quarantine (September - December 2020) and post-quarantine ( January - March 2021) with respect to those observed before the pandemic ( January - March 2020), in Ciénaga (Colombia). Methodology. Analytical study on the concentration of PM10 (CPM10) in the municipality of Ciénaga. The mean and standard deviation of CPM10 were calculated at each monitoring station and for all of them together, for different phases of the pandemic (pre, during, and post-quarantine). A hypothesis contrast was made by station and in total, for the three phases, using the 1-way Anova test with the Tukey method (α = 0.05). Results. When analyzing the CPM10 of all the stations together, statistically significant differences were observed between pre-quarantine - quarantine (p = 1,218e-10) and pre-quarantine - post-quarantine (p = 3,378e-8). When discriminating by station, a significant reduction was observed in all post-quarantine stations compared to pre-quarantine, especially at the Costa Verde station. Conclusion. The limitations on industrial, vehicular and commercial activities had a positive impact in the short (6 months) and long term (12 months) in the CPM10 of the municipality of Ciénaga. It is recommended to strictly monitor PM10 at coal loading and unloading ports, as well as exploring the possibility of establishing a week off to periodically alleviate pollution levels.
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