In certain parts of Palma air contamination is above permitted levels. Last summer, mobile recording stations in three squares - Columnes, Miquel Dolç and Abu Yahyà - registered average levels of nitrogen dioxide that exceeded those allowed.
The regional government had installed these monitoring devices, and the town hall is now asking that there be more fixed stations. Currently there are two. One is by Bellver Castle, where there are no pollution problems, and the other is in Foners (near to the centre). Josep Maria Rigo, coordinator in the ecology department, says that the objective would be to obtain a clearer idea of air quality.
The data currently available are not sufficient to be able to make an accurate assessment for the city as a whole. The town hall is meanwhile waiting for the government's atmosphere service to publish definitive data for air quality in 2016.
Initial estimates suggest that the Foners station did not exceed the annual limit value of 40 micrograms per cubic metre of nitrogen dioxide. However, as Rigo points out, this is a measure for just one part of the city. There need to be others so that there can be a more representative value.
The town hall is due to meet government representatives later this month in order to update the plan for air quality monitoring that was developed in 2012.