Valladolid Air Quality Network RCCAVA

The Valladolid Air Pollution Control Network (RCCAVA, in Spanish) is a model to be followed in the field of air quality monitoring.

It is made up of 6 public stations that comply with the macro and micro implementation criteria set out in current legislation, and is the first network in the whole of Spain to have most of its parameters and all of its stations accredited by ENAC under the UNE EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017 certification scheme.

This accreditation is a real asset in terms of the quality and accuracy of the data collected, but also a challenge in terms of maintaining these standards.

In addition, the new regulation on Low Emission Zones (LEZ) designates RCCAVA as the entity responsible for the follow-up and monitoring of air quality measurements in the city of Valladolid.

At Envira, we are very proud to have been responsible for providing comprehensive maintenance services to the RCCAVA since 1998.

Features of the Valladolid Air Quality Network

Valladolid City Council’s air quality network is made up of 5 fixed air quality monitoring stations, a mobile station known as the Rapid Deployment Laboratory (RDL) and a Data Processing Centre (DPC).

Source: https://www.valladolid.es/

The set of stations is distributed in the most representative points of the city of Valladolid in order to monitor the most relevant air pollutants, such as NO/NO2, PM10 and PM2.5, SO2, CO, Ozone and BTX.

*Accredited network for SO2, NO/ NO2, CO and O3

All of these AAQM Stations have fully automated instruments that continuously monitor pollutants over time. The data is collected by a data acquisition system, which collects the information from the instrument and sequentially incorporates it into its database.

Communication between the stations and the data processing centre is via a fibre-optic network, ensuring maximum data availability.

This network of stations is complemented by the Rapid Deployment Laboratory (RDL), a mobile air quality monitoring station that can be deployed to any urban location on demand.

Its main purpose is to characterise urban areas not covered by fixed monitoring stations and to carry out temporary measurement campaigns.

Comprehensive maintenance of an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited ambient air monitoring network.

The RCCAVA stations are made up of analysers that operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the data obtained, once validated, are made available to the public daily in the form of reports. For this reason, both the preventive and corrective maintenance of the analysers and the use of the data they collect are essential.

In this respect, Envira has been able to contribute its experience and added value by having its own ENAC-accredited calibration laboratory, which also allows us to meet all the maintenance requirements of Valladolid City Council, such as:

• Comprehensive preventive and corrective maintenance
• Computer maintenance
• Network data verification and exploitation

Comprehensive preventive and corrective maintenance of the air quality network.

The comprehensive preventive and corrective maintenance operations carried out comply with the procedures and frequency described in the RCCAVA Quality Management System (SGS) UNE EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017.

These operations include, for example:

• Verification of gas and particle analyzers.
• Calibration of gas analyzers.
• Maintenance of standards and reference materials.
• Maintenance and verification of zero air generators.

Immission Network Software Maintenance

Software maintenance includes the management, technical control and status of the data acquisition systems and the continuous updating of the management and telecommunications applications implemented in the RCCAVA.

Another task carried out by Envira is the adaptation and maintenance of the module that generates the ENAC accredited test reports according to the UNE EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standard and the air quality information bulletins that Valladolid City Council publishes daily on its website.

Using the ENVIRA DS data collection and analysis software, the maintenance technicians enter the information relating to the maintenance work carried out at the remote stations and it is transmitted to the CPD, where it is stored in the database.

Verification and use of environmental data

Every day, Envira’s data exploitation technicians check, analyse and verify the data acquired by each of the stations in the network, in accordance with the regulations in force and the instructions of the quality management system.

This process makes it possible to plan corrective maintenance and report any incidents or breaches.

In addition, these data are used in various reports, such as the annual air quality assessment report for Valladolid, the daily air quality information bulletins (BICA), the ENAC-accredited test reports or the data analysis and statistical trends of all the data generated by the RCCAVA.

All these features of the integral maintenance plan mean that the Valladolid City Council Air Pollution Network has a level and accuracy of data quality that complies with the quality specifications set out in the European Directives on Environmental Air Quality Management.