Guacolda Transfers Huasco’s Air Quality Monitoring Network to the Ministry of Environment

Huasco, November 27, 2020.- Guacolda, an AES Gener company, delivered this Friday to the Ministry of Environment the technical supervision of the 11 air quality monitoring stations operating in the communes of Huasco and Freirina.

The purpose of transferring the administration of the air quality monitoring network to the Government is to ensure that the network is always managed and operated properly, no matter who the administrator is.

The transfer ceremony was held at Guacolda and was attended by the Minister of the Environment, Carolina Schmidt, the Governor of Province of Huasco, Nelly Galeb, the mayor of the commune, Rodrigo Loyola, and executive officers of the Company.

The Minister of the Environment, Carolina Schmidt, said that “today the communities of Huasco and the members of the Committee for Environmental and Social Recovery of the commune satisfied a strong desire because now the State takes control of the entire monitoring network in Huasco. This builds the confidence necessary for sustainable development, where the community has access to information and where the State ensures compliance with all environmental standards.”

Meanwhile, the Chief Operating Officer of AES Gener, Norberto Corredor, said that with this transfer “we want to show the communities that the air quality monitoring stations have always worked properly. Regardless of who administers them, the data are accurate and reflect the air quality conditions of the commune.”

Moreover, Javier Dib, General Manager of Guacolda, pointed out that “from this process, Guacolda will continue to collaborate with the environmental authority in the operation of this equipment, which is essential to measure the air quality of the commune, whose indicators have improved steadily due to the large investments made by the companies in the territory. All this helps the commune to maintain the PM10 measurements under the latency status.”

Since 2000, Guacolda has operated a total of 11 air quality monitoring stations in the commune of Huasco and Freirina, which measure particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5; sulphur dioxide; nitrous oxide in addition to carbon monoxide and ozone, parameters that are reviewed and reported online by the Center for Studies, Measurement and Quality Certification (CESMEC, for its acronym in Spanish). There is also a weather station that measures wind speed and relative humidity in the environment.

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