2016 Annual Regional Air Quality Index Statistics by Sector

Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs

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2016 Annual Regional Air Quality Index Statistics
by Sector

Air quality varied considerably among the 17 urban sectors for which the AQI was calculated. In 2016, the percentage of “poor” air quality days varied from under 1% in Bécancour and Sorel-Tracy to 26% in Témiscaming.

Compared to the previous year, the average proportion of “good” or “acceptable” air quality days for all sectors rose by 1%, reaching 94%. The average proportion of “poor*” air quality days dropped by 1% to settle at 6%.

As opposed to regional statistics, which are essentially based on uniform measurements of PM_2.5 and ozone, sector statistics may take into account pollutants emitted by a local source that is not measured on a regional scale. This implies that the AQI in a given sector may differ from the AQI for the region in which it is located.

Local sources of atmospheric emissions affecting a sector’s AQI can vary from one area to another.

*This is the case when the concentration of at least one of the contaminants used to calculate the AQI is greater than the hourly reference value at any one of the regional stations.