Air quality in El Valle de Aburrá.

El Valle de Aburrá is in department of Antioquia, Colombia. This region is composed by

ten cities (They are Caldas, La Estrella, Sabaneta, Envigado, Itagüí in the south, Medellín
in the middle, Bello, Copacabana, Girardota and Barbosa). The previous cities are part of
Metropolitan Area. In 2015, Medellin city had a population increase of 6%; besides, in
2020 total population was 4.055.296 people. If we consider the territory in question is 1157
k m2, we can estimate that more than 60% of population is use 1,8% of total area (Medellín
como vamos. 2020. https://www.medellincomovamos.org/). This gives us a clear vision of
population increase density of Metropolitan Area.
By being settled in the central mountain range and comprised by a narrow valley with high
mountains, El Valle de Aburrá has an accumulation of low clouds and little of ventilation;
This has negative effects on air quality and the storage of particulate matter (Calidad del
aire. 2021. https://www.metropol.gov.co/ambiental/calidad-del-aire).

Metropolitan Area has been a font of industry and commerce, so in this territory many
companies carry out their activities at their factories. In the same way, the automotive park
has presented exponential increases, which for 2015 registered growth of 56% in
motorcycles and 28% in cars (Aguilar, D. 2017. Medellín y su calidad del aire). These
development systems produce particulate matter emissions, which, added to the
mentioned aspects previously, make the air quality in the Aburrá Valley undesirable.