Saudi Arabia is a country that is largely dependent on its production of oil. With this supply, they maintain trade and relations with other countries. However, this oil and urban activities such as the transportation of oil in Saudi Arabian cities are highly responsible for its polluted air. This air quality worsens each day or relatively remains the same every day. This pollution majorly can cause detrimental problems for everyone. 

The air quality in the major cities of Saudi Arabia always maintains the “unhealthy” condition. Specifically, the Saudi Arabian City of Dammam is one of the cities where air pollution is a severe problem. Although the city has the merit of being the first location for oil to be found in Saudi Arabia, this caused a huge problem in pollution. These vehicles transport oil and the trucks contaminate the air by the emissions. Consequently, these reasons contribute to the pollution of air quality in Saudi Arabia, according to IQAir. 

As a result, Saudi Arabia has been working to solve this problem. According to IQAir, the General Department of Traffic uses period vehicle checkpoints to monitor the emissions of random vehicles. They also plan to pave roads and create new bridges and underpasses to help improve traffic flow, which the vehicles waiting at busy junctions can produce a large amount of air pollution through their engine’s function. These changes have already shown some positive effects on the city, as there was a reduction in volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide (CO), and the fine particulate matter of PM2.5. For example, according to IQAir, the levels in industrialized areas dropped from 16 ppm to 2 ppm and volatile organic compounds fell from almost 0.8 ppm in 2010 to 0.2 in 2015. Overall, this improved the air quality in Dammam with the government measures. This demonstrates how other cities should also advocate for improving the air quality through these specific measures. 

Source: https://www.iqair.com/saudi-arabia