We all know how bad the air is in Dhahran. Today Jebel Heights was at 281 according to IQAir.
Looks like it’s getting worse too. Dammam called out in this article.
https://airqualitynews.com/headlines/research-identifies-best-and-worst-performing-cities-in-reducing-air-pollution/
It was amazing how clear the sky was during covid lockdown. The many trucks and cars on motorways has a big impact too. The entire region has poor air quality. I would advise people to purchase a good quality air purifier so that indoor air is high quality. The good ones have digital read outs so you can see the air is excellent. given you spend so much time indoors it’s a no brainer to invest in proper purifiers and be sure to have one in bedrooms also. Avoid exercising outdoors when air quality readings are bad. Get an indoor (quality) treadmill or a good smart trainer for your bike to use when air quality poor.
Agree. On IQAir there is for example a meter streaming from Jebel Heights. Aramco and the government cannot stop the truth. It is one of the worst polluted places on the planet when considering the ambient levels through the year.
Only expats at the end of their career and younger ones with no other options remain. Sacrificing their health and worse, that of their families.
They are playing whatever is the Saudi equivalent of Russian Roulette.
The genie is out of the bottle. Anyone can buy an AQ sensor and stream it to the web. Over 365 days Dhahran is the worst place the world by some margin. It’s difficult for Aramco to spin out of this one, the facts are dire.
The question is how long will locals and expats remain ignorant? My guess is the $$$ will placate the desperate and poor expats, those with a choice will run 100 miles.
Lived in Ras Tanura for several years...sandwiched between the gas plant at Juaymah, and the refinery. Regularly could not let the kids play outside. it LITERALLY made your eyes water and sting within a minute of being outdoors. Fortunately it wasn't this way every day...just once every couple of weeks. Finally got the chance to head to Dhahran and the air quality improved dramatically. Our son developed asthma within 6 months of our move to RT. It disappeared within 6 months of our move to Dhahran. go figure...
The problem is is data not being available and it then relies on conversations and asking around, someone who knew someone etc. Also, a lot of the time these diseases hit in retirement. Again data is therefore unknown. Aramco of course knows this and deliberately avoids (and masks) any real data on mortality being published.
But there are plenty of respected scientific studies relating Aramco-like levels of pollution exposure to elevated mortality rates.
In Aramco you take your chances for doh. And that’s okay for a lot of us. Somehow.
I’ve been here 3 years and literally only seen pollution levels in the green zone on a couple of days, I remember because I took screenshots! I went outside at the time to celebrate, only to notice the air stank of tuurds and effluent. Perhaps a false reading but better than the usual thick egg/chemicals stench.
90% of the time it’s the in the red zone. There’s a drilling site literally next to the camp. Lung cancer rates in Dhahran must be off the charts.
@yuv+1oafo2p6 not so much the ignorance of people (expats counted) also how easily the subject is dismissed
Ask around cancer and COPD rates of retirees resignees esp staying here 10 years or more... God Help Us.
Wading in here. I was there for a time. I had a meter. Most days the PPM was in the red zone. Right outside my front door.
Ask any oldtimer if they knew about this. Most of us had no idea how bad it was though we suspected it was quite bad. A pneumonologist here diagnosed me with asthma recently.
Just completed 9 years in Dhahran. Too late now
MBS and Royals don't give a rats a-s if the air is unbreathable.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00514-6
A study that snuck through on the K$A airshed and health impacts:
… indicating that OA (organic aerosol such as volatile organic compounds) , SO42− (sulfate), NH4+ (ammonium), and BC (black carbon from incomplete fuel combustion such as diesel particulate matter (DPM)) constitute the bulk of the fine aerosol by mass, which is supported by our model results. Thus, the fine PM (particulate matter) fraction in the boundary layer is almost entirely anthropogenic (man made) and natural aerosols (dust and sea salt) make only a minor and infrequent contribution.
In my time there I was amazed at the general malaise towards the toxic air. Guess though if you are going to stay there for year$ then it’s not possible to really care or think about it. You’d go nuts.
“while Dammam in Saudi Arabia suffered an incredible climb from 43.9 to 155. The report observed that Dammam is a significant center for the Saudi oil industry and is home to both the largest port in the Persian Gulf and the largest airport in the world.”
Dammam also downwind from the largest polluting object in KSA (and maybe the planet) the “industrial city” at Jubail. Include the shiite coming out of Ras Tanura (you can see the brown haze on the horizon coming from as far as the the north coast of Bahrain) + all the drilling activities, fires etc and it’s a perfect storm. This all gets carried on the northerly prevailing winds (which are sand driven) and it’s a toxic soup.
KSA doesn’t even report figures on pollution, there are no real environmental standards, everything is fake and a complete and utter sham.
These people are literally poisoning their own population.
It’s only the largest airport by square foot, most of the facility is just sand, actually not large in terms of actual flights or passenger figures. But makes the locals think they have some kind of record.
Been unsafe for last 3 weeks. I’m still amazed at the levels of ignorance around the dangers of air pollution here - it’s a silent ki-ler.
To all those that still go jogging regularly outside, a date with cancer beckons.