Dr. Julián Bedoya’s career began in 1980, when he returned to his home country of Colombia after earning a master's degree in industrial engineering and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from Purdue. Now, Bedoya is an authority in air quality. Working as an associate professor at Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Medellín and as an air quality modeler at San Francisco’s Department of Public Health.
"I was very fortunate to study noise and air pollution at Purdue in the late 1970s when such issues were gaining popularity. It gave me an advantage," Bedoya said. "My colleagues at Universidad Nacional were concerned about two things: sanitary landfills and air quality. However, very few people knew about how to address air quality in Colombia and there was very little legislation in place."
Bedoya began networking with professors from other universities in the city with the intent of discussing Medellín's air quality issues. His vision was to jointly operate the air quality meters located in and around Medellín. This initiative became a "network of friends" that would get together on a regular basis to share knowledge, ideas, and data from the measuring devices on their campuses. Together they standardized sampling procedures so that data was comparable, published findings and management proposals in a quarterly technical bulletin, and created mechanisms such as seminars and congresses to further disseminate the information.
In 1992, with more than 10 years of cooperation, these professors from Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad Nacional, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, and Politécnico Jaime Isaza Cadavid decided to formalize their work. They did so by signing an agreement between universities and the city government. Health entities such as Metrosalud and Antioquia's Department of Health joined the group, who took the name of Redaire. One of their biggest achievements was the creation and training of a large group of critical thinkers on air issues that still today permeates the centers of authority, government, and media. From 1993 to 1996, Redaire operated and updated the Air Quality Monitoring Network, formed by all the meters that were located on their campuses and the ones acquired by the city's administration in the late 1970's. This work was the foundation for the robust monitoring network that exists today.
The current network is formed by 31 stations managed by SIATA (Early Warning System of Medellín and Valle de Aburrá). The stations record the air quality throughout the metropolitan territory and serve to measure the different types of air pollutants.
Air Pollution in Medellín
Since kicking off air quality measurements Medellín in the late 1970s, it was found that the pollutant levels were much higher than international standards, however it was only with time that everybody realized that the problem was serious.
The legislation on air quality increased in 1993 when the country established an environment ministry, but it was only in the beginning stages. During the same decade, Area Metropolitana became the local environmental authority for air management and the efforts for a better air quality started. Activities to highlight include the closure of the open garbage dump in Moravia, a neighborhood located about 1 mile (1.5 km) from the center of Medellin, and the development of a massive electric transport system to mobilize 1 million passengers per day.
Some members of Redaire in 2006. From left to right: Julián Bedoya (Universidad Nacional), Myriam Gómez (Politécnico Colombiano) and Andrea Marín (Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá)
By 2000, the Colombian regulations were still very lax, allowing more than twice the level of pollution than the United States. Finally, in 2005-2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) published air quality recommendations that clearly showed the seriousness of the matter. Redaire boosted epidemiological studies and proved the impact bad air quality has on health.
"Monitoring is one thing, but you need to understand what the pollution sources are to make decisions. More than 70 percent of particulate matter comes from transportation," Bedoya said." Unfortunately, while controlling industrial sources is easy, controlling vehicular emissions is not. It requires technology, a good public transportation system, civic culture, and well-designed roads. In Colombia, it is common to have speed bumps or traffic lights every 30 meters, which causes congestion and pollution. In countries like the United States they are installed every 500 meters."
According to Bedoya, both citizens and Medellín's administration are more conscientious now and have been trying to reduce traffic for more than 10 years. Large buses have replaced smaller ones to maximize passenger movement and reduce the number of buses on the road. City officials boosted natural gas as an alternative fuel and asked the Colombian petroleum company Ecopetrol to improve the quality of the diesel used in the city. Other initiatives included building road exchanges, tunnels and giving support for the use of electric motorcycles and cars. Even though Medellín's geographic conditions make the city prone to particulate material accumulation, initiatives like these can have a positive impact on air quality.
While high levels of air pollution were recorded recently (02/22/2018) in Medellín, Bedoya is pleased that the city administration is taking measures, such as limiting the times trucks can circulate, to act on this and the cyclical crisis that take place in Medellín.
Last modified: November 6, 2023