Characterization of Particulate Matter for Three Sites in Kuwait

Abstract

Many studies have shown strong associations between particulate matter (PM) levels and a variety of health outcomes, leading to changes in air quality standards in many regions, especially the United States and Europe. Kuwait, a desert country located on the Persian Gulf, has a large petroleum industry with associated industrial and urban land uses. It was marked by environmental destruction from the 1990 Iraqi invasion and subsequent oil fires. A detailed particle characterization study was conducted over 12 months in 2004–2005 at three sites simultaneously with an additional 6 months at one of the sites. Two sites were in urban areas (central and southern) and one in a remote desert location (northern). This paper reports the concentrations of particles less than 10 µm in diameter (PM₁₀) and fine PM (PM_2.5), as well as fine particle nitrate, sulfate, elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), and elements measured at the three sites. Mean annual concentrations for PM₁₀ ranged from 66 to 93 µg/m³ across the three sites, exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines for PM₁₀ of 20 µg/m³. The arithmetic mean PM_2.5 concentrations varied from 38 and 37 µg/m³ at the central and southern sites, respectively, to 31 µg/m³ at the northern site. All sites had mean PM_2.5 concentrations more than double the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM_2.5. Coarse particles comprised 50–60% of PM₁₀. The high levels of PM₁₀ and large fraction of coarse particles comprising PM₁₀ are partially explained by the resuspension of dust and soil from the desert crust. However, EC, OC, and most of the elements were significantly higher at the urbanized sites, compared with the more remote northern site, indicating significant pollutant contributions from local mobile and stationary sources. The particulate levels in this study are high enough to generate substantial health impacts and present opportunities for improving public health by reducing airborne PM.     

The Second Reagan Administration and the New Congress: Critical Clean Air and Hazardous Waste Issues

The 13th Government Affairs Seminar of the Air Pollution Control Association was held March 20-21, 1985 in Washington, D.C. The Seminar, held annually, has earned international attention as a forum for dialogue on federal environmental legislation. Keynote speaker for the 1985 Seminar was Senator John Chafee (R.-R.L), chairman of the Subcommittee on Environmental Pollution of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Joseph Cannon, former U.S. EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation gave the luncheon address. (See News Focus in the May 1985 issue of JAPCA, page 570, for a report on these and other presentations.) The present report contains the remarks presented and subsequently submitted for publication by the panelists listed below.     

Designing hydro-energy led economic growth for pollution abatement: evidence from BRICS

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Overutilized hydro-energy production through non-sustainable mode is detrimental for both the economy and the environment. Intermittent consumption of...     

Critical loads for Finnish lakes: comparison of three steady-state models

Three simple steady-state water-chemistry models are used to calculate critical loads of sulfur for lakes in Finland. Because of the high concentrations of organic matter in Finnish lakes, the influence of organic anions on the calculation of critical loads has been given special attention. The first two methods are well known ion-balance methods which have been used in many previous lake-acidification studies. The third method, developed for this study, includes the numerical solution of equilibrium equations for organic anions, inorganic carbon species and inorganic monomeric aluminum. The original pH and aluminum concentration of the lakes are estimated with this model, and a method to estimate the original acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) by simulating a Gran-titration is also tested on the lake data. Uncertainty in the predictions is estimated by varying the most critical model parameters.     

Legal Framework for Biosphere Reserves as Learning Sites for Sustainable Development: A Comparative Analysis of Ukraine and Sweden

The Biosphere Reserve (BR) concept aims at encouraging sustainable development (SD) towards sustainability on the ground by promoting three core functions: conservation, development, and logistic support. Sweden and Ukraine exemplify the diverse governance contexts that BRs need to cope with. We assessed how the BR concept and its core functions are captured in national legislations. The results show that the core functions are in different ways reflected in legal documents in both countries. While in Ukraine the BR concept is incorporated into legislation, in Sweden the concept is used as a soft law. In Ukraine managers desired stronger legal enforcement, while in Sweden managers avoided emphasis on legislation when collaborating with local stakeholders. Hence, BR implementation have adapted to different political cultures by development of diverse approaches. We conclude that a stronger legal support might not be needed for BRs, rather SD needs to be recognized as an integrated place-based process at multiple levels.     

Electro-Deposited Lead Dioxide Plates: A New Technique for Sulfation Rate Studies

Sulfation rates have long been used to estimate roughly atmospheric SO2 content on a monthly basis. Either lead dioxide coated candles or petri dishes (Huey plates) have so far been used.^1-6 Although in many advanced countries there are now commercially available duly coated petri dishes which are relatively rugged and can stand moderately rough handling during routine operations, small working groups, particularly in developing countries have to be content with “homemade” plates. In tropical climate we find the Huey plates prone to peeling and damage under adverse climatic conditions or routine operations. Besides, the Pb02 slurry deposition technique demands uniformity and submicron size of deposited PbC>2 which is hard to obtain particularly in “homemade” plates.     

A Microcomputer-based Forecasting Model: Potential Applications for Emergency Response Plans and Air Quality Studies

Most atmospheric transport and diffusion models within emergency response systems have very limited physics and are forced to rely on the assumption that wind and turbulence conditions at the time of the release will be representative over the period for which dispersion must be predicted. For releases where the principal concern is about the first few kilometers of travel, such an assumption is appropriate. However, for large accidental releases during stable conditions, the plume may travel for several hours before it is diluted to safe levels and the assumption of persistence may be inappropriate, particularly for transport in complex terrain. Under these circumstances, a model that can forecast changes in wind and turbulence conditions is required. We have installed such a model on microcomputers and tested it in complex terrain near Salt Lake City. One-hour tracer releases produced surface concentrations that remain high for much longer times than that expected based on one hour’ travel time with the mean wind at the source height. Furthermore, relatively large concentrations were found at distances of over 40 km from the source. The model was generally able to reproduce the principal features described by the measurements, although some effects of subgrid scale terrain were missed.     

A blessing for the Yangtze River: optimization of Chinese regional policy planning for water yield and purification in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Land use/land cover (LULC) changes impact the structure and functioning of ecosystems, which consequently influences the provisioning of a range of...     

Recovery approach affects soil quality in the water level fluctuation zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir,China: implications for revegetation

Plants in the water level fluctuation zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region disappeared due to winter-flooding and prolonged inundation. Revegetation (plantation and natural recovery) have been promoted to restore and protect the riparian ecosystem in recent years. Revegetation may affect soil qualities and have broad important implications both for ecological services and soil recovery. In this study, we investigated soil properties including soil pH values, bulk density, soil organic matter (SOM), soil nutrients and heavy metals, soil microbial community structure, microbial biomass, and soil quality index under plantation and natural recovery in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region. Most soil properties showed significant temporal and spatial variations in both the plantation and natural recovery areas. Higher contents of SOM and NO₃-N were found in plantation area, while higher contents of soil pH values, bulk density, and total potassium were observed in the natural recovery area. However, there were no significant differences in plant richness and diversity and soil microbial community structure between the two restoration approaches. A soil quality index derived from SOM, bulk density, Zn, Cd, and Hg indicated that natural recovery areas with larger herbaceous coverage had more effective capacity for soil restoration.     

The use of XAD-resins for the detection of mutagenic activity in water: I. Studies with surface water

A study of the effects of different XAD-resins, bed volume, flow rate, pH and type of eluent on the extraction of organic mutagens from surface water is presented. XAD-4/8 is as effective as XAD-2 in concentrating organic mutagens from surface water and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) is as efficient as acetone in eluting the adsorbed organic mutagens. The latter allows direct testing up to 0.5 ml of DMSO concentrate in the Ames test. Variation of the pH of the water after passing the XAD-4/8, followed by readsorption, shows that the majority of the mutagenic activity due to dissolved organics is adsorbed at neutral pH. Only a minor fraction is readsorbed at pH 3. Further a XAD-4/8 concentrate and a similar concentrate prepared by freeze drying gives similar mutagenic activity. This indicates that many of the organic mutagens are recovered in the XAD-4/8 concentrate.It is concluded that adsorption on XAD-4/8, followed by direct testing of the DMSO eluates in the Ames test, presents a rapid and relatively simple way to detect low concentrations of organic mutagens in surface water. The general suitability of the method is shown for different types of surface water.     

Utilization of Modified Attapulgite for the Removal of Sr(II), Co(II), and Ni(II) Ions from Multicomponent System,Part I: Kinetic Studies

Radionuclide sorption by natural and modified clays is extensively accepted to be an important process from the radioactive waste point of view. This work focused on modification of natural attapulgite with a layered double hydroxide to produce a novel chemisorbent for Sr2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ removal from multicomponent solution. The structural and surface characteristics of both attapulgite (ATP) and modified attapulgite (LDH-ATP) were investigated using XRD, FTIR, SEM, and thermal analysis. Comparison of sorption features of Sr2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ onto ATP and LDH-ATP was achieved; the results indicated that LDH-ATP was the most efficient sorbent for Sr2+, Ni2+, and Co2+. Kinetic studies established that the sorption is fast and reaching >90% within 30 min. The sorption of Sr2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ are well defined by non-linear pseudo-second-order model and controlled by an intra-particle diffusion mechanism. The diffusivity was determined using homogeneous surface diffusion (HSDM) model and found in the order 10−13 m2/min; this confirmed that the sorption of the three ions is chemisorption process. LDH-ATP can be employed as a candidate chemisorbent for the removal of some metal ions from waste solution.