Effect of air pollution on peri-urban agriculture: a case study

Peri-urban agriculture is vital for the urban populations of many developing countries. Increases in both industrialization and urbanization, and associated air pollution threaten urban food production and its quality. Six hour mean concentrations were monitored for SO(2), NO(2) and O(3) and plant responses were measured in terms of physiological characteristics, pigment, biomass and yield. Parameter reductions in mung bean (Vigna radiata), palak (Beta vulgaris), wheat (Triticum aestivum) and mustard (Brassica compestris) grown within the urban fringes of Varanasi, India correlated directly with the gaseous pollutants levels. The magnitude of response involved all three gaseous pollutants at peri-urban sites; O(3) had more influence at a rural site. The study concluded that air pollution in Varanasi could negatively influence crop yield.     

Addressing uncertainty in environmental modelling: a case study of integrated assessment of strategies to combat long-range transboundary air pollution

Model development and testing tend to concentrate on how well models represent “reality” or reproduce measurements. However, there are many sources of uncertainty in modelling atmospheric pollution, and those responsible for decisions on abatement strategies need to use modelled scenarios without fear that inaccuracies and assumptions in the modelling may mislead them. This paper explores how techniques from risk assessment may be used to examine a modelling study systematically. Those assumptions and uncertainties which could have significant consequences, whether arising from data used, the modelling itself, or factors omitted and incompleteness, may be identified using hazard and operability studies. This helps to target supporting studies—possibly using more complex models, or Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis; and to indicate potential implications to the decision makers. As a case study we have used work undertaken on uncertainties with the Abatement Strategies Assessment Model for the task force on integrated assessment modelling under the convention on long-range transboundary air pollution of the UN Economic Commission for Europe.     

Visual air quality assessment: Denver case study

Studies of visual air quality in the Denver metropolitan region during summer 1979 and winter 1979–1980 are described and results reported. The major objective of the studies was to investigate relationships among four types of variables important to urban visual air quality: (1) individuals' judgements of overall visual air quality; (2) perceptual cues used in making judgments of visual air quality; (3) measurable physical characteristics of the visual environment and (4) concentrations of visibility-reducing pollutants and their precursors. During August 1979 and mid-December 1979 to January 1980, simultaneous measurements of observational and environmental data were made daily at various locations throughout the metropolitan area. Observational data included ratings of overall air quality and related perceptual cues (e.g., distance, clarity, color, border) by multiple observers. Environmental data included routine hourly pollutant and meteorological measurements from several fixed locations within the city, as well as aerosol light scattering and absorption measures from one location. Statistical analyses indicated that (1) multiple perceptual cues are required to explain variation in judgments of overall visual air quality and (2) routine measurements of the physical environment appear to be inadequate predictors of either judgments of overall visual air quality or related perceptual cues.     

环境影响后评估中的公众参与研究

公众参与是环境影响后评估的重要内容。探讨了环境影响后评估中公众参与的作用、方法，并在上海轨道交通明珠线噪声影响后评估中开展了公众参与实践。     

Seasonal variation of air pollution index: Hong Kong case study

Air pollution is an important and popular topic in Hong Kong as concerns have been raised about the health impacts caused by vehicle exhausts in recent years. In Hong Kong, sulphur dioxide SO2, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), and respirable suspended particulates (RSP) are major air pollutants caused by the dominant usage of diesel fuel by goods vehicles and buses. These major pollutants and the related secondary pollutant, e.g., ozone (O3), become and impose harmful impact on human health in Hong Kong area after the northern shifting of major industries to Mainland China. The air pollution index (API), a referential parameter describing air pollution levels, provides information to enhance the public awareness of air pollutions in time series since 1995. In this study, the varying trends of API and the levels of related air pollutants are analyzed based on the database monitored at a selected roadside air quality monitoring station, i.e., Causeway Bay, during 1999-2003. Firstly, the original measured pollutant data and the resultant APIs are analyzed statistically in different time series including daily, monthly, seasonal patterns. It is found that the daily mean APIs in seasonal period can be regarded as stationary time series. Secondly, the auto-regressive moving average (ARMA) method, implemented by Box-Jenkins model, is used to forecast the API time series in different seasonal specifications. The performance evaluations of the adopted models are also carried out and discussed according to Bayesian information criteria (BIC) and root mean square error (RMSE). The results indicate that the ARMA model can provide reliable, satisfactory predictions for the problem interested and is expecting to be an alternative tool for practical assessment and justification.     

The logistics of public participation in environmental assessment

This paper starts by investigating the rationales for public participation in environmental assessment. It is contended that access to participation may refer both to means as well as ends; thus, some advocates of citizen participation favour involvement for social and or political reasons (i.e. the participation is the end in itself). However, the value of that participation may also, as we shall see, advance quality and depth of knowledge (i.e. the participation is viewed only as a means to an end). The initial two sections, therefore, paint two broad brushstrokes: the first concerns why we should require public participation, and the second why that participation may improve the quality of our environmental assessment procedure. Further, it is then argued that the issues and problems of public participation vary across different environmental issues and also vary across different stages of the environmental assessment procedure and according to the scientific disciplines and practices involved. This paper points the way towards an open and representative style in which communities are included in environment assessment processes as a source of new or better knowledge, as well as a contribution towards what the EU refers to as the 'horizontal participatory approach'. The paper briefly considers methodological issues concerning ways in which participation might be carried out.     

关于在环境影响评价过程中开展公众参与的思考

通过对不同形式公众参与优缺点的分析,提出今后有效开展公众参与的建议,旨在探讨《中华人民共和国环境影响评价法》实施后,中国应如何开展环境影响评价中的公众参与。     

Towards a multidisciplinary and integrated strategy in the assessment of adverse health effects related to air pollution: the case study of Cracow (Poland) and asthma

Complex interaction between anthropogenic activities, air quality and human health in urban areas, such as in Cracow sustains the need for the development of an interdisciplinary and integrated risk-assessment methodology. In such purpose, we propose a pilot study performed on asthmatics and based on a combined use of a biomarker, such as metallothionein 2A (MT-2A) in the characterization of human exposure to one or a mixture of pollutants and of Geographical Information Systems (G.I.S.) which integrates climatic and urban anthropogenic parameters in the assessment of spatio-temporal dispersion of air pollutants. Considering global incidence of air pollution on asthma and on peripheral blood lymphocytes MT-2A expression should provide a complementary information on biological risks linked to urban anthropogenic activities. Such study would help for the establishment of a sustainable development in urban areas that can maintain the integrity of air quality and preserve human health.     

Quantitative cancer risk assessment and local mortality burden for ambient air pollution in an eastern Mediterranean City

Health risks posed by ambient air pollutants to the urban Lebanese population have not been well characterized. The aim of this study is to assess cancer risk and mortality burden of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) and particulates (PM) based on two field-sampling campaigns conducted during summer and winter seasons in Beirut. Seventy NMHCs were analyzed by TD-GC-FID. PM_2.5 elemental carbon (EC) components were examined using a Lab OC-EC aerosol Analyzer, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were analyzed by GC-MS. The US EPA fraction-based approach was used to assess non-cancer hazard and cancer risk for the hydrocarbon mixture, and the UK Committee on Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) guidelines were followed to determine the PM_2.5 attributable mortality burden. The average cumulative cancer risk exceeded the US EPA acceptable level (10⁻⁶) by 40-fold in the summer and 30-fold in the winter. Benzene was found to be the highest contributor to cancer risk (39–43%), followed by 1,3-butadiene (25–29%), both originating from traffic gasoline evaporation and combustion. The EC attributable average mortality fraction was 7.8–10%, while the average attributable number of deaths (AD) and years of life lost (YLL) were found to be 257–327 and 3086–3923, respectively. Our findings provide a baseline for future air monitoring programs, and for interventions aiming at reducing cancer risk in this population.

     

Role of ambient air pollution in asthma spread among various population groups of Lahore City: a case study

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Air pollution levels rise as a result of industrial and vehicular emissions, epidemiological issues such as asthma become more prevalent in Lahore,...     

Estimated long-term outdoor air pollution concentrations in a cohort study

Several recent studies associated long-term exposure to air pollution with increased mortality. An ongoing cohort study, the Netherlands Cohort Study on Diet and Cancer (NLCS), was used to study the association between long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and mortality. Following on a previous exposure assessment study in the NLCS, we improved the exposure assessment methods.Long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), nitrogen oxide (NO), black smoke (BS), and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) was estimated. Exposure at each home address (N=21 868) was considered as a function of a regional, an urban and a local component. The regional component was estimated using inverse distance weighed interpolation of measurement data from regional background sites in a national monitoring network. Regression models with urban concentrations as dependent variables, and number of inhabitants in different buffers and land use variables, derived with a Geographic Information System (GIS), as predictor variables were used to estimate the urban component. The local component was assessed using a GIS and a digital road network with linked traffic intensities. Traffic intensity on the nearest road and on the nearest major road, and the sum of traffic intensity in a buffer of 100 m around each home address were assessed. Further, a quantitative estimate of the local component was estimated.The regression models to estimate the urban component explained 67%, 46%, 49% and 35% of the variances of NO₂, NO, BS, and SO₂ concentrations, respectively. Overall regression models which incorporated the regional, urban and local component explained 84%, 44%, 59% and 56% of the variability in concentrations for NO₂, NO, BS and SO₂, respectively.We were able to develop an exposure assessment model using GIS methods and traffic intensities that explained a large part of the variations in outdoor air pollution concentrations.     

论中国环境影响评价中公众参与的一般模式

公众参与在环境影响评价中的作用是不可替代的,并成为各国环评的基本内容.环评中公众参与的一般模式包括公众享有环境知情权和参与决策权、合适的公众参与的主体范围、明确的公众参与环评的程序和方法以及公众参与环评的保障机制.为更好地发挥环评的作用,应当从实体和程序两方面对法规加以完善.还应在信息公开、立法的完善和配套制度的建立等方面完善环评中的公众参与制度.     

城市面源污染治理中的公众参与现状与对策探讨

中国的城市面源污染控制在工程措施与管理制度方面均起步较晚,污染造成的危害日渐严重.结合对某城市居民进行的城市面源污染的认知和参与意识的问卷调查结果,分析了目前中国城市面源污染控制中公众参与的现状和存在的问题,公众意识薄弱、政府的参与机制不健全是导致城市面源污染控制水平低下的重要原因.为此,有关部门要提高宣传教育的效率,...     

The use of air quality forecasts to assess impacts of air pollution on crops: Methodology and case study

It has been reported that ambient ozone (O₃), either alone or in concurrence with acid rain precursors, accounts for up to 90% of US crop losses resulting from exposure to all major air pollutants. Crop damage due to O₃ exposure is of particular concern as ambient O₃ concentrations remain high in many major food-producing regions. Assessing O₃ damage to crops is challenging due to the difficulties in determining the reduction in crop yield that results from exposure to surface O₃, for which monitors are limited and mostly deployed in non-rural areas. This work explores the potential benefits of using operational air quality forecast (AQF) data to estimate rural O₃ exposure. Using the results from the first nationwide AQF as a case study, we demonstrate how the O₃ data provided by AQF can be combined with concurrent crop information to assess O₃ damages to soybeans in the United States. We estimate that exposure to ambient O₃ reduces the US soybean production by 10% in 2005.     

Harmonized assessment of nutrient pollution from urban systems including losses from sewer exfiltration: a case study in Germany

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A growing literature indicates that untreated wastewater from leaky sewers stands among major sources of pollution to water resources of urban...     

The response of epiphytic lichens to air pollution and subsets of ecological predictors: a case study from the Italian Prealps

We investigated the response of epiphytic lichens to air pollution, against the background of other ecological predictors in a prealpine heterogeneous area, using Non-Parametric Multiplicative Regression (NPMR). The best NPMR model for total lichen diversity according to N environmental predictors at tree level has a cross R(2)=0.709. It includes 10 variables, belonging to three different subsets of factors: two pollution-related factors (distance in meters from the road and from the cement factory); four stand-related (habitat, heat index, LAI and elevation) and four substrate-related factors (inclination, circumference and texture and tree species). Considering separately the effects of each subset on lichen diversity, substrate- and stand-related factors produce good models with similar cross R(2) (0.490 and 0.500, respectively), whereas pollution-related factors produce a model with a lower cross R(2) (0.340). Hence, we provide information to investigate the applicability of lichen biomonitoring to complex heterogeneous areas where standardized protocols are not reliable.