Project work on Air Pollution
Introduction:
Air pollution is contamination of the
indoor or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical or biological agent
that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. Household
combustion devices, motor vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fires are
common sources of air pollution.
Pollutants of major public health
concern include particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide
and sulphur dioxide. Outdoor and indoor air pollution cause respiratory and
other diseases and are important sources of morbidity and mortality. WHO data
show that almost all of the global population (99%) breathe air that exceeds
WHO guideline limits and contains high levels of pollutants, with low- and
middle-income countries suffering from the highest exposures.
Air quality is closely linked to the
earth’s climate and ecosystems globally. Many of the drivers of air pollution
(i.e. combustion of fossil fuels) are also sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
Policies to reduce air pollution, therefore, offer a win-win strategy for both
climate and health, lowering the burden of disease attributable to air
pollution, as well as contributing to the near- and long-term mitigation of
climate change.
Importance of the Project:
This project on air pollution is
important as
Air pollution in countries like India
is a serious environmental issue. Of the 30 most polluted cities in the world,
21 were in India in 2019.As per a study based on 2016 data, at least 140 million
people in India breathe air that is 10 times or more over the WHO safe limit
and 13 of the world's 20 cities with the highest annual levels of air pollution
are in India. 51% of the pollution is caused by industrial pollution, 27% by
vehicles, 17% by crop burning and 5% by other sources. Air pollution
contributes to the premature deaths of 2 million Indians every year. Emissions
come from vehicles and industry, whereas in rural areas, much of the pollution
stems from biomass burning for cooking and keeping warm. In autumn and spring
months, large scale crop residue burning in agriculture fields – a cheaper alternative
to mechanical tilling is a major source of smoke, smog and particulate
pollution. India has a low per capita emissions of greenhouse gases but the country
as a whole is the third largest greenhouse gas producer after China and the
United States. A 2019 study on non-smokers has found that Indians have 30%
weaker lung function than Europeans.
air pollution effect on climate as
Black carbon, a component of fine
particulate matter, is one of the largest contributors to global warming after
CO2. Black carbon warms the earth's atmosphere by absorbing sunlight, thereby
accelerating the melting of snow and ice.
Objectives:
The main objective of this project is
to cut down the air pollution
The
overall aim of the proposed research is to further understand the link between
air pollution levels and chemical composition and to investigate and assess the
effects of air pollution on the distribution of related health impacts,
socio-economics and welfare in the countries. In pursuing this aim, the
following objectives will be investigated:
High
spatial resolution emissions: Performing
a detailed common country emission inventory Down to 1 km x 1 km resolution,
based on emission databases in the individual countries. Official data
available will be used as well as preparation and incorporation of additional
spatial disaggregation proxies in order to achieve the high spatial resolution
emission inventory needed for the air quality modelling. Different
methodologies and proxies used in different countries will be analysed and
preferable methodologies recommended. Special attention will be given to
sources with large contribution to the total emissions in the affected countries,
specifically residential wood combustion. The emission inventory will be
conducted in WP1 and will be input to WP2.
Integrated
modelling: Setting up of a state-of-the-art
advanced and integrated air pollution model system from hemispheric scale,
European scale, and national scale, for calculation and assessment of high
resolution (down to 1 km x 1 km resolution) air pollution levels and human
exposure, including assessing the contribution related to different emission
sectors and regions. This work is carried out in WP2. The results will be
hourly values of air pollutants, on a 1 km x 1 km resolution covering the
affected countries over several decades (input to WP3).
Health
effects of air pollution: Investigate
the potential causal impact of individual chemical air pollutants as well as
mixtures of air pollutants on health outcomes. In pursuing this aim, we utilize
the unique population-based registers allowing linkage between historical
residential address, air pollutants over decades and later health outcomes. By
linking the exposure to health outcomes, new exposure-response relationships
are determined of health effects for different population Groups (e.g. age,
education, ethnicity, gender, lifestyle, and working life vs. retirement
conditions) related to air pollution for the individual chemical air
pollutants. The objective will be conducted in WP3.
Assessment
and quantification of health impacts: An
assessment and quantification of overall negative health outcomes of air
pollution in terms of premature deaths, hospital admissions, days of reduced
activity, respiratory diseases, mental disorders, etc. on high resolution down
to 1 km x 1 km in the affected countries for the different population groups,
using the integrated model system EVA, based on the impact pathway chain. The
EVA system will be further developed utilizing the new exposure-response
relationships found in WP3 and will be carried out in WP4.
Methodology
Assessing
the effects of air-pollution is a significant problem in the field of modern
environmental epidemiology. When modelling these effects it is important that
the models must be epidemiologically meaningful and robust (that is,
insensitive to variations in the model parameters). The objective of this paper
is to propose a methodology for the assessment of the health impact of air
pollution. The proposed methodology involves the construction of models for
complex dynamic hierarchical systems in environmental epidemiology and their
problem-oriented interpretation.
The
principal stages of the proposed methodology are:
Creation
of a multivariate hierarchical structural model based on system analysis.
Generation
of a mathematical formalization for this model.
Development
of a statistical model for a particular study case based on the mathematical
formalization, using the generalized estimating equations technique and
time-series analysis. At this stage, for a dichotomized dependent variable, a
special fuzzy algorithm was used. The algorithm employed fuzzy membership
functions instead of the binary variable to obtain robust regression models.
Use
of the “multi-layered” approach for model interpretation developed by the
authors. This approach involved the creation of special functional
time-dependent coefficients that reflect the effect of air pollutants at a
given time. These coefficients allow an epidemiological meaningful model
interpretation. Thus, they can be used for air-pollution health effects
assessment.
Observation
Western
Europe, eastern North America, and East Asia, the three major industrial
regions of the world, are major emission sources of air pollution (AP) and
greenhouse gases (GHG). In East Asia, the fossil fuel consumption in 2005 for
the three major countries of China, Japan, and Korea was 1,554M, 525M, and 225M tons,
respectively (. These three alone use 21.8% of the world’s energy, adding AP
and GHG to the atmosphere and causing environmental impacts, which include
global warming and climate change .Strikingly, it has been reported that in
heavily polluted China, the poor air and water quality affect about 1 million
of the 20 million babies born each year, with about 300,000 babies suffering
from visible deformities. According to a World Bank study, each year, about
460,000 people in China die prematurely because of air and water pollution.
Air pollution in India is a serious
environmental issue. Of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, 21 were in
India in 2019. As per a study based on 2016 data, at least 140 million people
in India breathe air that is 10 times or more over the WHO safe limit and 13 of
the world's 20 cities with the highest annual levels of air pollution are in
India 51% of the pollution is caused by industrial pollution, 27% by vehicles,
17% by crop burning and 5% by other sources. Air pollution contributes to the
premature deaths of 2 million Indians every year. Emissions come from vehicles
and industry, whereas in rural areas, much of the pollution stems from biomass
burning for cooking and keeping warm. In autumn and spring months, large scale
crop residue burning in agriculture fields – a cheaper alternative to
mechanical tilling – is a major source of smoke, smog and particulate
pollution.
Analysis:
Here is a sample analysis of air
pollution monitoring in Mumbai India
Mumbai (18.97N, 72.82E) with over 10
million population is one of the most populous city in India and ranks fifth
among the most populous cities of the world. With considerable industrial
activity and vehicular presence, air pollution is a key issue affecting the
human health. Continuous air quality monitoring is being done to identify the
patterns in key indicators like SOx, NOx and RSPM (respirable suspended
particulate matter). We have analysed the pattern in the changes in these
species using air quality data at Sion (19.04N, 72.86E) from 2004 to 2014 and
Bandra (19.05N, 72.84E) from 2007 to 2014. . In time series analysis of this 10
years data at Sion we are able to get considerable decay in SOx from 30 to
10µg/m3 and in RSPM from 250 to 150µg/m3because industries are displaced from
locality, not much change is seen in NOx from 110 to 100µg/m3. Whereas in case
of Bandra there is little increase in SOx concentration from 18 to
20µg/m3while decay in concentration of NOx from 65 to 50µg/m3and in RSPM from
140 to 110µg/m3. The paper attempts to analyze the causes for these pattern
changes in terms of industrial activity, changes in vehicular pollution norms
and other anthropogenic factors.
Here is sample chart showing sources
of air pollution
Resultant and Conclusion:
While the effects of air pollution on
materials, vegetation, and animals can be measured, health effects on humans
can only be estimated from epidemiological evidence. Most of the evidence comes
from occupational exposure to much higher concentrations of pollutants than the
general public is exposed to. Moreover, the health effects of smoking and other
lifestyle characteristics and exposures confound the observations of air
pollutant effects. Ethical considerations preclude deliberate exposure of human
subjects to concentrations of pollutants that might produce adverse effects, so
evidence from sources other than epidemiology is virtually impossible to
obtain. All of the evidence we have suggests that air pollutants threaten human
health and well-being to an extent that control of these pollutants is
necessary
