Use of an index to reflect the aggregate burden of long-term exposure to criteria air pollutants in the United States.

Air pollution control in the United States for five common pollutants--particulate matter, ground-level ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide--is based partly on the attainment of ambient air quality standards that represent a level of air pollution regarded as safe. Regulatory and health agencies often focus on whether standards for short periods are attained; the number of days that standards are exceeded is used to track progress. Efforts to explain air pollution to the public often incorporate an air quality index that represents daily concentrations of pollutants. While effects of short-term exposures have been emphasized, research shows that long-term exposures to lower concentrations of air pollutants can also result in adverse health effects. We developed an aggregate index that represents long-term exposure to these pollutants, using 1995 monitoring data for metropolitan areas obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Aerometric Information Retrieval System. We compared the ranking of metropolitan areas under the proposed aggregate index with the ranking of areas by the number of days that short-term standards were exceeded. The geographic areas with the highest burden of long-term exposures are not, in all cases, the same as those with the most days that exceeded a short-term standard. We believe that an aggregate index of long-term air pollution offers an informative addition to the principal approaches currently used to describe air pollution exposures; further work on an aggregate index representing long-term exposure to air pollutants is warranted

Biomass structure of Pinus sylvestris and Betula pendula forest ecosystems in pollution gradient near copper plant on the Southern Ural

In the gradient of pollution from the Karabash copper smelter in the Southern Urals (55 degrees 29' N, 60 degrees 13' E) in predominantly pure Scots pine and white birch stands, 12 and 34 sample plots are established, respectively, on which 42 and 56 model trees are taken, respectively, by stein diameter. The pollution gradient is expressed by the toxicity index suggested with a relative index of the content in the litter of three "technogenic" metals Cu, Ph and Fe. Regression analysis of the dependence of biomass and NPP of trees and stands from toxicity index is performed. There is a log-log-linear pattern of reduction of biomass and annual NIT of spruce-fir forest stands with increasing toxicity index in the direction to the source of pollution, but for the biomass of trees in the same gradient no consistent pattern is detected. The dry matter content (DMC) in all biomass components depends on the toxicity index and species at a statistically significant level: due to the increase in the toxicity index, it decreases in wood and bark, and increases in foliage and branches. At the same toxicity index, DMC in the branches and stem wood more in birch, but in the bark and foliage - in pine. In the wood and bark of a stem, this index is also related to the position in a stem: in the wood it decreases, and in the bark it increases in the direction from) the bottom up

A New Index of Environmental Quality

An optimal weighting scheme is proposed to construct a new index of environmental quality for different countries using an approach that relies on consistent tests for stochastic dominance efficiency. The test statistics and the estimators are computed using mixed integer programming methods. The variables that are considered include countries’ greenhouse emissions, water pollution and forest benefits, as from the dataset of the World Bank. First, the stochastic efficient weighting for each set of variables is calculated to build three sub-indices (for greenhouse emissions, water pollution and land without forests) and then an overall risk index of environmental quality is constructed. One main result is that land without forest contributes the most (with around 70%), greenhouse emissions contribute with around 20% and water pollution contributes less (with around 10%). Finally, countries are ranked according to their index of environmental quality and their rankings are compared with those of the Kyoto Protocol.Environmental Quality; Emissions; Water Pollution; Nonparametric Stochastic Dominance, Mixed Integer Programming

An Improved Biotic Index of Organic Stream Pollution

Major improvements were made in using a biotic index of the arthropod fauna to evaluate organic stream pollution. All tolerance values were reevaluated, many were changed, and the scale for tolerance values was expanded to 0-10 to provide greater precision. Keys to larvae of Ceratopsyche have been developed and tolerance values for species in this important genus are provided. Sorting of samples in the laboratory instead of in the field is recommended, and directions for processing and evaluating samples are included

How robust are the estimated effects of air pollution on health? Accounting for model uncertainty using Bayesian model averaging

The long-term impact of air pollution on human health can be estimated from small-area ecological studies in which the health outcome is regressed against air pollution concentrations and other covariates, such as socio-economic deprivation. Socio-economic deprivation is multi-factorial and difficult to measure, and includes aspects of income, education, and housing as well as others. However, these variables are potentially highly correlated, meaning one can either create an overall deprivation index, or use the individual characteristics, which can result in a variety of pollution-health effects. Other aspects of model choice may affect the pollution-health estimate, such as the estimation of pollution, and spatial autocorrelation model. Therefore, we propose a Bayesian model averaging approach to combine the results from multiple statistical models to produce a more robust representation of the overall pollution-health effect. We investigate the relationship between nitrogen dioxide concentrations and cardio-respiratory mortality in West Central Scotland between 2006 and 2012

Heavy metal distribution in recent sediments along the Tietê River basin (São Pauro, Brazil)

The distribution of heavy metals in recent sediments deposited along the Tietê River, a highly polluted river in southeast region of Brazil was studied. Around the metropolitan area of São Paulo city (25 million people), the pollution is related to municipal wastes and industrial effluents with reinforced downstream by agricultural activities. The observed increase of heavy metal concentrations is particularly important for Zn in the upper basin and Cu, Co and Cr at mouth. Geo-accumulation index calculation, related to the regional background, showed that the sediments along the basin are seriously polluted by heavy metals of anthropogenic origin, mainly Cu, Co, Cr and Zn. Calculated index suggests medium to very strongly pollution

Analisis Indeks Pencemaran Airtanah di DKI Jakarta dengan Interpolasi Spasial: Analysis of Groundwater Pollution Index in DKI Jakarta using Spatial Interpolation

Everyone needs water to his life and his activity. Groundwater pollution is one of the problems in Indonesia. The increasing number of the show an increase water needs. They were filled with groundwater needs. There has been decreasing groundwater that is occupied in quantity and quality. The research was done in Jakarta, consisting of 42 sub-district. Research takes into account the condition of the dry season. Uses index research quality of groundwater pollution. Monitoring parameter groundwater consisting of physics, chemical and biology paramater. The research consists of determining the pollution index in Jakarta, analysis of groundwater pollution, and predicted entanglement with an index pollution population density. The research uses spatial interpolation to determine locations. Pollution index calculation used calculation storet. The measurement results in the rate used in the analysis index groundwater pollution. The research results obtained index value has increased pollution are on the north and central of Jakarta. The research results obtained East Jakarta having the condition geology that porous. The value of the groundwater pollution index was in north Jakarta. The results of the study indicated by a map pollution index the quality of groundwater during three periods. Index pollution in Jakarta consisting of pollution until the same as the quality standard. Research shows the absence of correlation with the population with the pollution groundwater quality

Evaluation and analysis of noise levels in Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria

Evaluation and analysis of noise pollution levels have been carried out to determine the level of noise and its sources in Ilorin metropolis. Noise measurements have been done in the morning, at noon, in the evening, and at night to determine noise pollution all over the city. The selected areas of study are commercial centers, road junctions/busy roads, passenger loading parks, and high-density and low-density residential areas. The road junctions had the highest noise pollution levels, followed by commercial centers. The results of this study show that the noise levels in Ilorin metropolis exceeded allowed values at 30 of 42 measurements points. There is a significant difference (P < 0.05) in the noise pollution levels and traffic noise index in all the locations. From the measured noise values, a map of noise pollution was developed for Ilorin. Many solutions proposed for noise abatement in the city are set out

The Environmental Kuznets Curve Under a New framework: Role of Social Capital in Water Pollution

We advance a case for an inclusion of social capital in the environmental Kuznets curve analysis using highly disaggregated data on water pollution in Louisiana. A social capital index and other variables are used in parametric and spatial panel regression models to explain water pollution dynamics.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Comparing air quality among Italy, Germany and Poland using BC indexes

In this paper we discuss air quality assessment in three Italian, German and Polish regions using the index methodology proposed in Bruno and Cocchi (2002, 2007). This analysis focuses first of all on the quality of the air in each of the countries being taken into consideration, and then adopts a more general approach in order to compare pollution severity and toxicity. This is interesting in a global European perspective where all countries are commonly involved in assessing air quality and taking proper measures for improving it. In this context, air quality indexes are a powerful data-driven tool which are easily calculated and summarize a complex phenomenon, such as air pollution, in indicators which are immediately understandable. In particular, the main objective of this work is to evaluate the index performances in distinguishing different air pollution patterns. This kind of analysis can be particularly useful, for example, in the perspective of constructing an indicator of air pollution. --