Proposal for an indicative method for assessing and apportioning the source of air pollution

Abstract

The main objective was to provide a feasible approach for approximately apportioning the sources of air pollution based on simple calculations using measured concentrations of ambient air pollutants and meteorological data. The methods are based on dividing a monitored area into sectors using a common compass rose and obtaining hourly average concentrations of pollutants and relevant data on wind direction and speed over at least three seasons of a year. As a result, the relative contributions of all sources of air pollution in an area with a monitoring station are determined, together with the absolute contributions of single or groups of sources of pollution and the levels to which the emissions need to be reduced to meet the requirements of Directive 2008/50/ESt. The proposed methods are verified using data from measuring stations complying with that required by this Directive and are suitable for improving plans aimed at reducing air pollution as defined by the same document. This approach using data for a particular area revealed a total concentration of PM10 of 22.72 μg/m3, with the maximum permissible concentration of 12.33 μg/m3 this necessitates a reduction in concentration of the contributions from this selected group sources of 10.37 μg/m3. When these simple methods are used, further and more accurate apportionments of the source could be made using more complex mathematical modelling. However, this is only necessary in areas with many sources of pollution. Although these methods cannot compete with disperse and other types of modelling they may be useful in providing a basic overview of the situation in a particular area.

Keywords

• air pollution
• PM10 concentration
• source apportionment
• Directive 2008/50/ES
• pollutant monitoring
• air quality improvement plans