Assessment of Air Pollution in AL-Nahrawan Suburban- Baghdad city by Geographic Information System(GIS)

Abstract

Urban air pollution is a major environmental problem in all World countries. Air pollution in urban areas may be caused by human activities such as mobility behavior, waste management, industrial development (brick industry, cement industry), production and use of energy (for processing, heating and cooking), and activities which produce dust and suspended particles. The effects of urban air pollution on public health are being felt worldwide. There are a number of factors that influence urban air quality including geographical location, climatological and meteorological factors (temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction), city planning and design, andfinally human activities in suchareas. The aim of this study was to measure certain important pollutants (VOCs, SO2, H2S, NO2), and assessing the effect of fuel burning that use in the brick factories. Geographic Information System (GIS) was utilized to map urban air pollution dispersion in AL-Nahrawan suburban –Baghdad city -Iraq. From GIS distribution maps for SO2 , NO2 , H2S and VOCs pollutants , it was found that the value of these gasses were changed from one location to another according to the quantity and quality of fuel used and wind direction.Generally it can concluded that the concentration of measured all examined gasses in the study area wasexceeding the WHO and national standards.

Keywords

• urban air pollution
• hydrogen sulfide
• nitrogen dioxide
• sulfur dioxide
• volatile organic compounds
• air pollution
• air quality
• national and international limit
• geographic information system