Improving air quality and health in Northern Italy: limits and perspectives

A better air quality has led to a significant reduction of premature deaths over the past decade in Europe, as emissions of many pollutants declined considerably in the EU-27 Member States: SOx emissions by 76%, NOx by 42%, NMVOCs by 29% and PM2.5 by 29%. The present paper reports an in-depth analysis of the reasons why the regions of the Po valley, Northern Italy, still have difficulties to comply with EU air quality standards, in particular for PM10 and NO2, in spite of strong emission reductions carried out through careful Air Quality Plans put in practice during the last 2 decades. The analysis includes a consistent comparison of emission inventories for different European regions in Italy, Germany and Poland, the measured air quality trends and PM source apportionment in these areas, and, most of all, a thorough investigation of meteorological parameters influencing atmospheric pollutant dispersion and transport. The study reports that in the colder seasons, wind speed, PBL height and atmospheric pressure occurring in the Po basin are three to five times less efficient in diluting and dispersing pollutant if compared to regions north of the Alps. Due to the extremely disadvantageous orographic and climatic configuration of the Po Valley, only radical emission reductions could bring air quality into EU limit values with a questionable cost-benefit ratio of due policies. Provided that air quality standards (particularly for PM10 and PM2.5) aim at protecting people from adverse health effects arising from air pollution, it is however necessary to also consider the toxicity of atmospheric particulate in addition to PM10/PM2.5 mass concentration as a limit value. Based on existing toxicological studies and reports, a discussion is reported about PM toxicity factor depending on toxicity scores for source-specific aerosols and PM composition determined by Source Apportionment. Provided that PM components profiles are strongly different across Europe, the obtained PM toxicity factors range from 0.3 (for areas where the main PM contribution is referable to sea salts or inorganic matter) to 3.5 (where Elemental and Organic Carbon prevail), suggesting that, even at the same mass concentration, the effects of PM10/2.5 on human health are significantly variable and limit values should take into account differential toxicity. Modern PM Source Apportionment techniques, along with reliable toxicity and epidemiological analyses, represent the right tools to overcome the shortcomings of the current regulation standard and build a new consistent health metric for ambient PM in the future, helping policy makers impose effective air quality measures to protect people health.

Long-term air pollution exposure and diabetes risk in the elderly population.

Objective: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a major public health concern. We assessed the association between air pollution and first documented diabetes occurrence in a national U.S. cohort of Medicare enrollees to estimate incidence risk. Research design and methods: We included all Medicare enrollees 65 years and older in the fee-for-service program, part A and part B, in the contiguous United States (2000-2016). Participants were followed annually until the first recorded diabetes diagnosis, end of enrollment, or death. We obtained air pollution annual estimates of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) exposures from highly spatiotemporally resolved prediction models. We assessed the simultaneous effect of the pollutants on diabetes incidence using Poisson survival analysis with adjustment for temporal and spatial confounders. We repeated the models in data restricted to ZIP codes with air pollution levels not exceeding the ambient air quality standards during the study period. Results: We have included 264,869,458 person-years of 41,780,637 people. We observed nonlinear associations between the three pollutants and diabetes, with larger risks at lower levels for PM2.5 and O3. When restricting the data to lower air pollution levels, an increased risk for diabetes (Incidence Rate Ratio [95% Confidence Interval] was associated with interquartile range (IQR) increases in PM2.5 (1.048 [1.045;1.051]), O3 (1.016 [1.014;1.18]), and NO2 (1.040 [1.037; 1.043]). Conclusion: We found increased diabetes risk associated with air pollution exposures. The observed effects remained in exposure levels below the national ambient air quality standards in the U.S.

Considering Condensable Particulate Matter Emissions Improves the Accuracy of Air Quality Modeling for Environmental Impact Assessment

This study examines environmental impact assessment considering filterable particulate matter (FPM) and condensable particulate matter (CPM) to improve the accuracy of the air quality model. Air pollutants and meteorological data were acquired from Korea’s national monitoring station near a residential development area in the target district and background site. Seasonal emissions of PM2.5, including CPM, were estimated using the California puff (CALPUFF) model, based on Korea’s national emissions inventory. These results were compared with the traditional environmental impact assessment results. For the residential development area, the seasonal PM2.5 concentration was predicted by considering FPM and CPM emissions in the target area as well as the surrounding areas. In winter and spring, air quality standards were not breached because only FPM was considered. However, when CPM was included in the analysis, the results exceeded the air quality standards. Furthermore, it was predicted that air quality standards would not be breached in summer and autumn, even when CPM is included. In other words, conducting an environmental impact assessment on air pollution including CPM affects the final environmental decision. Therefore, it is concluded that PM2.5 should include CPM for greater accuracy of the CALPUFF model for environmental impact assessment.

Investigation and Disinfection of Environmental Microbes in Sports Fitness Center

The COVID-19 pandemic shows that indoor air disinfection is extremely important. As early as 2012, Taiwan has released indoor air quality standards, and in 2017 announced the second batch of places that should meet indoor air quality standards including sports and fitness places. In this study, the indoor air quality was monitored in the indoor exercise and fitness center under normal operating conditions of air conditioning and ventilation as well as user flow. Chlorine dioxide and weak acid hypochlorite solutions, and water scrubbing were used to improve the quality of the indoor environment under different operating modes. This study investigated the air quality improvement in terms of bacteria and fungi contamination of the indoor exercise and fitness center under normal operating conditions including air conditioning, ventilation, and user flow. In addition, bacteria contamination and disinfection on sports equipment surface were also examined. Background bacteria and fungi densities in bioaerosols were in the range of 249 ± 65 to 812 ± 111 CFU/m3 and 226 ± 39 to 837 ± 838 CFU/m3 in the indoor air of the fitness center and 370 ± 86 to 953 ± 136 CFU/m3 and 465 ± 108 to 1,734 ± 580 CFU/m3 in the outdoor air, respectively. Chlorine dioxide and weak acid hypochlorous water aerosols could remove both bacteria and fungi much better than water scrubbing. Contact time of 15 minutes was sufficient to control both bacteria and fungi to comply with the official air quality standards. User density and carbon dioxide deteriorated both bacteria and fungi disinfection performance whereas temperature was only statistically significant on fungi disinfection. Other factors including relative humidity, airflow velocity, and particulate matters did not have any statistically significant effect on microbial inactivation. Handle of bicycle, dumbbell, and sit-up bench were found to be contaminated with bacteria and E. coli. Detected densities for bacteria and E. coli on the surface of these sport equipment were in the range of 390 ± 2 to 3,720 ± 736 CFU/cm2 and 550 ± 70 to 1,080 ± 114 CFU/cm2, respectively. Microbial densities detected largely depended on the number of users for each specific equipment. Chlorine dioxide and zinc oxide were noticeably better than weak acid hypochlorous water and commercial disinfectant in term of bacteria inactivation whereas all tested disinfectants had comparable effectiveness on E. coli disinfection. Targeted microorganisms were sufficiently inactivated within 2 minutes after the application of disinfectant.

Urban population exposure to air pollution in Europe over the last decades

Background The paper presents an overview of air quality in the 27 member countries of the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (previous EU-28), from 2000 to 2017. We reviewed the progress made towards meeting the air quality standards established by the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives (European Council Directive 2008/50/EC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines by estimating the trends (Mann-Kendal test) in national emissions of main air pollutants, urban population exposure to air pollution, and in mortality related to exposure to ambient fine particles (PM2.5) and tropospheric ozone (O3). Results Despite significant reductions of emissions (e.g., sulfur oxides: ~ 80%, nitrogen oxides: ~ 46%, non-methane volatile organic compounds: ~ 44%, particulate matters with a diameter lower than 2.5 µm and 10 µm: ~ 30%), the EU-28 urban population was exposed to PM2.5 and O3 levels widely exceeding the WHO limit values for the protection of human health. Between 2000 and 2017, the annual PM2.5-related number of deaths decreased (- 4.85 per 106 inhabitants) in line with a reduction of PM2.5 levels observed at urban air quality monitoring stations. The rising O3 levels became a major public health issue in the EU-28 cities where the annual O3-related number of premature deaths increased (+ 0.55 deaths per 106 inhabitants). Conclusions To achieve the objectives of the Ambient Air Quality Directives and mitigate air pollution impacts, actions need to be urgently taken at all governance levels. In this context, greening and re‐naturing cities and the implementation of fresh air corridors can help meet air quality standards, but also answer to social needs, as recently highlighted by the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Efficiency in reducing air pollutants and healthcare expenditure in the Seoul Metropolitan City of South Korea

This study analyzes efficiency in the reduction of air pollutants and the associated healthcare costs using a stochastic frontier cost function panel data approach. For the empirical analysis, we use monthly data covering 25 districts in the Seoul metropolitan city of South Korea observed over the period January 2010 to December 2017. Our results show large variations in air pollution and healthcare costs across districts and over time and their efficiency in reducing air pollutants. The study concludes that efforts are needed to apply the World Health Organization’s air quality standards for designing and implementing location-specific customized policies for improving the level of air quality and its equal distribution, provision of health services, and improved efficiency in improving air quality standards. The study identifies a number of determinants of air pollutants and efficiency enhancement which provide useful pointers for policymakers for addressing the current environmental problems in South Korea.