Today’s review article examines the feasibility of applying air quality modelling to the task of estimating health benefits resulting from improvements in air quality at the local level as a result of various strategies and programs. The conclusions point to the usefulness of this approach which was tested by scenarios running out 20 years into the future. This appears to a very useful tool as well for evaluating policy choices for improving urban air quality.
Key Quotes:
“it is important to determine a priori which pollutant-outcome relationships are most likely to result in observable impacts on health in a particular population given projected changes in air pollutant concentrations and estimated risks associated with exposures of concern”
“We chose New Haven for this assessment because it was designated as one of two Connecticut counties in non-attainment of the PM2.5 standard in 1997 (EPA 2010), and because a variety of air pollution reduction activities have subsequently been implemented at multiple jurisdiction levels by various federal, state, local and voluntary actions“
“Of the 26 different air pollution – health outcome linkages assessed, only five, all NOx related, are potentially feasible..all cause mortality, cardiovascular disease hospitalization, respiratory disease hospitalization discharge, current prevalence of asthma in children, and current prevalence of asthma in adults”
“The majority of NOx reductions can be attributed to mobile source emissions reduction programs.. Thus, it is important to accurately characterize near-road impacts. Local reductions in PM2.5 are modest relative to high background PM concentrations”
“this model can address what happens if emissions from some specific stationary or mobile sources are reduced by certain amount and what the associated impacts of these local controls vs. regional controls may be. This model application helps determine which control options are most effective in reducing ambient concentrations”
“this project provided critical findings on how regulatory agencies may better examine the complex interactions of cumulative impacts on air quality and health effects from multiple actions in other urban communities”
Related articles
- Air Pollution May Trigger Heart Attacks (webmd.com)
- How the Government Controlled Air Pollution at the Beijing Olympics (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
- Air pollution causes more heart attacks than cocaine (sfgate.com)
- Study: Pollution rules will create jobs, push up rates (knoxnews.com)
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