Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Brown, Kathleen Ward
• Bouhamra, Walid
• Lamoureux, Denise P.
• Evans, John S.
• Koutrakis, Petros

Titel

Characterization of Particulate Matter for Three Sites in Kuwait

Ist Teil von

• Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (1995), 2008-08, Vol.58 (8), p.994-1003

Ort / Verlag

Pittsburgh, PA: Taylor & Francis Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2008

Quelle

Taylor & Francis Journals Auto-Holdings Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Many studies have shown strong associations between particulate matter (PM) levels and a variety of health outcomes, leading to changes in air quality standards in many regions, especially the United States and Europe. Kuwait, a desert country located on the Persian Gulf, has a large petroleum industry with associated industrial and urban land uses. It was marked by environmental destruction from the 1990 Iraqi invasion and subsequent oil fires. A detailed particle characterization study was conducted over 12 months in 2004-2005 at three sites simultaneously with an additional 6 months at one of the sites. Two sites were in urban areas (central and southern) and one in a remote desert location (northern). This paper reports the concentrations of particles less than 10 µm in diameter (PM 10 ) and fine PM (PM 2.5 ), as well as fine particle nitrate, sulfate, elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), and elements measured at the three sites. Mean annual concentrations for PM 10 ranged from 66 to 93 µg/m 3 across the three sites, exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines for PM 10 of 20 µg/m 3 . The arithmetic mean PM 2.5 concentrations varied from 38 and 37 µg/m 3 at the central and southern sites, respectively, to 31 µg/m 3 at the northern site. All sites had mean PM 2.5 concentrations more than double the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM 2.5 . Coarse particles comprised 50-60% of PM 10 . The high levels of PM 10 and large fraction of coarse particles comprising PM 10 are partially explained by the resuspension of dust and soil from the desert crust. However, EC, OC, and most of the elements were significantly higher at the urbanized sites, compared with the more remote northern site, indicating significant pollutant contributions from local mobile and stationary sources. The particulate levels in this study are high enough to generate substantial health impacts and present opportunities for improving public health by reducing airborne PM.