{"title":"Development of a comprehensive air risk index and its application to high spatial-temporal health risk assessment in a large industrial city","authors":"Sang-Jin Lee, In-Gyu Cho, Ho-Young Lee, Jeong-Tae Ju, Hye-Jung Shin, Sung-Deuk Choi","doi":"10.1016/j.envpol.2024.125545","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Particulate matter (PM) contains various hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) that can adversely affect human health, highlighting the need for an integrated index to represent the associated health risks. In response, this study developed a novel index, the comprehensive air-risk index (CARI), for Ulsan, the largest industrial city in South Korea. This index integrates toxicity-weighted concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals using their inhalation unit risks. CARI was categorized into four risk levels based on probabilistic health risks. Over eight years (2013–2020) in Ulsan, the risk from PAH exposure showed a decreasing trend, whereas the risk from heavy metals remained stable, reflecting different emission patterns and major source types. PAHs and heavy metals contributed 38.1% and 61.9% to CARI, respectively, highlighting the greater impact of heavy metals on human health. Unlike the monthly variations in PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations, CARI values tended to increase in the summer and decrease in the spring and fall, indicating the impact of local emissions, particularly from petrochemical and non-ferrous industrial facilities. Moreover, a machine learning model enhanced the spatio-temporal resolution of CARI, showing that ‘unhealthy’ days were 2.4 times more frequent in industrial areas than in urban areas. In conclusion, CARI is a promising tool for assessing health risks in industrial cities and for developing risk-based management plans. Furthermore, we propose the development of a national-scale real-time CARI system by enhancing the spatio-temporal resolution of HAP data through the use of machine learning.","PeriodicalId":311,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Pollution","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Pollution","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.125545","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Particulate matter (PM) contains various hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) that can adversely affect human health, highlighting the need for an integrated index to represent the associated health risks. In response, this study developed a novel index, the comprehensive air-risk index (CARI), for Ulsan, the largest industrial city in South Korea. This index integrates toxicity-weighted concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals using their inhalation unit risks. CARI was categorized into four risk levels based on probabilistic health risks. Over eight years (2013–2020) in Ulsan, the risk from PAH exposure showed a decreasing trend, whereas the risk from heavy metals remained stable, reflecting different emission patterns and major source types. PAHs and heavy metals contributed 38.1% and 61.9% to CARI, respectively, highlighting the greater impact of heavy metals on human health. Unlike the monthly variations in PM2.5 concentrations, CARI values tended to increase in the summer and decrease in the spring and fall, indicating the impact of local emissions, particularly from petrochemical and non-ferrous industrial facilities. Moreover, a machine learning model enhanced the spatio-temporal resolution of CARI, showing that ‘unhealthy’ days were 2.4 times more frequent in industrial areas than in urban areas. In conclusion, CARI is a promising tool for assessing health risks in industrial cities and for developing risk-based management plans. Furthermore, we propose the development of a national-scale real-time CARI system by enhancing the spatio-temporal resolution of HAP data through the use of machine learning.
期刊介绍:
Environmental Pollution is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality research papers and review articles covering all aspects of environmental pollution and its impacts on ecosystems and human health.
Subject areas include, but are not limited to:
• Sources and occurrences of pollutants that are clearly defined and measured in environmental compartments, food and food-related items, and human bodies;
• Interlinks between contaminant exposure and biological, ecological, and human health effects, including those of climate change;
• Contaminants of emerging concerns (including but not limited to antibiotic resistant microorganisms or genes, microplastics/nanoplastics, electronic wastes, light, and noise) and/or their biological, ecological, or human health effects;
• Laboratory and field studies on the remediation/mitigation of environmental pollution via new techniques and with clear links to biological, ecological, or human health effects;
• Modeling of pollution processes, patterns, or trends that is of clear environmental and/or human health interest;
• New techniques that measure and examine environmental occurrences, transport, behavior, and effects of pollutants within the environment or the laboratory, provided that they can be clearly used to address problems within regional or global environmental compartments.