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PH Enviromental > Outdoor Air Pollution > Flashcards

Outdoor Air Pollution Flashcards

1
Q

What happened in Donora, PA, 1948?

A
  • Donora, Washington County, on the Monongahela River
  • Industrial town with population of 14,000
  • Temperature inversion
  • Between Oct. 26 and 31, 20 people asphyxiated and over 7,000 hospitalized or became ill
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2
Q

Name two secondary pollutions?

A
  • Acid Rain

- Ozone (O3)

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3
Q

What happened during the “London Killer Smog of 1952”?

A

Cold dec, a lot of people burned homes (sulfur dioxide was trapped causing deaths)

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4
Q

Explain the History of Air Pollution Legislation

A
  1. Air Quality Act of 1955
    - first federal legislation on air pollution
    - provided funds for federal research
  2. Clean Air Act of 1963
    - authorized research into techniques for monitoring and controlling air pollution
  3. Air Quality Act of 1967
    - air pollutant emission inventories, ambient monitoring techniques, and control techniques
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5
Q

Explain the Clean Air Act of 1970.

A
  • Major shift in focus
  • Comprehensive federal and state regulations
  • Enforcement
  • EPA created in 1970
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6
Q

Explain the Provisions of the Clean Air Act and Amendments.

A
  • Established National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQs)
  • Established requirements for Sate Implementation Plans to achieve NAAQs
  • Authorized National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
  • Increased enforcement authority
  • Authorized requirements for control or motor vehicle emissions
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7
Q

What are the Intentions of the Clean Air Act and Amendments?

A
  • everybody should have equal protection (establish uniform national standards)
  • Protection of most susceptible subgroups
    (elderly, infants, pregnant women, and sufferers form chronic heart and lung diseases
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8
Q

What are the Criteria Pollutants for the Clean Air Act?

A
  • Emitted from many large diverse sources, including mobile and stationary sources
  • Greatest overall threat to human health
  • Presupposition: adverse health effects not cancerous and their dose-response relationship exhibits a threshold
  • 6 criteria pollutants (PM, SOx, NOx, O3, CO, Pb)
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9
Q

What is NAAQs?

A

National Ambient Air Quality Standards for criteria pollutants

  • Primary standards set limits to protect public health.
  • Secondary standards set to protect against public welfare effects, such as damage to farm crops and vegetation
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10
Q

What is Particulate Matter (PM)?

A
  • Heterogeneous mix of solid and liquid droplets
  • Smaller particles stay suspended and travel great distances
  • Smaller particles can travel deep in the airways
  • Ultrafines/ nanoparticles: aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to microns
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11
Q

Explain PM10

A

aerodynamic diameter <10 microns

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12
Q

Explain PM25

A

aerodynamic diameter <2.5 microns

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13
Q

What are Sources of Particulate Matter?

A

cars, trucks, buses, factories, construction sites, tilled fields, unpaved roads, stone crushing, and burning of wood

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14
Q

Name 3 Particles of Particulate Matter.

A
  1. Coarse Particles
  2. Fine Particles
  3. Ultrafine Particles
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15
Q

What are Coarse Particles?

A
  • 10< diameter< 2.5um

- Mechanical sources (crushing, grinding,; dust from paved or unpaved roads)

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16
Q

What are Fine Particles?

A
  • diameters <2.5 um
  • Remain suspended and travel great distances
  • Can penetrate all sites of the respiratory tract
  • Examples: photochemical smog, diesel exhaust, tobacco smoke
17
Q

What are Ultrafine particles?

A
  • diameters <0.1 um
  • can penetrate deep within lungs, cells, translocate
  • inflammation effects
18
Q

What happens when Om gets further into the lungs?

A

More hazardous (fine particles) spread throughout the lungs

19
Q

What is Ozone (O3)?

A
  • Secondary pollutant
  • Chemical reaction between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of heat and sunlight.
  • Distinctive, sweet odor
20
Q

Explain Ozone Formation.

A

Hydrocarbons (VOCs) + NO2 –> O3

  • needs sunlight for formation
21
Q

What is Nitrogen Oxide (NOx)?

A
  • Nitrogen dioxide (NO2): reddish brown gas

- Nitrogen oxides form when fuel is burned at high temperatures, as in a combustion process.

22
Q

What are primary sources of NOx?

A

motor vehicles, electric utilities, and other industrial, commercial, and residential sources that burn fuels

23
Q

What is Carbon Monoxide (CO)?

A
  • colorless, odorless gas formed from incomplete fuel combustion
  • auto emissions, industrial emissions, forest fires
24
Q

What is Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)?

A
  • colorless gas formed from burning sulfur- containing fuels
  • dissolves in water vapor to form acids
  • over 65% of SO2 from coal-burning utilities
25
Q

What is Acid Rain?

A
  • emissions of SOx and NOx in the atmosphere react with water, oxygen, and oxidants to form acidic compounds
  • compounds fall to the earth in either dry form ( gas and particles) or wet form (rain, snow, and fog)
  • acidification of water, making it unsuitable for some fish and other wildlife
  • tree damage
  • decay of buildings, statues
26
Q

What are health effects of HAPs?

A

pulmonary, cardiac, vascular, neurological, cancer, reproductive toxicity

27
Q

What are sources of HAPs (1996)?

A
  • mobile sources (50%)- cars, buses, trucks, etc
  • major sources (26%)- chemical plants, steel mills, oil refineriess and hazardous waste incinerators
  • area and other sources (24%)- dry cleaners and gas stations
28
Q

Explain Regulation of HAPs.

A

Assume no threshold so no NAAQs

Emission standards set

  • National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs)
  • Provide ample margin of safety
  • Also called Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT)
  • Take into account cost/ feasibility
29
Q

What are the 6 chemicals NAAQs protects against?

A
  • O3
  • SOx
  • NOx
  • CO
  • PM
  • Pb
30
Q

What are HAPS that are highly toxic and have no safe levels?

A
  • pesticide
  • dry cleaning solvents
  • dioxin
  • incinerators and other factories
  • emission standards

PH Enviromental (10 decks)

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