1. Chapter Title: Air Quality Management Overview
Air Quality Basics Excerpts from EPA’s Air Quality Management Course Developed by EPA OAQPS and OIA Provided by Lourdes Morales, EPA
Chapter Title: Air Quality Management Overview
This chapter will discuss the early history of air pollution problems, discuss why we focus on air quality, and introduce you to air quality management programs and components.

2. Chapter Overview Early History of Air Pollution Problems
Hazardous Effects of Air Pollutants
Human Body
Environmental Effects
Overview of Air Quality Management System
Strategic Planning Session Involving South Africa’s Developing Air Quality Management Program
These are the major topics that will be discussed in this chapter:
History of Air Pollution Problems—a brief look at various episodes involving air pollution problems worldwide.
Hazardous Effects of Air Pollution on the Human Body—a look at the direct effects air pollution has on the human body, including cardiac and respiratory diseases, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
Environmental Effects of Air Pollution—a look at some of the more consequential effects that air pollution can have on certain aspects of the environment.
Major Components of an Air Quality Management System—Presentation on the major components of an AQMS and how they fit a successful program.
Strategic Planning—Discussion on the components of South Africa’s AQMS and the programs needed to go forward.

3. Early History of Air Pollution
Air pollution has been a public health problem since the discovery of fire.
Ever since it was discovered, people have used fire inside their homes for cooking and heat. With improper ventilation, harmful smoke often fills the home. With proper ventilation, the smoke from multiple homes causes outdoor air pollution.
More extensive outdoor pollution can be traced to eighteenth century England and the birth of the Industrial Revolution.
Great plumes of smoke and fly ash billowed from factories during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Air pollution problems continued to escalate during the twentieth century with the advent of the automobile.
By 1940, air pollution in the U.S. had become so acute that emerging public opinion pressured government regulators to act.

4. Air Pollution Episodes
1930, Muese River Valley, Belgium deaths
1948, Donora, Pennsylvania - 23 deaths, 7,000 people affected
1950, Poza Rica, Mexico - 22 deaths, 320 hospitalized
1952, London - 4,000 deaths
1953, New York City deaths
1962, London – 700 deaths
1984, Bhopal, India - 4,000 immediate deaths, 15,000 deaths later
In the 1940’s many people still considered air pollution a nuisance rather than a real health risk.
Then several major air pollution episodes occurred. Air pollution episodes result from the buildup of air pollutants and are often associated with a temperature inversion.
Can anyone tell me about the Foskor incident?
Are there any other local examples?
Africa is urbanizing at the highest rate in the world, therefore, air quality management programs are necessary in order to prevent these types of episodes from occurring in Africa.

5. Air Pollution Episode: London Fog (1952)
Perhaps the episode that proved to be the most dramatic and costly to human health occurred during the London Fog of 1952.
In a five-day period, a temperature inversion covered the Thames River Valley and trapped deadly acid aerosols in the atmosphere. More people died during this acute air pollution event than during any other episode in recorded history.
Over 4,000 people succumbed to bronchitis, pneumonia, and respiratory and cardiac disease. The death rate was so alarming, in fact, that the British Parliament reinstated King Edward’s thirteenth century precedent and immediately barred the burning of soft coal in London again.
Unfortunately, this lesson repeated itself only ten years later in a similar incident that claimed an additional 700 lives.

6. Why Focus on Air Quality?
Air pollution causes human health effects
Major air pollution episodes
Relationship between exposure and health effects
Environmental activists
Rachel Carson
Environmental Organizations
Human health care and economy
Increased lifespan in US (from 40 to 75 years)
Understanding of a connection of long term exposures, and dangers to children’s health.
It’s not the economy OR the environment, we can have both
In 1965, the US began a major effort to study human health effects of specific pollutants and found a causal relationship between air quality, human disease and death.
Environmental activists have educated the public so that they understand the health risks associated with air pollution. In the US, Silent Spring is seen as initiating the environmental movement.
There are now thousands of environmental organizations worldwide, serving as watchdogs and demanding improvements.
Now, due to advances in health, such as vaccines against disease, people live to be 75 years old. The risk of getting cancer is of more concern.
We also understand that the economy can benefit from environmental protection.

7. Hazardous Effects of Air Pollutants
Air Pollutant Entry into the Human Body
Health Effects of Criteria Pollutants
Health Effects of Toxic Air Pollutants
Health Effects on Children
Environmental Effects of Air Pollution
So, now we know your can grow economically while protecting your environment, let’s look at some of the effects of air pollution in particular.
I know I don’t have to convince many of you that this is important work you have before you, but I want to give you a more thorough understanding of what’s at stake.
Air pollution has a direct effect on human health.
In this section, we will look at how air pollutants enter and move through the human body. I’m also going to talk a bit about the unique impacts air pollution has on children, because I think it’s important to understand how vulnerable they are to the effects of air pollution.
We will then show what health effects are known for specific pollutants.

8. Air Pollutants Enter the Body through:
Breathing, exposing the nose, throat, and lungs,
Ingestion: air pollutants can deposit on food or vegetation that will be eaten by humans
or livestock, or
Absorption through the skin.
Entry:
Air pollutants get into the body mainly through breathing. People breath nearly 13,000 liters of air each day.
They can also be ingested or absorbed through the skin.
Once a pollutant enters the body, it can remain in the lungs (e.g., asbestos), be exhaled, or move into the blood from the lungs (like the oxygen we breathe) or from the digestive system or skin.
If pollutants enter the bloodstream, they can be transported to all parts of the body.
As it moves through and around the body, a pollutant can undergo many chemical changes, especially as it passes through the liver, becoming less, or more, toxic.
The pollutant can be exhaled, it can leave the body in urine, bowel movements, sweat, or breast milk, or it can be stored in hair, bone, or fat.
Susceptible Groups:
Although effects of air pollution can vary greatly from one person to another, those most directly affected include the elderly, infants, pregnant women, and those who suffer from long-term chronic lung or heart disease.
In addition, those who engage in vigorous physical activity outdoors are also vulnerable due to the higher levels of air exchange taking place in deep lung tissue.

9. Pollutants in the Respiratory System
Pollutants are inhaled through the nose or mouth
Defenses
Cilia
Phagocyte cells
Soluble toxins may enter the bloodstream
Typically, pollutants enter the body as air is inhaled through the nose or mouth into the upper respiratory system.
Most of the larger particulate matter (>15m diameter) is captured by small nasal hairs or by the mucus membranes that line the respiratory tract from the nasal cavity through the nose and throat.
Smaller pollutant particles (<10m diameter) that escape these defense mechanisms become trapped in the cilia.
The cilia are fine, hair like structures that line the respiratory system walls through the bronchiolus. Their wave-like motion carries mucus and trapped particulate matter toward the upper respiratory tract for expulsion.  The cilia are the body’s last line of defense in the bronchioles before inhaled air reaches the alveoli.
Even smaller particles measuring between ~1m and ~0.1m in diameter that escape capture by higher defense mechanisms eventually settle in the alveoli, where it may take weeks, months, or even years to expel the particles.
Alveolar tissue fights the foreign matter by producing phagocyte cells that will eventually envelop it, permanently holding the particulate in place.
However, once the particulate matter is surrounded, the soluble toxins are then removed and transported through the bloodstream to other parts of the body. Although this method of trapping particulate matter in the alveoli is one of the body’s natural defense mechanisms, it is still dangerous for PM to reach such depths in lung tissue.

10. Effects of Air Pollutants
Effects can include:
Decreased respiratory efficiency, diminished pulmonary circulation, enlargement and weakening of the heart and blood vessels, skin and eye irritation, inflammation, and allergic reaction.
Impedance of the lung’s ability to absorb oxygen from the air and remove harmful carbon dioxide from the bloodstream.
Long-term health effects can include:
lung cancer, pulmonary emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, and other respiratory infections.
The continual act of breathing polluted air can dramatically slow the action of the tiny cilia preventing the essential, cleansing function.
Indirect damage can result in decreased respiratory efficiency, diminished pulmonary circulation, enlargement and weakening of the heart and blood vessels, skin and eye irritation, inflammation, and allergic reaction.
The hazardous effects of air pollution on both the upper and lower respiratory systems are significant because they impede the lung’s ability to absorb oxygen from the air and remove harmful carbon dioxide from the bloodstream.
Soluble toxins may enter the bloodstream and affect other organs.
The potential, chronic (long-term) health effects of particulate matter are lung cancer, pulmonary emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, and other respiratory infections.
I heard it said that jogging in washington DC in the winter, when all the fireplaces are going, it equivalent to smoking a cigarette!

11. US EPA Air Pollutants
Major Air Pollutants (known as “Criteria” Pollutants)
Particulate Matter (PM)
Lead (Pb)
Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
Ozone (O3)
Toxic Air Pollutants
Not criteria pollutants
188 substances defined as hazardous air pollutants
The US EPA has separated air pollutants into two categories: criteria air pollutants and toxic air pollutants.
The EPA identified 6 air pollutants which they designated as “Criteria pollutants”. These were the first pollutants studied by EPA. These substances are everywhere and are emitted from many sources. These pollutants are not harmful at low concentrations but can be harmful at high concentrations.
Toxic air pollutants are any hazardous air pollutant that is not a criteria pollutant. These pollutants can be harmful at very low concentrations. These pollutants are not in the general atmosphere and are typically emitted by point sources.

12. Health Effects of Criteria Pollutants
The health effects of the criteria pollutants are shown in this table.
We joke at EPA that if these pollutants were green, we’d have no trouble getting everyone to agree there’s a problem, but unfortunately, most of these are invisible, yet very harmful.

13. Health Effects of Toxic Air Pollutants
Toxic or hazardous air pollutants cause or may cause:
cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive disorders or birth defects
adverse environmental and ecological effects.
Examples of toxic air pollutants include:
benzene, found in gasoline
perchloroethylene, emitted from some dry cleaning facilities
methylene chloride, used as a solvent by a number of industries
Originate from:
man-made sources
natural sources such as volcanic eruptions and forest fires
The Clean Air Act listed 188 toxic or hazardous air pollutants. Information on each of these pollutants is available on the EPA website.
The EPA has also identified a number of source categories that typically emit these air pollutants.
Later, we’ll talk in more detail about the approaches we take to controlling both criteria and HAPs.

14. Environmental Effects of Air Pollution
Acid Rain
SOx and NOx react in the atmosphere to form acids
Acid rain falls on the soil and water bodies making the water unsuitable for fish and other wildlife
Speeds the decay of buildings, statues and sculptures.
The Greenhouse Effect
Ozone, methane, CO2,
and other gases may
contribute to global
warming
Sometimes, air pollutants do not directly affect human health but attack the environment that humans live in, which can diminish the quality of life.
As early as 1988 the CSIR in South Africa was reporting forest damage related to air pollution in the north-east Transvaal. Where liming is not practised, soil acidification may lead to crop yield reductions in areas with sensitive soils.
African soils may be particularly sensitive to acidification as in many countries the background level of soil acidity is already high, due to natural soil processes. These soils have a low capacity to absorb further acidity.

15. Environmental Effects of Air Pollution (cont.)
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
Certain substances deplete the amount of ozone in the stratosphere, increasing the amount of UV-b radiation
Mercury
Mercury in the air can settle into water bodies where it can change it into methylmercury, a highly toxic form that builds up in fish, shellfish and animals that eat fish.
Agriculture Impacts
Crop yields
Sometimes, air pollutants do not directly affect human health but attack the environment that humans live in, which can diminish the quality of life.
In the USA yield losses of grain crops due to ozone have been estimated at 5 per cent per year.

16. Transport of Air Pollution
Air pollution crosses many boundaries
Ozone, particulates and persistent pollutants
Causes episodic problems
Increases background
Requires Regional and Intergovernmental cooperation
Air pollutants can travel hundreds of kilometres from their point of emission to affect air quality and ecosystems far away from their source.
Travels with the wind currents across regional borders, and trans-oceanic/trans continental transport
A number of toxic air pollutants persist in the environment and concentrate through the food web, and have been found in fatty tissues of polar bears and other Arctic animals thousands of miles from any possible source.
Lead and other trace metals have been measured in the air and rainfall at remote locations over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, great distances from likely sources.

17. Pollutants in the Ambient Air
Major Pollutants
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Ozone (O3)
Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
Particulate Matter
Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
Lead (Pb)
Hazardous Air Pollutants
Benzene
Perchlorethylene
Methylene Chloride
Dioxin
Asbestos
Toluene
Cadmium
Mercury
Chromium
Many others
EPA has identified six major pollutants as being both common and detrimental to human health and welfare. EPA refers to these pollutants as criteria pollutants.
Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) are pollutants that may or may not be detrimental to human health or welfare and are listed as non-criteria pollutants because they have not gone through the regulatory process to make them criteria pollutants. Title III of the Clean Air Act of 1990 has identified the list of 188 HAPs.

18. What Causes Air Pollution?
Processes of nature that produce pollutants are classified as biogenic sources.
Man’s activities that produce air pollutants are classified as anthropogenic sources.
Anthropogenic: creating heat and energy, transportation, industry, recreation, daily activities
Biogenic: lightning, wind, spore growth

19. Biogenic (Naturally Occurring) Sources of Air Pollutants
Examples of biogenic sources include trees and vegetation, gas seeps, lightning, volcanoes, forest fires, and wind storms.
Although it is not possible to control the level of these natural emissions, their presence is an important factor to consider when developing ozone control strategies.
Vegetation is the predominant biogenic source of VOC. Microbial activity is responsible for the emission of NOx and the greenhouse gases of CO2, methane (CH4), and N2O. Soil microbial activity is responsible for NOx and N2O emissions from agricultural lands and grasslands. Methane is emitted through microbial action in waterlogged soils or in other anaerobic microenvironments. CO2 is released through the aerobic decay of biomass.
Lightning is a source of NOx. Oil and gas seeps are sources of VOC, methane, and HAPs.
Ammonia from livestock is another major biogenic source of pollution. Ammonia can produce environmental effects through its reaction with sulfates in the ambient air to form ammonium sulfate, which appears as “haze.”

20. Anthropogenic (Man-Made) Sources
Mobile
Stationary
Point
Area
Anthropogenic sources include mobile, stationary, and fugitive sources.
Mobile sources include a wide variety of vehicles, engines, and equipment that generate air pollution and that move, or can be moved, from place to place.
Stationary sources are non-moving sources, fixed-site producers of pollution such as power plants, chemical plants, oil refineries, manufacturing facilities, and other industrial facilities.
Stationary sources are classified as point source or area source. A point source refers to a source at a fixed point, such as a smokestack or storage tank, that emits air pollutants. An area source refers to a series of small sources that together can affect air quality in a region. For example, a community of homes using woodstoves for heating would be considered as an area source, even though each individual home is contributing small amounts of various pollutants.
The following slides will discuss the type of emissions from these sources and the percent makeup of their emissions to an emission inventory program.

21. Mobile Sources
Mobile sources include cars and light trucks, large trucks and buses, nonroad recreational vehicles (such as dirt bikes), farm and construction equipment, lawn and garden equipment, marine engines, aircraft, and locomotives.
In the U.S., mobile sources, which include automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses and off-road vehicles, are currently estimated to be responsible for about half of all emissions released into the air. These sources emit both major (criteria) pollutants and HAPs. The primary mobile source of air pollution is the automobile.
The specific pollutant categories include 45 percent of the VOC emissions, 50 percent of the NOx emissions, approximately 60 percent of the CO emissions and 50 percent of the HAPs in urban areas of the U.S.
Although steady progress has been made in controlling mobile emissions in the U.S. at the individual vehicle level over the last 40 years through the use of effective technology in areas such as engine controls, exhaust catalysts, and improved fuels, a full resolution of the problem has not yet come to fruition.
Sweeping controls on mobile sources of air pollution must be balanced against preserving a quality of life that depends so heavily on the use of transportation.

22. Onroad Mobile Sources
Vehicles used on roads for transportation of passengers or freight, including:
light-duty vehicles (passenger cars),
heavy-duty vehicles, and
motorcycles.
Typically fueled with:
gasoline,
diesel fuel, or
alternative fuels, such as alcohol or natural gas.
Mobile sources are classified as onroad and nonroad sources. Onroad or highway sources include vehicles used on roads for transportation of passengers or freight. Onroad sources include light-duty vehicles (passenger cars), heavy-duty vehicles, and motorcycles that are used for transportation on the road. Onroad vehicles may be fueled with gasoline, diesel fuel, or alternative fuels, such as alcohol or natural gas.

23. Nonroad Vehicles and Equipment Emissions
Nonroad (also called off-road) includes:
Outdoor power equipment
Recreational vehicles
Farm and construction machinery
Lawn and garden equipment
Marine vessels
Locomotives
After making much progress in controlling highway emissions, attention has now been given to the wide variety of nonroad engines, which also contribute significantly to air pollution.
Sometimes referred to as "off-road" or "off-highway," the nonroad category includes outdoor power equipment, recreational vehicles, farm and construction machinery, lawn and garden equipment, marine vessels, locomotives, aircraft, and many other applications.
The 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act directed EPA to study the contribution of nonroad engines to urban air pollution, and regulate them if they contributed to air quality problems.
In 1991, EPA published a report showing that nonroad equipment emitted large amounts of NOx, HC, CO, and PM.
In general, nonroad engines had total emissions almost as high as highway engines. In the case of PM, nonroad emissions were significantly higher than highway emissions.

24. U.S. Nonroad Engine Emissions
These charts show the breakdown of U.S. NOx, PM, HC, and CO emissions from nonroad engines in the year 2000.
SI = spark ignition engine (typically fueled by gasoline, natural gas, or liquefied petroleum gas)
CI = compression ignition engine (typically fueled by diesel fuel)
Large SI: forklifts, generators, compressors, farm and construction equipment
Small SI: lawn mowers, leaf blowers, chain saws, airport service equipment
Recreational SI: snowmobiles, all-terrain-vehicles, nonroad motorcycles (dirt bikes)
Marine SI: gasoline boats and personal watercraft
Nonroad CI: construction equipment such as backhoes, agricultural equipment such as tractors, material handling equipment such as heavy forklifts, industrial equipment such as airport service vehicles, and utility equipment such as generators and pumps
Marine CI: diesel engines used in recreational boats, commercial ships

25. Diesel Engines
Diesel engines power many trucks, buses, trains, ships, and off-road machinery.
Diesel exhaust is a mixture containing over 450 different components, including vapors and fine particles.
For the same load and engine conditions, diesel engines spew out 100 times more particulates than gasoline engines.
Diesel engines are everywhere.
Many of the emissions are hazardous air pollutants
With mounting evidence that diesel exhaust poses major health hazards, reducing diesel pollution has become a public priority.
While diesel cars are more efficient than their gasoline counterparts, most of them currently emit far more pollutants.
There are a number of clean diesel technologies coming on the market, and Europe is promoting diesel cars to help control GHG emissions, but the increase in particulates may not be worth it.

26. Air Pollutants From Stationary Sources
Air pollutants from stationary sources are produced by activities such as:
Combustion of fuel such as coal and oil at power generating facilities; and
Industrial processes that release pollutants into the air
A stationary source is simply any source that does not move, though often are defined for regulatory purposes as large emitters who release relatively consistent qualities and quantities of pollutants. The term area source is used to describe the many smaller stationary sources located together whose individual emissions may be low but whose collective emissions can be significant.
Air pollutants from stationary sources are produced by activities such as:
Combustion of fuel such as coal and oil at power generating facilities; and
Industrial processes that release pollutants into the air. Air polluting industries include refineries, chemical manufacturing facilities, and smelters.

27. Air Pollutants From Stationary Sources (cont’d)
Stationary sources are classified as:
Point Source
Fixed point such as a smokestack or storage tank.
Area Source
Series of small sources that individually release small amounts of a given pollutant, but collectively can release significant amounts of a pollutant.
Stationary sources are classified as point source or area source. A point source refers to a source at a fixed point that emits air pollutants, such as a smokestack, storage tanks, equipment leaks, process wastewater handling/treatment areas, loading and unloading facilities, and process vents. An area source refers to a series of small sources that together can affect air quality in a region. For example, a community of homes using woodstoves for heating would be considered as an area source, even though each individual home is contributing small amounts of various pollutants. Other examples of typical area sources include dry cleaners, vehicle refinishing facilities, dusty roads, open burning, and gasoline dispensing facilities.

28. Fugitive Sources
Fugitive emissions are emissions which could not reasonably pass through a stack, chimney, vent, or other functionally-equivalent opening.
Examples include:
Open land masses
Chemical storage piles
Open vats and chemical containers
Road-side dust
Agriculture and farming
Natural emissions
Fugitive sources also play a major role as a source of air pollution.
Both VOCs and PM are major pollutants of fugitive emissions.
Coupled with meteorological conditions, fugitive emissions can be generated in one part of the country and affect other parts of the country. Wind-blown pollutants can travel hundreds of kilometres, affecting visibility and health.