Title | Inhalation intake of ambient air pollution in California's South Coast Air Basin |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2006 |
Authors | Julian D Marshall, Patrick W Granvold, Abigail S Hoats, Thomas E McKone, Elizabeth Deakin, William W Nazaroff |
Journal | Atmospheric Environment |
Volume | 40 |
Start Page | 4381 |
Issue | 23 |
Pagination | 4381-4392 |
Date Published | 07/2006 |
Keywords | diesel particulate matter, Environmental Chemistry, Exposure and Risk Group, environmental justice, exposure analysis, exposure and health effects, geographic information system (gis), indoor environment department, mobility, ozone |
Abstract | Reliable estimates of inhalation intake of air pollution and its distribution among a specified population are important for environmental epidemiology, health risk assessment, urban planning, and environmental policy. We computed distributional characteristics of the inhalation intake of five pollutants for a group of ~25,000 people (~29,000 person-days) living in California's South Coast Air Basin. Our approach incorporates four main inputs: temporally resolved information about people's location (latitude and longitude), microenvironment, and activity level; temporally and spatially explicit model determinations of ambient concentrations; stochastically determined microenvironmental adjustment factors relating the exposure concentration to the ambient concentration; and, age-, gender-, and activity-specific breathing rates. Our study is restricted to pollutants of outdoor origin, i.e. it does not incorporate intake in a microenvironment from direct emissions into that microenvironment. Median estimated inhalation intake rates (μg d-1) are 53 for benzene, 5.1 for 1,3-butadiene, 8.7 10-4 for hexavalent chromium in fine particulate matter (Cr-PM2.5), 30 for diesel fine particulate matter (DPM2.5), and 68 for ozone. For the four primary pollutants studied, estimated median intake rates are higher for non-whites and for individuals in low-income households than for the population as a whole. For ozone, a secondary pollutant, the reverse is true. Accounting for microenvironmental adjustment factors, population mobility, and temporal correlations between pollutant concentrations and breathing rates affects the estimated inhalation intake by 40% on average. The approach presented here could be extended to quantify the impact on intakes and intake distributions of proposed changes in emissions, air quality, and urban infrastructure. |
DOI | 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2006.03.034 |