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METHODOLOGY TO APPORTION AMBIENT AIR MEASUREMENTS TO INVESTIGATE POTENTIAL SHORT-TERM RESPIRATORY EFFECTS NEAR WASTE INCINERATORS
Citation:
Mukerjee, S., D. Fox, R. Stevens, C. Shy, N. Vescio, T. Lumpkin, AND R. Kellogg. METHODOLOGY TO APPORTION AMBIENT AIR MEASUREMENTS TO INVESTIGATE POTENTIAL SHORT-TERM RESPIRATORY EFFECTS NEAR WASTE INCINERATORS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/A-93/104 (NTIS PB93191393).
Description:
Ambient air samples at four sites located near two incinerators (a biomedical waste and a municipal incinerator) in the vicinity of Charlotte, North Carolina were acquired as part of a health effects study that is examining potential, short-term, lung dysfunctions associated with incinerator and other source emissions. mbient monitoring was performed for one month intervals at a treatment and control community site for each of the two incinerator locations. welve-hour ambient samples were acquired by means of a Versatile Air Pollution Sampler (VAPS) which enabled sampling for fine (<2.5 um) and coarse (2.5um-10um) particulate matter, acid-gases by diffusion sampling and fine carbon sampling on quartz filters. -ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF) was used on the coarse and fine particulate filters to measure metals while Ion Chromatography (IC) analyzed acid gases. ourly wind directions and wind speeds were also recorded, concurrently, by micrometeorological stations at both treatment and control sites. wind vector analyses were then applied to identify pollutants coming from the direction of the incinerators and associate tracer species with these sources. he Chemical Mass Balance Receptor Model (CMB) was then used on the average ambient data from each wind vector to apportion the contribution of ambient pollutants which were attributable to the sources of-interest from a given wind direction. he source contribution estimates of CMB from each wind vector can eventually be compared with dispersion modeling to ascertain whether incinerator emissions or other sources can be associated with short-term lung dysfunction effects based on lung function tests performed on both the treatment and control populations.