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Introduction to Air Pollution

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Ashok Kumar Hamid Omidvarborna

University of Toledo University of Surrey
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 CHAPTER 3.1
INTRODUCTION TO AIR POLLUTION
Ashok Kumar and Hamid Omidvarborna
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Toledo, Ohio

3.1.1  INTRODUCTION TO AIR POLLUTION

Air pollution worldwide is a growing threat to human health and the natural environment. Air
pollution may be described as contamination of the atmosphere by gaseous, liquid, or solid wastes or
by-products that can endanger human health and welfare of plants and animals, attack materials,
reduce visibility, or produce undesirable odors. The air pollution problem is encountered outdoor as
well as indoor. Mobile, stationary, area, and natural sources all emit pollution into the air. This chapter
covers the following topics: history of air pollution, the various common air pollutants and their
sources, and an emission inventory.

3.1.2  BRIEF HISTORY OF AIR POLLUTION

The problem of air pollution has been in existence for quite a long time. Early references to it date
back to the Middle Ages, when smoke from burning coal was already such a serious problem that in
1307 King Edward I banned its use in lime kilns in London. More recently, there have been major
episodes of air pollution, such as the 1930 catastrophe in the Meuse Valley, Belgium, where sulfur
dioxide and particulate matter, combined with a high relative humidity, caused 63 excess deaths in
5 days. In 1948, similar conditions in a small industrial city in Donora, Pennsylvania, caused 20 excess
deaths in 5 days. Details of some air pollution episodes are described in the literature (1, 2).
The problems of air pollution in Los Angles, New York City, and Chicago, during the 1950s, drew
attention of regulators in the United States. Conventional pollutants due to auto emissions and smoke
stacks were the major thrusts of air pollution during the 1960s and 1970s. Invisible emissions of toxic
pollutants were recognized in the late 1970s. The attention also turned to acid rain as a trans-boundary
problem following the observations of dying forests in Germany and lake acidification in Scandinavian
countries. In the early 1980s, scientists observed a slowdown in growth of red spruce in the mountain
areas of north-eastern United States during the 1960s as a result of acid rain. Other problems such as
emissions from small sources, area sources, fugitive emissions, and carbon dioxide production from
combustion came to light as potential pollution problems.
Global warming is another international issue being debated by scientists and politicians. The rise
in global average temperatures is being related to the increase in concentration of carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere. This is due to burning of fossil fuels, the production
of chlorofluorocarbons, deforestation, and other forces. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) introduced Clean Power Plan in 2015 along with other initiatives to deal with the potential
problem of global warming (3).

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