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Examining Aerosol Concentrations at Waste Disposal Sites in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

. Rimsha Fatima, Moneeza Abbas, Amina Abrar, Iqtidar Hussain and Saima Atif


Abstract

The deterioration of ambient air quality and the rise in noise pollution are pressing issues in Pakistan. Open dumpsites and engineered landfills emit various aerosols into the air, potentially causing significant health risks for workers. This study aimed to assess the concentration of aerosols, such as CO2, CO, NO2, SO2, and PM10, in the vicinity of dumping sites situated in Lahore, Pakistan.For the evaluation if temporal variation, the monitoring was done during two seasons i.e. pre-monsoon and post-monsoon. . Pre-monsoon includes the month of March, April and May while post-monsoon includes the month of September, October and November. The ambient air quality monitoring and noise level/quality monitoring was carried out at peak hours. A portable air analyzer, HAZ-Scanner was used for spot monitoring. The readings were noted after 1 minute when the readings became stable. The monitoring was then assessed against the Punjab Environmental Quality Standards. The assessment revealed that the average concentration of monitored parameters CO2, CO, NO2, SO2, PM10 in pre-monsoon season was observed to be 493.38±26.11ppm, 14.788±2.536 ppm, 91.64±28.06 µg/m3, 23.74±3.74 µg/m3, 383.2±253.8 µg/m3 respectively whereas in post-monsoon season it was 268.3±35.3ppm, 10.63±3.70 ppm, 61.13±15.41 µg/m3, 20.250±1.982 µg/m3, 142.3±56 µg/m3 respectively. It was found that the air quality was not good during pre-monsoon season while it was satisfactory in the post-monsoon season. Rains play a vital role in the cleaning of atmospheric pollution.  In addition to this it was observed that there is direct relationship with the time of the day, traffic load, vehicular emission and emissions from the landfills. There is a need of waste management practices that may help in decreasing the emission level of pollutants in the air. While transferring the waste, vehicles should be properly covered. During compost formation the sheds must have a pollutant screening hood. It will help to filter hazardous pollutants before releasing into air.

Keywords: Ambient Air, Waste Dumpsites, carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter (PM10), noise level

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