A Risk Assessment Based Approach to Designing Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Networks for Health Impact Evaluations

摘要

Existing methods for establishing ambient air quality monitoring networks typically evaluate only parameters related to the concentration of the contaminant(s) of interest or population distributions in the area of interest. However, adverse health risks from exposures to airborne contaminants are a function of the contaminant concentration and the genetic and physiologic characteristics of the exposed population. Thus, ambient air quality monitoring networks designed for the protection of public health or for epidemiological studies evaluating adverse health impacts from exposures to ambient air contaminants should account for both contaminant characteristics and human health parameters. A methodology has been developed which establishes ambient air quality monitoring networks for assessments of adverse human health impacts from exposures to airborne contaminants by incorporating human health risk assessment techniques. The methodology has been applied to establish a neighborhood scale monitoring network.