Management of air quality in the vicinity of congested area in Kuwait

Abstract

An assessment of air quality in the vicinity of a selected school has been carried out by monitoring the concentrations of primary pollutants. The results has shown that during the school hours, the measured pollutants emitted from the cars next to the selected school, such as CO and NO(2), are always under the allowable limits for Kuwaiti air quality standards. On the other hand, the concentrations of non methane hydrocarbon pollutant (nm-HC), some of which are considered to be cancergenic, are found to be above the Kuwaiti standard most of the times. A traffic counter is used to record the number of cars in the main road next to the school in 15 min intervals for 10 days during the monitoring period for air quality. Statistical analysis is performed to develop a relation for prediction of the necessary reduction in traffic, based on CO concentrations, during morning and afternoon periods on working days. A computer dispersion model (CALINE4) is also used to assess the CO concentrations based on recorded flow of traffic and emission inventory with the prevailing meteorological conditions existed at the specified time. After the validation of model, different scenarios have been evaluated to provide an acceptable solution to resolve the traffic congestion problem near the schools in the early morning hours with substantial reduction in pollution levels. The optimal solution for CO concentration reduction by managing smooth traffic flow is to reduce the traffic intensity by half in early morning and afternoon rush hours. The results of the predicted CO concentration in the vicinity of the school for the model and the statistical analysis has shown reduction of 30% and 42% respectively, for approximately 50% decrease in the car use. On the other hand the predicted CO concentration for the model and the statistics reached 24% and 33% respectively when 50% of students opted for buses instead of using private cars.

Indoor and Outdoor Volatile Organic Compounds at Office Buildings in Kuwait

“…9,10 However, low-level and/or short-term exposures may cause a general feeling of unhealthiness and illness, leading to the use of the term "sick-building syndrome" (SBS). Numerous scientific studies and research projects have been conducted in recent years to assess the ambient air quality in Kuwait, [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] and several have examined the IAQ in residential homes. [23][24][25][26] A recent study by Alhumood et al 26 assessed the contribution of vehicular traffic emissions of VOCs to indoor and outdoor air quality at 12 houses in 10 residential areas of Kuwait.…”

“…Numerous scientific studies and research projects have been conducted in recent years to assess the ambient air quality in Kuwait, 11–22 and several have examined the IAQ in residential homes. 23–26 A recent study by Alhumood et al 26 assessed the contribution of vehicular traffic emissions of VOCs to indoor and outdoor air quality at 12 houses in 10 residential areas of Kuwait.…”

Options for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Strategies for Road Transportation in Oman

“…Current survey shows that 52% NMT transport modes in Shebin El-Kom and 31% in Faiyum, Egypt and field visits in different cities has higher share in walking and cycling, especially in middle size and smaller cities. The reason behind this high share can be estimated to the rel-atively short distances travelled to schools, universities and factories as well as cost associated to owning vehicles [22].…”

Carbon Footprint of the Kuwaiti Public Road Transport Industry

“…In urban areas the air pollutants of road transport are caused by air pollution by emissions of CO gases, NOxs, (VOC) and O3 (Al-Mutairi and Kouchki, 2009;D'Angiola et al, 2010). Furthermore, the increase in vehicle ownership led to congestion and injury and traffic accident killings (UNDP and General Directorate of Traffic Project 2009 and noise pollution (Albassam et al, 2009) as a consequence of transport accidents.…”