Assessment of Ambient Air Quality in the State of Kuwait - Al Jahra City Study

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to present an
assessment of ambient air quality of Al Jahra city (32
kilometers/20 miles northwest Kuwait City). Measurements of
ambient sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NO2) carbon
monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter
(PM10), ozone (O3), methane (CH4) and Non-methane
hydrocarbons (NCH4) along with metrological factors (winds
speed, wind direction, and solar radiation) were taken over the
period of the year 2008. Most regional and worldwide studies
considered these pollutants for the assessment due to its vital
effects on both health and environmental. The study present a
descriptive statistics of the data, calculation of the Air Quality
Index (AQI) based on the reading average, along with the hazard
quotient. Result shows that the AQI was in the green (good)
region except for PM10 it was in the yellow (moderate) region.
The calculated Hazard Index of all the components separately
and the overall Health Index, did not exceed its ambient air
quality standard (AAQS) which is reported by the USEPA. This
paper also studies any possible relation between the presented
factors using the correlation matrix technique. It was found that
there is a relation between the NOx and both carbon monoxide
and carbon dioxide. A simple analysis of variance using ANOVA
test was made on the data to identify the variance (quality) of the
data. A temporal study was made using the average
concentrations of the data during the hours of the day for the
whole year to study the trend of these pollutants during that
covered year. This part enables us to predict the sources of the
pollutants according to its peak times.