Introduction

“As soon as I had escaped the heavy air of Rome and the stench of its smoky chimneys, which when stirred poured forth whatever pestilent vapours and soot they held enclosed, I felt a change in my disposition.”

                                    

  -Roman philosopher Seneca, AD 61 

           Pollution is now a common place term, that our ears are attuned to. We hear about the various forms of pollution and read about it through the mass media. Air pollution is one such form that refers to the contamination of the air, irrespective of indoors or outside. A physical, biological or chemical alteration to the air in the atmosphere can be termed as pollution. It occurs when any harmful gases, dust, smoke enters into the atmosphere and makes it difficult for plants, animals and humans to survive as the air becomes dirty.

            Air pollution can further be classified into two sections- Visible air pollution and invisible air pollution. Another way of looking at Air pollution could be any substance that holds the potential to hinder the atmosphere or the well being of the living beings surviving in it. The sustainment of all things living is due to a combination of gases that collectively form the atmosphere; the imbalance caused by the increase or decrease of the percentage of these gases can be harmful for survival.

       The Ozone layer considered crucial for the existence of the ecosystems on the planet is depleting due to increased pollution. Global Warming, a direct result of the increased imbalance of gases in the atmosphere has come to be known as the biggest threat and challenge that the contemporary world has to overcome in a bid for survival.

        In order to understand the causes of Air pollution, several divisions can be made. Primarily air pollutants can be caused by primary sources or secondary sources. The pollutants that are a direct result of the process can be called primary pollutants. A classic example of a primary pollutant would be the sulfur-dioxide emitted from factories. Secondary pollutants are the ones that are caused by the inter mingling and reactions of primary pollutants. Smog created by the interactions of several primary pollutants is known to be as secondary pollutant.

Causes for indoors air pollution:

• Carpets
• Broken compact fluorescent lights.
• New electronics and other plastic products
• VOCs (Acetone, Sprays ..etc)
• Paints
• SMOKING

Causes for outdoors air pollution

• Combustion of fossil fuels
• Domestic heating Power generation Motor vehicles

• Industrial processes
• Agricultural processes
• Waste incineration
• Natural processes
• Thunderstorms,Volcanoes
• SMOKING

-Salma Saad Srour & Amira Badr

Air pollution in Great Cairo

        The air contamination in Cairo is a matter of genuine concern. Greater Cairo's volatile aromatic hydrocarbon levels are higher than numerous other comparable cities. Air quality estimations in Cairo have likewise been recording dangerous levels of lead, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and suspended particulate matter fixations because of many years of unregulated vehicle outflows, urban mechanical operations, and waste and trash burning. There are more than 4,500,000 automobiles in the city of Cairo, 60% of which are more than 10 years of age, and subsequently need present day outflow cutting highlights like exhaust systems. Cairo has an extremely poor scattering variable in light of absence of downpour and its format of tall structures and limited lanes, which make a bowl effect Lately, a strange dark cloud (as Egyptians call it) showed up over Cairo each Autumn and reasons genuine respiratory diseases and eye aggravations for the city's natives. Voyagers who are not acquainted with such elevated amounts of contamination must take additional consideration.

        Cairo additionally has numerous unregistered lead and copper smelters which vigorously dirty the city. The aftereffects of this has been a lasting murkiness over the city with particulate matter noticeable all around coming to more than three times ordinary levels. It is evaluated that 10,000 to 25,000 individuals a year in Cairo kick the bucket because of air contamination related ailments. Lead has been indicated to bring about damage to the focal sensory system and neurotoxicity especially in youngsters. In 1995, the first natural acts were presented and the circumstance has seen some change with 36 air observing stations and emanations tests on autos. Twenty thousand transports have likewise been dispatched to the city to enhance clogging levels, which are high.

-Salma Saad Srour

Causes of Air Pollution in Depth

1. Burning of Fossil Fuels: Sulfur dioxide emitted from the combustion of fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and other factory combustibles is one the major cause of air pollution. Pollution emitting from vehicles including trucks, jeeps, cars, trains, airplanes cause immense amount of pollution. We rely on them to fulfill our daily basic needs of transportation. But, there overuse is killing our environment as dangerous gases are polluting the environment. Carbon Monooxide caused by improper or incomplete combustion and generally emitted from vehicles is another major pollutant along with Nitrogen Oxides, that is produced from both natural and man made processes.

2. Agricultural activities: Ammonia is a very common by product from agriculture related activities and is one of the most hazardous gases in the atmosphere. Use of insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers in agricultural activities has grown quite a lot. They emit harmful chemicals into the air and can also cause water pollution.

3. Exhaust from factories and industries: Manufacturing industries release large amount of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, organic compounds, and chemicals into the air thereby depleting the quality of air. Manufacturing industries can be found at every corner of the earth and there is no area that has not been affected by it. Petroleum refineries also release hydrocarbons and various other chemicals that pollute the air and also cause land pollution.

4. Mining operations: Mining is a process wherein minerals below the earth are extracted using large equipments. During the process dust and chemicals are released in the air causing massive air pollution. This is one of the reason which is responsible for the deteriorating health conditions of workers and nearby residents.

5. Indoor air pollution: Household cleaning products, painting supplies emit toxic chemicals in the air and cause air pollution. Have you ever noticed that once you paint walls of your house, it creates some sort of smell which makes it literally impossible for you to breathe.

Suspended particulate matter popular by its acronym SPM, is another cause of pollution. Referring to the particles afloat in the air, SPM is usually caused by dust, and combustion.

-Amira Badr

Effects of Air Pollution

1. Respiratory and heart problems: The effects of Air pollution are alarming. They are known to create several respiratory and heart conditions along with Cancer, among other threats to the body. Several millions are known to have died due to direct or indirect effects of Air pollution. Children in areas exposed to air pollutants are said to commonly suffer from pneumonia and asthma.

2. Global warming: Another direct effect is the immediate alterations that the world is witnessing due to global warming. With increased temperatures world wide, increase in sea levels and melting of ice from colder regions and icebergs, displacement and loss of habitat have already signaled an impending disaster if actions for preservation and normalization aren’t undertaken soon.

3. Acid Rain: Harmful gases like nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides are released into the atmosphere during the burning of fossil fuels. When it rains, the water droplets combines with these air pollutants, becomes acidic and then falls on the ground in the form of acid rain. Acid rain can cause great damage to human, animals and crops.

4. Eutrophication: Eutrophication is a condition where high amount of nitrogen present in some pollutants gets developed on sea’s surface and turns itself into algae and and adversely affect fish, plants and animal species. The green colored algae that is present on lakes and ponds is due to presence of this chemical only.

5. Effect on Wildlife: Just like humans, animals also face some devastating affects of air pollution. Toxic chemicals present in the air can force wildlife species to move to new place and change their habitat. The toxic pollutants deposit over the surface of the water and can also affect sea animals.

6. Depletion of Ozone layer: Ozone exists in earth’s stratosphere and is responsible for protecting humans from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. Earth’s ozone layer is depleting due to the presence of chlorofluorocarbons, hydro chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere. As ozone layer will go thin, it will emit harmful rays back on earth and can cause skin and eye related problems. UV rays also have the capability to affect crops.

-Amira Badr

Empirical Studies that have been made about Air Pollution in Egypt

           There are numerous sources to air pollution in Egypt, as in other countries. However, the formation and levels of dust, small particles and soot are more characteristic in Egypt than presently found in industrialized countries. Some of the sources for these pollutants, such as industries, open-air waste burning and transportation, were also well known problems in most countries only 10 to 20 years ago (Anderson, P.37). Suspended dust, measured as PM₁₀, can be seen to be a major air pollution problem in Egypt. PM₁₀ concentrations can exceed daily average concentrations during 98% of the measurement period. The surpass of  PM₁₀ is highest in industrial areas. On the other hand it seems that the natural background of PM₁₀ in Egypt is close to or around the Air Quality Limit value. PM₁₀ are collected and analyzed in different ways in the Environmental Information and Monitoring Program (EIMP) programme (Awad, P.22). EIMP operates presently about 40 measurement sites for measuring air pollution in Egypt where there is 4 sites located in the Greater Cairo area, 8 sites in Alexandria area, 7 sites in the Delta, 3 sites in the Canal area and 10 sites in Upper Egypt and Sinai beginning from 1997 up till the day (Awad, P.22). The continuous records of PM10 are analyzed every half-hour by beta attenuation, the sampling of PM10 on filters for gravimetric analyses and the filter analyses of black smoke by reflectrometric methods. In Law no. 4 for the Environment of Egypt the only Air Quality Limit value given for PM10 is based on 24-hour average concentrations.

The concentration level should not exceed 70 (mg/m3) (Hopkins).  Egypt, levels of PM10 have reached 580 μg/m3 in Cairo and 450 μg/m3 in Alexandria. Also these is a high concentration of SO2, which is an indicator for sulphur emissions from burning of fossil fuels and from industrial processes, were recorded in central parts of Cairo and at some industrial sites in the Delta and in Upper Egypt. The main cause of air pollution is that almost all industrialized nations have gone through an initial phase of unrestrained economic growth with no concern for environmental conditions such growth brings. Egypt is no different than any other nation, in this respect. However, the rapid rate of industrialization, coupled with some naturally occurring conditions in Egypt, have increased its current pollution problems. (Abu-taleb, P.38) For example, Egypt's usable land area is restricted by desert and most of its people live in just a few centralized urban locations, essentially along the Nile. Industrial plants are located near these population centers to ensure a labor supply and good transportation. The result is a heavy concentration of industry and population in a small region of the country, causing greater local pollution problems than if population and industry were more evenly distributed. 

Other studies made by The World Health Organization reports that the Air Pollution in Downtown Cairo is 10-100 times what is considered a safe limit (Awad. P.22). Quantifying the extent of the air pollution problem in Egypt is difficult; there are virtually no data on emissions except in rare cases, no industrial plant emission measurements are made, no industry-wide data available. It is not difficult, however, to identify plants, processes, and industries that are the major contributors to Egypt's air pollution problems; they are the same as in any other industrialized nation. They include, among others, cement producers, metallurgical plants including iron and steel mills, chemical plants, petroleum refineries and electricity generation and, of course, pollution produced by automobile transportation (Anderson, P.A15). There were some data collected for transportation pollution, for example according to Engineer Essam Nada, executive director of The Arab Office for Youth and Environment (AOYE), vehicle emissions are responsible for 40 per cent of the air pollution in Egypt. AOYE statistics have revealed that 2,400 cases of early deaths occur annually, because of air pollution in 2004 (Nadia). As a solution many plants in industrial areas, when initially built, may have had air pollution control devices installed, but all too often maintenance has been so poor that most are not working today and there is no indication that plant management is at all interested in getting them to work leading to no empirical data.

-Amira Badr

Improving Air Quality and Health for Millions of Egyptians By Chemonics

The Cairo Air Improvement Project done by Chemonics  handled by Cairo's air quality issues by actualizing cleaner advancements in transportation and industry, combined with a creative outflows testing system. 

​With a city of 16 million occupants confronting genuine wellbeing dangers from lead and other particulate matter, the Government of Egypt perceived a dire and basic need to clean up Cairo's air. In organization with USAID and Chemonics, Egyptian authorities set endless supply of the biggest air contamination control exercises supported by a contributor office. 

Operations at the new Awadallah smelter decrease air outflows by 99 percent. 

Operations at the new Awadallah smelter decrease air outflows by 99 percent. 

The undertaking tended to the fundamental wellsprings of contamination vehicles, industry, and open smoldering of squanders. At first, the Cairo Air Improvement Project focused on the capital's 1.5 million vehicles. Chemonics drove this exertion by serving to draft new vehicle emanation models, planning a vehicle testing system, and opening the first vehicle emanations testing station on the African landmass. The group composed and acquired an armada of skeleton for transports that keep running on packed common gas, a clean-smoldering fuel that lessens hurtful discharges by up to 85 percent. Cairo's pilot armada of 50 compacted common gas transports gave by the venture keeps on growing. 

The venture likewise expected to diminish modern wellsprings of lead, for example, industrial facilities refining lead scrap. It effectively moved Egypt's biggest lead refining organization from a thickly populated private neighborhood to a modern site outside of Cairo. The group composed a best in class office to screen discharges. 

Moreover, the task propelled the first solid encompassing air quality observing program in Cairo, drawing on information from a system of 36 checking stations. At long last, the system has helped Egyptian powers execute effective open data battles for unleaded gas and vehicle tune-ups. Occupants of Cairo can in fact inhale simpler because of the Cairo Air Improvement Project. 

Task Results 

• 75 percent decrease in lead level noticeable all around 
• 
  
• 99 percent decrease in fall season air contamination scenes 
• 
  
• 99 percent diminishment in air outflows by Egypt's biggest lead smelter 
• 
  
• 65 percent decrease in lead discharged by all sources in Greater Cairo 
• 
  
• 91 percent less particulates discharged by characteristic busepared to diesel transportations

-Salma Saad Srour

Pesticides as a Reason for Indoors Air Pollution

          Pesticides are chemicals and biological substances used in order to kill animals or insects. While used, they damage plants or crops. Besides, they are harmful for human health and environment. Concerning human health, pesticides increases rates of leukemia and brain cancer. They are also dangerous for pregnant women as they lead to miscarriage problems. In addition, the harmful substances affect the lungs and the nervous system. Pesticides have numerous drawbacks on nature. It perpetuates the pollution problem of air and water problem. 

         During the last 38 years an organization called CAPL (Central Agricultural Pesticides Laboratory) had made a particular study in the field of pesticides' research and quality insurance. CAPL was recognized in 1970 according to the cooperation between the Egyptian government and FAO in 1959. Controlling the use of pesticide in Egypt was their purpose. It covered different behaviors of Agricultural pesticides, using row material in developed formulation and complete the registration condition. In addition to offering the technical help in field of pesticides use and spread accurate information about the right use of pesticides throughout the area.

- Emy 

Examples of projects that have been tried outside Egypt to address Air Pollution

        In 1970, the United States created the EPA and passed the Clean Air Act, marking the beginning of the struggle to control pollution. The act originally empowered the EPA to determine safe limits and regulate six major air pollutants, now expanded to include 189 potential threats. Thanks to these tighter regulations and improved technology, the United States has enjoyed huge reductions in airborne lead, sulfur compounds and chlorofluorocarbons. Concentrations of carbon monoxide that was once spewed by every car and truck have dropped by about 90 percent in large American cities. Concentrations of particulate matter, a classification covering a wide range of pollutants in the microscopic to near-microscopic range, have dropped by about 80 percent from their peak, and ozone has dropped as well. The result: from 1980 to 2000, according to a 2009 study in the New England Journal of Medicine, average life expectancy increased five months because of the nationwide drop in air pollution (Berry). The EPA set some of its early pollution standards based on “challenge studies“ in human volunteers. In the 1970s, people with asthma, coronary artery disease and other conditions were exposed to ozone and carbon monoxide in a lab. Their lung capacity dropped and their blood vessels constricted “at lower levels of exposure than had been expected,” says Daniel Greenbaum, president of the Health Effects Institute. As a result, the EPA pushed for stricter standards, and by 1975 catalytic converters were mandatory on new vehicles (Berry). In the case of Egypt, it is plausible and attainable to create such an act that helps in the decrease and prevention of air pollution. Even though the US is a developed country and Egypt is yet a developing country, the basis of such an act could be applied like testing different levels of pollution on certain groups of people an creating new laws for citizens all around Egypt to abide by for a safer and healthier future.

- Amira Badr