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Augusto S, Ratola N, Tarín-Carrasco P, Jiménez-Guerrero P, Turco M, Schuhmacher M, Costa S, Teixeira JP, Costa C. Population exposure to particulate-matter and related mortality due to the Portuguese wildfires in October 2017 driven by storm Ophelia. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2020; 144:106056. [PMID: 32866734 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2019] [Revised: 08/06/2020] [Accepted: 08/10/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
In October 2017, hundreds of wildfires ravaged the forests of the north and centre of Portugal. The fires were fanned by strong winds as tropical storm Ophelia swept the Iberian coast, dragging up smoke (together with Saharan dust from north-western Africa) into higher western European latitudes. Here we analyse the long-range transport of particulate matter (PM10) and study associations between PM10 and short-term mortality in the Portuguese population exposed to PM10 due to the October 2017 wildfires, the worst fire sequence in the country over the last decades. We analysed space- and ground-level observations to track the smoke plume and dust trajectory over Portugal and Europe, and to access PM10 concentrations during the wildfires. The effects of PM10 on mortality were evaluated using satellite data for exposure and Poisson regression models. The smoke plume covered most western European countries (including Spain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands), and reached the United Kingdom, where the population was exposed in average to an additional PM10 level of 11.7 µg/m3 during seven smoky days (three with dust) in relation to the reference days (days without smoke or dust), revealing the impact of the wildfires on distant populations. In Portugal, the population was exposed in average to additional PM10 levels that varied from 16.2 to 120.6 µg/m3 in smoky days with dust and from 6.1 to 20.9 µg/m3 in dust-free smoky days. Results suggest that PM10 had a significant effect on the same day natural and cardiorespiratory mortalities during the month of October 2017. For every additional 10 µg/m3 of PM10, there was a 0.89% (95% confidence interval, CI, 0-1.77%) increase in the number of natural deaths and a 2.34% (95% CI, 0.99-3.66%) increase in the number of cardiorespiratory-related deaths. With rising temperatures and a higher frequency of storms due to climate change, PM from Iberian wildfires together with NW African dust will tend to be more often transported into Northern European countries, which may carry health threats to areas far from the ignition sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Augusto
- EPIUnit - Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal; cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, C2, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
| | - Nuno Ratola
- LEPABE, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
| | - Patricia Tarín-Carrasco
- Physics of the Earth, Regional Campus of International Excellence "Campus Mare Nostrum", Campus de Espinardo, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
| | - Pedro Jiménez-Guerrero
- Physics of the Earth, Regional Campus of International Excellence "Campus Mare Nostrum", Campus de Espinardo, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain; Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), 30120 Murcia, Spain
| | - Marco Turco
- Physics of the Earth, Regional Campus of International Excellence "Campus Mare Nostrum", Campus de Espinardo, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
| | - Marta Schuhmacher
- Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Departament d'Enginyeria Quimica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Solange Costa
- EPIUnit - Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal; Department of Environmental Health, Portuguese National Institute of Health, Rua Alexandre Herculano, 321, 4000-055 Porto, Portugal
| | - J P Teixeira
- EPIUnit - Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal; Department of Environmental Health, Portuguese National Institute of Health, Rua Alexandre Herculano, 321, 4000-055 Porto, Portugal
| | - Carla Costa
- EPIUnit - Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal; Department of Environmental Health, Portuguese National Institute of Health, Rua Alexandre Herculano, 321, 4000-055 Porto, Portugal
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Rathankumar AK, Saikia K, Ramachandran K, Batista RA, Cabana H, Vaidyanathan VK. Effect of soil organic matter (SOM) on the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using Pleurotus dryinus IBB 903-A microcosm study. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2020; 260:110153. [PMID: 32090843 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2019] [Revised: 01/09/2020] [Accepted: 01/15/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil matrix is often arbitrated by the presence of soil organic matter (SOM). The present study focuses on determining the effect of the soil organic content on the mycoremediation of two model PAHs, phenanthrene (Phe) and benzo(a) pyrene (BaP) through microcosm studies. On comparing various microcosm strategies, a maximum degradation of Phe (99%) and BaP (48.5%) in soil bioaugmented with Pleurotus dryinus IBB 903, followed by, biostimulation with the degradation of Phe (89.9%) and BaP (24.8%) were noted. On relating the degradation pattern with lignolytic enzyme cocktail production, a laccase activity of 108 U/Kg at day 21, aryl alcohol oxidase (411 U/Kg) and manganese peroxidase (52.2 U/Kg) at day 14 along with lignin peroxidase (481 U/Kg) at day 21 were noted in fungal augmented soils, which were comparatively higher than levels observed in the bio-stimulation. Investigating the impact of different concentration of SOM (3-12%), a maximum remediation of Phe by 100% at 9% SOM in days 28 and 58.19% for BaP at 12% SOM, respectively was exhibited. Further, the biosorption effect of PAHs in abiotic condition showed a positive correlation with the increase in SOM, with a maximum adsorption of 3.78% Phe, and 6.93% BaP. The results support that the nominal adsorption ability of SOM, and helps in enhancing the microbial growth, thereby improving their degradation potentials, when less than 6% of SOM was utilized. Overall, this work establishes the critical role of organic matter in the soil with reference by simultaneous stimulation and degradation capability in complete PAHs remediation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abiram Karanam Rathankumar
- Integrated Bioprocess Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kathankulathur, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Kongkona Saikia
- Integrated Bioprocess Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kathankulathur, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Krishnakumar Ramachandran
- Integrated Bioprocess Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kathankulathur, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Ramon Alberto Batista
- Laboratorio Fisiología Molecular Microorganismos Extremófilos, Centro de Investigaciones en Dinámica Celular. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Hubert Cabana
- Laboratoire de génie de l'environnement, Faculté de génie, Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, Québec, J1K 2R1, Canada.
| | - Vinoth Kumar Vaidyanathan
- Integrated Bioprocess Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kathankulathur, Tamil Nadu, India.
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Abstract
Waste management (WM) is a demanding undertaking in all countries, with important implications for human health, environmental preservation, sustainability and circular economy. The method of sanitary landfilling for final disposal of waste remains a generally accepted and used method but the available scientific evidence on the waste-related environmental and health effects is not conclusive. Comparative studies of various WM methods (landfilling, incineration, composting etc.) show that among the municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment and disposal technological options, sanitary landfilling or open dumping is popular in most countries because of the relative low cost and low-technical requirement. The European Union (EU) Directive on waste landfills has introduced specific goals for reducing the volume of disposed waste and very strict requirements for landfilling and landfill sites. Evaluation of the impact of landfills on the environment is a crucial topic in the literature and has received increased attention recently, given growing environmental concerns. The main goal of this survey was to conduct a comprehensive assessment of possible impacts of MSW landfills on the environment. The main conclusion of the overall assessment of the literature is that the disposal of MSW in landfills entails a number of environmental risks but with respect to the current situation and rich style of living adopted in industrially developed countries, the idea of WM systems functioning without landfilling—at least in the foreseeable future within one generation—seems to be somewhat unreal. The results also provided important information of landfills as a source of environmental risk. Results of this research may have an important impact on landfill management and the disposal of waste. From the literature review, it is evident that even if high levels of waste avoidance, reuse and recycling are achieved, some waste materials will always need to be forwarded for disposal.
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