Characterization of landfills solid waste in Muscat and estimation of their energy recovery.

The only way to dispose of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Oman is in engineered landfills without pre-treatment. An effective waste management system requires a reliable database of solid waste composition, properties, and energy content. Although investigating waste in landfills in Muscat Governorate is challenging and complex, it is essential. In this study, MSW from Muscat Governorate landfills is examined. The MSW samples were collected et al. Amerat and Barka landfills in 2020 in order to determine some of the importance of their physiochemical properties and the ratio of materials (food, plastic, and paper). It was found that approximately 50% of the weight of the disposed waste was recyclable. There were high levels of biodegradable organic material in MSW. In terms of moisture content, MSW ranged from 21.5 to 43.3%. Both the volatility and loss of ignition of MSW were high. It was found that the total oxide ratios ranged from 12.4 to 44.06%. The elemental analysis of Muscat MSW resulted in six chemical formulas for MSW with and without sulfur. Silica is the most influential oxide, followed by calcium oxide. The findings of this study indicate that almost half of Muscat's municipal solid waste can be recycled. Solid waste can be recycled to create renewable materials that can replace oil as a by-product of the recycling industry. Additionally, Muscat MSW has a high moisture content, which enables it to be composted and biodegraded. Moreover, waste-to-energy technologies are feasible due to their high-energy content.

A new treatment step of bioelectrochemically treated leachate using natural clay adsorption towards sustainable leachate treatment.

Standalone and combined leachate treatment mechanisms suffer from low treatment efficiencies due to leachate's complex, toxic, and recalcitrant nature. Bioelectrochemical system (BES) was used for the first time to investigate the treatment of leachate mixed wastewater (WW) (i.e., diluted leachate, DL) (DL ≈ L:WW = 1:4) to minimize these complexities. A natural clay (palygorskite) was used as adsorbent material for further treatment on the BES effluent (EBES) while using two different masses and sizes (i.e., 3 g and 6 g of raw crushed clay (RCC) and 75 µ of sieved clay (75 µSC)). According to bioelectrochemical performance, BES, when operated with low external resistance (Rext = 1 Ω) (BES 1), showed a high removal of COD and NH3-N with 28% and 36%, respectively. On the other hand, a high Rext (100 Ω, BES 100) resulted in low removal of NH3-N with 10% but revealed high COD removal by 78.26%. Moreover, the 6 g doses of 75 µSC and RCC showed the maximum COD removals of 62% and 38% and showed the maximum removal of NH3-N with an average range of 40% for both sizes. After efficient desorption, both clay sizes resulted in regeneration performance which was observed with high COD (75%) and NH3-N (34%) on EBES. Therefore, when BES and clay adsorption technique sequentially treated and achieved with combined removal of ~ 98% for COD and ~ 80% of NH3-N, it demonstrated an efficient treatment method for DL treatment.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on aircraft noise levels, annoyance, and health effects in an urban area in Oman.

This study aimed at investigating aircraft noise exposure levels, their annoyance, and potential health effects among communities living within airport catchment areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both field measurements and an online survey approach were used to investigate aircraft noise exposure levels, annoyance, and general health effects among residents living near Muscat International Airport (MCT) in Muscat, Oman, amid the COVID-19 period. The study found a drastic decline in aircraft noise levels due to the introduction of COVID-19 intervention measures such as lockdowns, social distancing, and closure of airports. In June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, average daily aircraft noise levels of LAeq (39.9 dB(A)) and Lmax (49.7 dB(A)) was observed compared to the previous year (April-May 2019) of 58.5 and 76.8 dB(A), indicating aircraft noise reductions level of 32% and 35%, respectively. The results of the online social survey among 187 participants showed that most (58.8%) of the respondents did not feel that the level of noise produced by aircraft causes annoyance. During the day, the vast majority of the interviewees did not complain of any annoyance during the morning (45.5%), afternoon (39.6%), and evening (31%) with only < 4% of residents have reported a very high degree of annoyance of during COVID-19 pandemic period. Very few people (17%) did complain of experiencing general health problems while 29% did not know of any potential health effects that could be attributed to aircraft noise exposures. Aircraft noise annoyance complaints among the As-Seeb residents during the pre-COVID-19 pandemic periods were reported to be extremely high reaching about 84% compared to 41% during this current COVID-19 pandemic period. These findings support the need to develop future sustainable noise mitigation policies in order to help reduce noise exposures and improve human health during post-COVID-19 pandemic periods.

Characterization and exposure assessment to urban air toxics across Middle Eastern and North African countries: a review.

Middle East and North African (MENA) countries over the decades are experiencing rapid industrial and infrastructural growth combined with being the global hub of oil and gas industries. These economic transformations are associated with release of air pollutants including urban air toxics (UAT) through industrial, traffic, and constructional activities into ambient urban environments. UAT concentrations levels may exacerbate in most MENA countries considering high number of vehicular traffic populations and petrochemical industries which are one of the main sources of this pollutant. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to review major findings of UAT levels in urban areas across thirteen (13) MENA countries. The study characterizes various measured UAT, assesses their concentrations in ambient environment, and identifies their major sources of emissions by reviewing more than 100 relevant UAT papers across the selected MENA countries. It was found that benzene, heavy metals, formaldehyde, and dioxin-like compounds are the most reported UAT. The study concluded that road traffic, fuel stations, and petrochemical industries were identified as the main sources of ambient UAT levels. It was further reported that most of the studies were based on short-term ambient environment with limited studies in indoor environments. Therefore, it is highly recommended that future research should focus on innovative health impact assessment and epidemiological studies from exposure to UAT levels. Also embarking on sustainable mitigation approaches through urban greenery, eco-industrial estates infrastructural developments, and renewable energy shares will reduce UAT levels and improve human health.

A critical review of environmental and public health impacts from the activities of evaporation ponds.

Evaporation ponds (EVPs) are among the most cost-effective, and simple wastewater treatment technologies used in many regions/countries with high solar radiation levels. However, its operational limitations, which include the overflow of wastewater, leakages via liners, and large surface area of the EVP that is exposed to atmosphere, creates a negative feedback to the environment. Therefore, the main aim of this review study of more than a hundred works published a little all over the continents is to provide a summary of various contaminations that are associated with EVPs activities through different environmental compartments. In addition, the impacts of EVP on fauna, human health including the current on-site sustainable mitigation strategies were also reviewed. The first conclusion from this study shows that the most commonly contaminants released into surface waters, groundwater, soil and sediments were heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, selenium, including several major anions and cations. Non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and particulate matters (PMs) were the main air pollutants emitted from the surfaces of an EVP. Limited data is available about the emissions of atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHGs) especially carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) from EVP surfaces. Migratory birds and aquatic organisms are the most vulnerable fauna as EVP wastewaters can cause obstruction of movements, affect diversity, and causes mortalities following the exposure to the toxic wastewater. The study revealed limited data about the potential health risk associated with occupational and environmental exposure to radiological hazards and contaminated drinking water from EVP activities. On-site EVP treatment strategies using bioremediation and electrochemical treatment technologies have shown to be a promising sustainable mitigation approach. Knowledge gaps in areas of GHGs monitoring/modeling, pollution exposure estimation and health risk assessments are urgently required to gain deeper understanding about the impact of EVP activities, and incorporate them into future EVP designs.

Effect of internal and external resistances on desalination in microbial desalination cell.

The green and cost-effective nature of the microbial desalination cell (MDC) make it a promising alternative for future sustainable desalination. However, MDC suffers from a low desalination rate that inhibits it being commercialized. External resistance (Rext) is one of the factors that significantly affect the desalination rate in MDCs, which is still under debate. This research, for the first time, investigated the impact of Rext on MDCs with different internal resistance (Rint) of the system to discover the optimal range of Rext for efficient MDC performance. The results showed that the effect of Rext on desalination rate (2.52 mg/h) was quite low when the Rint of MDC was high (200 Ω). However, operating the MDC with a low Rint (67 Ω) significantly improved the desalination rate (9.85 mg/h) and current generation. When MDC was operated with a low Rint the effect of variable Rext on desalination and current generation was noticeable. Therefore, low Rint (67 Ω) MDC was used to select the optimum Rext when the optimal range was found to be Rext ≪ Rint, Rext < Rint, Rext ≈ Rint (ranging from 1-69 Ω) to achieve the highest desalination rates (10.41-8.59 mg/h). The results showed the superior effect of Rint on desalination rate before selecting the optimal range of Rext in the outer circuit.

Assessment of noise levels and induced annoyance in nearby residential areas of an airport region in Oman.

There is adequate evidence from epidemiological studies showing an association between noise exposures and incidence of cardiovascular diseases and cognitive impairment among exposed populations. This study aimed to investigate noise exposure levels in an airport region and their effects on the nearby two neighborhood communities (i.e., Al Seeb and Bawshar). To achieve this, noise levels were measured across 15 different points within the communities for more than 3 weeks at a median distance of 3.5 km from the airport runways using a sound level analyzer. In addition, we conducted an online social survey in a random sampling of a total of 913 residents who were living closer to the airport. A combination of a 5-point scale and 3-point Likert scale was used to assess the resident population's noise annoyance and the potential health impacts. The results revealed that the majority of the measured points have noise levels (55.71-65.24 LAeq dBA) exceeding both Oman and WHO critical limits. There was a general decrease in noise levels at points further away from the runways; thus, at points 2.5, 4.8, and 8.8 km, sound pressure levels were found to be 63.08, 57.41, and 52.31 dBA, respectively. However, steady noise levels were observed throughout most of the daily (24 h) measurements indicating continual exposures. Overall, 44.6% of residents reported noise annoyance level as very high, with Al Seeb inhabitants (46%) eliciting a greater percentage of annoyance levels compared to Bawshar (5%) due to their closer proximity to the airport. Also, the noise was significantly (p ˂ 0.001) associated with sleep disturbance, insomnia, irritation, and frightening. The majority of the residents complained of an increase in insomnia (41.5%), stress (34.3%), headache (47.3%), and cardiovascular diseases (16.2%). With the question of reducing noise exposures, about 41% of the respondents have plans of relocating to distant areas with low noise levels.

Groundwater contamination in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: a review.

Groundwater quality levels are currently deteriorating in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries due to excessive surface and subsurface human activities. Agricultural and industrial activities, landfill seepage and seawater intrusion have been attributed to the deterioration of groundwater quality in GCC states. Such a deterioration of groundwater quality could affect water security in the region, including human health and the ecosystem. Therefore, this review aims to identify the key causes of groundwater contamination across the GCC countries from the published literature. In addition, the review summarizes the major components of the groundwater contaminants across the GCC countries. The results have shown that heavy metals, several cations and anions are the leading cause of groundwater pollution. In most cases, the level of metals and ion contaminants exceeds both the local and international water quality standards. The results have observed the presence of high levels of coliform and radioactive elements in groundwater, especially Uranium and Radium, thereby posing additional risk to human health through consumption. Considering the scarcity of freshwater resources in GCC, urgent actions are required from the decision-makers and relevant regulatory bodies to set up and implement long-term mitigation strategies and stringent policies that will protect the groundwater resources from the adverse effects of anthropogenic activities.

Techno-economic evaluation of biogas production from food waste via anaerobic digestion.

Food waste is a major constituent in municipal solid wastes and its accumulation or disposal of in landfills is problematic, causing environmental issues. Herein, a techno-economic study is carried out on the potential of biogas production from different types of food waste generated locally. The biogas production tests were at two-time sets; 24-h and 21-day intervals and results showed a good correlation between those two-time sets. Thus, we propose to use the 24-h time set to evaluate feedstock fermentation capacity that is intended for longer periods. Our approach could potentially be applied within industry as the 24-h test can give a good indication of the potential substrate gas production as a quick test that saves time, with minimal effort required. Furthermore, polynomial models were used to predict the production of total gas and methane during the fermentation periods, which showed good matching between the theoretical and practical values with a coefficient of determination R2 = 0.99. At day 21, the accumulative gas production value from mixed food waste samples was 1550 mL per 1 g of dry matter. An economic evaluation was conducted and showed that the case study breaks-even at $0.2944 per cubic metre. Any prices above this rate yield a positive net present value (NPV); at $0.39/m3 a discounted payback period of six years and a positive NPV of $3108 were calculated. If waste management fee savings are to be incorporated, the total savings would be higher, increasing annual cash flows and enhancing financial results. This economic evaluation serves as a preliminary guide to assess the economic feasibility based on the fluctuating value of methane when producing biogas from food waste via anaerobic digestion, thus could help biogas project developers investigate similar scale scenarios .

Evaluation of vehicular pollution levels using line source model for hot spots in Muscat, Oman.

A detailed investigation was carried out to assess the concentration of near-road traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) using a dispersion model in Muscat. Two ambient air quality monitoring (AQM) stations were utilized separately at six locations near major roadways (each location for 2 months) to monitor carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The study aimed to measure the concentration of near-road TRAP in a city hot spots and develop a validated dispersion model via performance measures. The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Line Source Model was implemented in which the pollutant emission factors were obtained through Comprehensive Modal Emission Model (CMEM) and COmputer Programme to calculate Emissions from Road Transport (COPERT) model. Traffic data of all vehicle categories under normal driving conditions including average vehicle speed limits and local meteorological conditions were included in the modeling study. The analysis of monitoring data showed that hourly (00:00 to 23:00) concentrations of CO were within the US EPA limits, while NOx concentration was exceeded in most locations. Also, the measured pollutant levels were consistent with hourly peak and off-peak traffic volumes. The overall primary statistical performance measures showed that COPERT model was better than CMEM due to the high sensitivity of CMEM to the local meteorological factors. The best fractional bias (0.47 and 0.39), normalized mean square error (0.44 and 0.50), correlation coefficient (0.64 and 0.70), geometric mean bias (1.07 and 1.57), and geometric variance (2.00 and 2.32) were obtained for CO and NOx, respectively. However, the bootstrap 95% CI estimates over normalized mean square error, fractional bias, and correlation coefficient for COPERT and CMEM were found to be statistically significant from 0 in the case of combined model comparison across all the traffic locations for both CO and NOx. In overall, certain roads showed weak performance mainly due to the terrain features and the lack of reliable background concentrations, which need to be considered in the future study.

Exposure assessment to road traffic noise levels and health effects in an arid urban area.

Road traffic noise exposures have been recognized as serious environmental health concerns, especially in most developing countries with arid climate conditions, rapid increase in vehicle population, and limited traffic management systems. The excessive noise exposure level is associated with increase in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and anxiety, including annoyance. This study aimed at determining traffic noise levels in residential areas, including the assessment of its annoyance and health effects based on the people's perception and reportage. To do so, field measurement and traffic noise modeling were carried out in six road points to estimate the current noise levels along various roads close to human inhabitants in Muscat Governorate, Sultanate of Oman. The detailed measured noise levels in urban residential areas across the selected roads showed that noise levels have exceeded the local and international threshold limits at all locations during the entire day. The high sound levels (48.0-56.3 dBA) were observed using the US Federal Highway Administration's Traffic Noise Model (TNM, version 2.5) results, which were in agreement with the observed (56.3-60.4 dBA) data. To assess health implication to residents through interviews (n = 208), annoyance at home was found to be little (32%), moderate (28%), and high (9%) in comparison with workplace settings of 42%, 43%, and 15%, respectively. Nineteen percent of the interviewees had difficulties in sleeping, while 19.8% experienced stress due to road traffic noise exposures. Moreover, a strong association (p < 0.05) was established between the use and objection of noise barriers. The study revealed high noise levels and the prevalence of annoyance and health effects among the exposed population. Therefore, immediate action is required to tackle the current noise levels.

Impact of building ventilation systems and habitual indoor incense burning on SARS-CoV-2 virus transmissions in Middle Eastern countries.

Majority of countries across the globe have employed improving building ventilation, quarantine, social distancing, and disinfections as a general measure of preventing SARS-CoV-2 virus transmissions. However, arid Middle Eastern countries with hot climate (elevated outdoor temperature and humidity levels) are experiencing a different situation. Unfortunately, these harsh ambient climatic conditions in Middle Eastern countries make it impossible for most buildings to utilize natural/mechanical ventilation systems. Besides, indoor air temperatures of most buildings are very low due to overconsumption of air conditioning, thereby, it can be a potential factor of virus spread in most residential homes and public buildings. Most importantly, habitual indoor burning of incense which is the major source of coarse (PM10; aerodynamic diameter <10 µm) and fine (PM2.5; aerodynamic diameter <2.5 µm) particulate matters (PM) could facilitate the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus droplets and particles in indoor environments. In fact, it increases the spread of the virus via inhalation in these countries, especially where the wearing of masks is not regulated in public, commercial and residential buildings. It is therefore highly recommended for the relevant public health agencies to critically assess the role of poor indoor environmental conditions including the burning of incense on virus transmissions, which may help to develop control measures for the future viral outbreak effectively.

Occupational exposure to pesticides and associated health effects among greenhouse farm workers.

The number and production capacities of greenhouse farms have been increased across the globe, driven by an effort for addressing food security problems related to the rapid population growth and the effects of climate change. As a result, there was a large increase in the number of greenhouse farm workers who are typically involved in chemical preparations and pesticide sprayings, crop harvesting, and greenhouse maintenance activities. Considering the enclosed architecture of the greenhouse farm design and the frequent application of pesticides, the objective of this review was to characterize pesticide exposure levels and resultant health effects among greenhouse farm workers. While most health assessment studies were mainly based on self-reported symptoms, this review showed limited epidemiological and clinical studies on the assessment of the health effects of pesticide exposure on greenhouse workers' health. Reproductive disorders, respiratory symptoms, neurological symptoms, and skin irritations were the most reported health effects among greenhouse farm workers. Additionally, there were limited studies on respirable pesticide-borne fine and ultrafine particulate matters in greenhouse farms. Ventilation systems and indoor environmental conditions of greenhouse farms were not designed according to specifications of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Among recommendations provided, long-term exposure assessments of pesticide effects on children born by greenhouse farm workers should be considered in future research. Also, compliance with ASHRAE indoor ventilation and environmental standards will be very important in reducing pesticide exposure and health effects among greenhouse farm workers.

Energy recovery and carbon/nitrogen removal from sewage and contaminated groundwater in a coupled hydrolytic-acidogenic sequencing batch reactor and denitrifying biocathode microbial fuel cell.

Developing cost-effective technology for treatment of sewage and nitrogen-containing groundwater is one of the crucial challenges of global water industries. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) oxidize organics from sewage by exoelectrogens on anode to produce electricity while denitrifiers on cathode utilize the generated electricity to reduce nitrogen from contaminated groundwater. As the exoelectrogens are incapable of oxidizing insoluble, polymeric, and complex organics, a novel integration of an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) prior to the MFC simultaneously achieve hydrolytic-acidogenic conversion of complex organics, boost power recovery, and remove Carbon/Nitrogen (C/N) from the sewage and groundwater. The results obtained revealed increases in the fractions of soluble organics and volatile fatty acids in pretreated sewage by 52 ± 19% and 120 ± 40%, respectively. The optimum power and current generation with the pretreated sewage were 7.1 W m-3 and 45.88 A m-3, respectively, corresponding to 8% and 10% improvements compared to untreated sewage. Moreover, the integration of the ASBR with the biocathode MFC led to 217% higher carbon and 136% higher nitrogen removal efficiencies compared to the similar system without ASBR. The outcomes of the present study represent the promising prospects of using ASBR pretreatment and successive utilization of solubilized organics in denitrifying biocathode MFCs for simultaneous energy recovery and C/N removal from both sewage and nitrate nitrogen-contaminated groundwater.

Association between human health and indoor air pollution in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: a review.

Studies on the assessment of indoor air pollutants in terms of concentration and characterization in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been recently carried out. This review assesses the health effects associated with indoor air pollution exposures in GCC, including other air pollutants (siloxanes, flame retardants, synthetic phenolic antioxidants) which were not explored in a previous study. In addition, the influence of ventilation conditions due to different indoor environments was also investigated. It was revealed that there is a lack of human health assessment studies on most indoor air pollutants in almost all GCC countries, except the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, where few attempts were made for some specific pollutants. Commonly reported plausible health effects potentially associated with indoor air pollution were related to respiratory symptoms and sick building syndrome (SBS). Many of the current health assessment studies in GCC countries were based on predictions and/or estimates of exposures rather than clinically based observational studies. Measured ventilation levels and indoor air velocities in most buildings failed to meet the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) threshold limits of 8 L/s/p and 0.18-0.25 m/s, respectively. Additionally, limited studies have investigated respiratory symptoms and SBS potentially attributable to poor ventilation in the region. It is highly recommended that future indoor air quality (IAQ) studies in GCC should focus more on epidemiologic and intervention studies.

Effects of pollution on freshwater aquatic organisms.

This paper presents the reviews of scientific papers published in 2018 issues on the effects of anthropogenic pollution on the aquatic organisms dwelling in freshwater ecosystem at global scale. The first part of the study provides the summary of relevant literature reviews followed by field and survey based studies. The second part is based on categories of different classes/sources of pollutants which affect freshwater organism. This is composed of several sections including metals and metalloids, wastewater and effluents, sediments, nutrients, pharmaceuticals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, flame retardants, persistent organic pollutants, pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs, emerging contaminants, pesticides, herbicides, and endocrine disruptors. The final part of the study highlights the reviews of published research work on new pollutants such as microplastics and engineered nanoparticles which affect the freshwater organisms. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Heavy metals concentrations should be assessed at nano-scale in aquatic environment. Air pollutants could have long-term effects on freshwater ecosystem. Future studies should focus on bioremediations of freshwater pollution.

Sustainable risk-based analysis towards remediation of an aquifer impacted by crude oil spills.

Uncontrolled release of hydrocarbons from pipelines results in soil and groundwater contamination. However, due to the geo-environmental properties of the contaminated area, the remediation strategies might vary by light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) behaviors. In this study, a contaminated area with spilled oil from a pipeline was monitored. In the initial investigation in the 1980s, the contamination was reported in some citizen wells (CIZs), which resulted in drilling of 15 boreholes (BHs) across the Site from February 2001 to February 2007. Additionally, an area of around 0.24 km2 encompassing the LNAPL was inferred. The extension of plume in 2016-7 was monitored in this study, in which new farms were impacted by the contamination. Further, a conceptual model based on the previous information and current measured data was developed to better understand the behavior of the plume. The model showed that the Site is very complex, dipping towards the south, and the groundwater contains light hydrocarbons. Pumping tests, as a part of LNAPL remedial technology, were conducted by using three pumping wells (PWs), each accompanied by a monitoring well. Accordingly, a risk-based corrective action was implemented to eliminate and control unacceptable risks in a safe and timely manner. From the remediation approach, a monitoring plan in BHs and CIZs was suggested. In the case of receptors (humans and farms), clean-up of wells, tanks, and water channels as well as replacement of contaminated soils were highly regarded. Although the recent investigation and clean up monitoring wells showed that the LNAPL was very minimal, further steps in the receptor side should be taken prior to irrigation applications.

A downscaling-disaggregation approach for developing IDF curves in arid regions.

Over the past decades, urbanization in Arabian Gulf region expands in flood-prone areas at an unprecedented rate. Chronic water stress and potential changes in extreme rainfall attributed to climate change therefore pose unique challenges in planning and designing water management infrastructures. The objective of this study is to develop a framework to integrate climate change variations into intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves in Oman. A two-stage downscaling-disaggregation method was applied with rainfall at Tawi-Atair station in Dhofar region. Potential variations of extreme rainfall in future were examined by eight scenarios composed with two general circulation models (GCMs), two representative concentration pathways (RCPs), and two future periods (2040-2059 and 2080-2099). A stochastic weather generator model was used to downscale rainfall output from GCM grid scale to local scale. Downscaled daily data were then disaggregated to hourly and 5-min series by using K-nearest neighbor (K-NN) technique. Annual maximum rainfall extracted from eight future scenarios and also from present climate (baseline period) was used to develop rainfall intensity-frequency relationships for eight durations range from 5 min to 24 h. Results of the K-NN analysis indicate that the optimum window size of 57 days and 181 h is suitable for hourly and 5-min disaggregation models, respectively. Results also predict that the effects of climate change on the rainfall intensity will be more significant on storms with shorter durations and higher return periods. Moving towards the end of the twenty-first century, the return period of extreme rainfall events is likely to decrease due to intensified rainfall events.

Indoor air pollution and exposure assessment of the gulf cooperation council countries: A critical review.

Indoor air pollution is one of the human health threat problems in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. In these countries, due to unfavorable meteorological conditions, such as elevated ambient temperature, high relative humidity, and natural events such as dust storms, people spend a substantial amount of their time in indoor environments. In addition, production of physical and biological aerosols from air conditioners, cooking activities, burning of Arabian incense, and overcrowding due to pilgrimage programs are common causes of low quality indoor air in this region. Thus, due to infiltration of outdoor sources as well as various indoor sources, people living in the GCC countries are highly exposed to indoor air pollutants. Inhalation of indoor air pollutants causes mortalities and morbidities attributed to cardiorespiratory, pulmonary, and lung cancer diseases. Hence, the aim of this review study is to provide a summary of the major findings of indoor air pollution studies in different microenvironments in six GCC countries. These include characterization of detected indoor air pollutants, exposure concentration levels, source identifications, sustainable building designs and ventilation systems, and the mitigation strategies. To do so, >130 relevant indoor air pollution studies across the GCC countries were critically reviewed. Particulate matters (PM10 and PM2.5), total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and heavy metals were identified as the reported indoor air pollutants. Apart from them, indoor Radon and bioaerosols were studied only in specific GCC countries. Thus, future studies should also focus on the investigation of emerging indoor air pollutants, such as ultrafine and nanoparticles and their associated health effects. Furthermore, studies on the mitigation of indoor air pollution through the development of advanced air purification and ventilation systems could improve the indoor air quality (IAQ) in the GCC region.

Dispersion and deposition estimation of fugitive iron particles from an iron industry on nearby communities via AERMOD.

Emission of fugitive iron particles from anthropogenic sources can have significant effects on the human health and the environment. In this study, a regulatory air pollutant dispersion model (AERMOD) was implemented to predict the dispersion and deposition of fugitive iron particles towards a mid-sized residential area in Sultanate of Oman. The performance of the model was validated using air, soil, and dust fall samples. PM10 was found as the most abundant iron particles in the soil samples. The results showed that the maximum daily concentration level of fugitive iron particles simulated through AERMOD was 7.19 µg/m3. Statistical analysis, including fractional bias (FB), normalized mean square error (NMSE), and predicted/observed ratio (Pred./Obs.), showed a reliable agreement in accuracy and precision between the datasets (for air samples FB = 0.024, NMSE = 0.001, Pred./Obs. = 0.976; for dust fall samples FB = -0.004, NMSE = 0.000, Pred./Obs. = 1.004). However, uncertainties and differences were from the external sources, such as other industries in the region. The results presented that the concentration levels were below the national and international guidelines proposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and Omani Ambient Air Quality Standards (OAAQS). The methodology followed and the developed dispersion model can be generalized to other industries from which the dispersion of fugitive metal particles need to be evaluated as a potential route for human exposure. Graphical abstract ᅟ.