# Attribution of Health Hazards to Sources of Air Pollution Based on Networks of Sensors and Emission Inventories

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple method to estimate health risks from air pollution sources using sensor data and emission inventories, showing that domestic heating is a major health hazard in Poland.

## Contribution

A novel, cost-effective method to apportion health hazards from air pollution sources using sensor data and emission inventories.

## Key findings

- Domestic heating is a prominent health hazard in Poland.
- The method provides policymakers with clear comparisons of hazards from different pollution sources.
- The scheme is flexible, easy to apply, and highlights efficient interventions.

## Abstract

What are the main findings?
Contributions of air pollution sources to health hazards can be estimated from databases of emissions.A simple analysis scheme based on these data confirmed that domestic heating was a prominent health hazard in Poland, which was also indicated by other analyses.

Contributions of air pollution sources to health hazards can be estimated from databases of emissions.

A simple analysis scheme based on these data confirmed that domestic heating was a prominent health hazard in Poland, which was also indicated by other analyses.

What is the implication of the main finding?
Policymakers can be easily provided with adequate information on comparing hazards from particular sources of air pollution.

Policymakers can be easily provided with adequate information on comparing hazards from particular sources of air pollution.

Air pollution is monitored worldwide through networks of sensors. They provide information on local air pollution, which also provides a basis for a multitude of research. To reduce health hazards caused by air pollution, the concentrations of pollutants as measured by sensors need to be apportioned to particular sources. Although several methods to achieve this have been developed, only a few works on the contributions of pollution sources to health hazards are available in the literature. In this work, a simple scheme is proposed to compare health hazards from each of the main sources of air pollution in a given country, region, or area. The comparison involves the main air pollutants of PM2.5, NO2, and O3 for chronic exposures and PM2.5, NO2, O3, and SO2 for acute exposures. The actual health hazard from each substance is determined from concentrations measured by sensors and the concentration–response functions found in the literature. The apportionment of substances to sources is based on emission inventories, thus avoiding costly methods of source apportionment. This method has been applied to the entire country, i.e., Poland, yielding the average proportion of health hazards from particular sources. The example demonstrates the flexibility and ease of application of the scheme. Uncertainties in the results were subjected to discussion. The key advantage of the scheme lies in its ability to provide an indication of the most harmful sources of pollution, thus highlighting efficient interventions.