Spatial and temporal modelling of bioaerosols from intensive agricultural facilities in England

Transcription

1 Presentation by Dr Ben Williams Air Quality Management Resource Centre Spatial and temporal modelling of bioaerosols from intensive agricultural facilities in England Date: 10/07/17 Dr Ben Williams Research Associate: Air Quality Management Resource Centre Member: WHO collaborating centre for Healthy Urban Environments International Scientific Advisory Committee for WIT Air Pollution conference

2 The Air Quality Management Resource Centre Operate at the interface between science and policy 8 team members Based in Bristol, UK

3 Why should we care about air quality? Air pollution is the world s single largest environmental health risk. 7 million premature deaths one in eight total global deaths annually linked to air pollution (WHO, 2014). WHO estimates there were 3.7 million deaths in 2012 from urban and rural (outdoor) sources worldwide. Outdoor air pollution-caused deaths breakdown by disease: o 40% ischaemic heart disease; o 40% stroke; o 11% chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); o 6% lung cancer; and o 3% acute lower respiratory infections in children.

4 Why should we care about bioaerosols? Bioaerosols, typically comprised of bacteria, fungi, and their components, are airborne microorganisms, released naturally into the air from the degradation of organic matter Bioaerosols can be released from sewage plants during pre-treatment and from composting facilities during turning, screening and shredding activities. Some bioaerosols are known to have adverse health effects, particularly for the immunecompromised. Brucellosis, Q Fever and Rift Valley fever are amongst the most well-known and are caused by exposure to Brucella spp, Coxiella burnettii and Phlebovirus respectively.

5 Composting in the UK 217 open wind-row composting facilities in the UK. significant increase in the rate of recycled and composted waste since Waste Framework Directive, 2008/96/EC, Requires Member States to recycle 50% of their household waste by Recycling rates for the UK as a whole are at 40.4%. The 2008/96/EC target specifically for biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill is 35% of a Nation s 1997 baseline In the UK s case this is equivalent to a reduction from the baseline of 21,460 Ktonnes, to 7511 Ktonnes.

6 Regulatory science challenges Identifying the most potent bioaerosol emission sources Quantifying the effectiveness of emission control measures Determining safe distances between facilities and sensitive receptors Confidence in dispersion modelling to simulate exposures Placing waste and agricultural exposures into the context of exposure from other sources; Quantifying health risk and setting health-based standards

7 Environment Agency regulatory position Risk-based approach Higher scrutiny of sites with sensitive receptors within 250 m of composting operations and sites handling more waste Bioaerosol monitoring built into operating permits where needed Requirement for sites to maintain bioaerosol concentrations no higher than specified acceptable levels at sensitive receptors

8 Detection and Characterisation of Inflammatory Agents Associated with Bioaerosol Emitted from Biowaste and Intensive Agriculture (Endotox II)

9 Bioaerosol modelling with ADMS Model widely used by regulators to assess traffic emissions and dispersion patterns Local dispersion modelled, i.e. not global distribution Very user friendly interface The primary challenges and uncertainties associated with bioaerosol monitoring, are as a result of difficulty in deriving source term data from different site based operations. According to CERC the primary limitations relate to source definition, meteorology, emission rates, particle size and general model performance This project aims to address this

10 Site Layout

11 Met Data Meteorological data are available from the British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC), the Natural Environment Research Council s (NERC) Designated Data Centre for the Atmospheric Sciences through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis

12 Spectral Intensity Bioaerosol Sensor (SIBS) scattered light sensor (avalanche photodiode) sample jet Xe2 (370) diode laser (735 nm) Xe1 (280) fluorescent emissions sensor (16 channel photomultiplier tube) dichroic filter Hernandez et al Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, , 2016

13 IOM

14 Andersen impactor 8 Stage Non-Viable Andersen Cascade Impactor used to size fractionate endotoxin Samples collected under laboratory conditions micro-organisms are collected onto either nutrient agar or tryptone soya agar (TSA) and malt extract agar (MEA)

15 Some initial results SIBS

16 Some initial results - Andersen

17 Metagenomics

18 Updating the data and closing the modelling gaps Model data gaps Bioaerosol composition Emission rates Particle size Time varying emissions Model validation IOM x x x Coriolis x Multi stage Andersen x x x Osiris x x x x SIBS x x x x x

19 Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) [NE/M011631/1]. The award is made under the auspices of the Environmental Microbiology and Human Health programme. This work represents the views of the researchers, and not the views of the funders.

20 Thank you! Any questions?