Tehran To Host Air, Noise Pollution Confab

Tehran, Nov 1, IRNA - The 3rd National Conference on Air and Noise Pollution Management will be held in Tehran from January 14 to 15. The conference, also known as AQM2015, will be organized by Tehran Municipality (through its affiliate Air Quality Control Co. or AQCC), and Sharif University of Technology’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, Fuel, Combustion and Emission (FCE), according to Saturday's edition of 'Iran Daily'. Dr. Nino Künzli, the deputy director of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Switzerland, will attend the event. About eight megacities in Iran suffer greatly from local air pollution. Ahvaz in southwest Iran was named in 2010 by WHO as the most polluted city due to the annual average PM10 concentration caused by trans-boundary dust. Arak at the center of the country is also heavily polluted by various industrial sources, including aluminum plants. Tehran also suffers from air pollution. During winter, a long period of thermal inversion causes long-lasting polluted days that trigger measures like forced holiday in offices and schools, as well as alternate traffic entry for cars. Limited availability of scientific tools such as air pollution dispersion models, forecasting tools and emission inventories; unknown chemical and physical properties of pollutants such as fine particles, health effects and exposure studies caused the introduction of AQM2013 for the first time. Since then, the conference is being organized to facilitate further understating of air pollution in megacities. About 100 lectures and posters will be presented at the event. Air quality monitoring and measurement, urban indoor air quality, air pollution modeling and forecasting, emission of stationary and mobile sources, mitigating measures, particles and dust, risk assessment, exposure and health studies, air pollution effects (economic, social, cultural), regional and trans-boundary studies and noise pollution will be discussed during the conference./end