ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 128
and for transportation, industrial activities, waste management, agriculture and natural disasters
(EEA 2013).
Sari and Bayram (2014) conducted a study in İzmir and they found that the concentration of different pollutants in the cities depend on the meteorology, topography and the pollutants source.
One of the sources that emit significant amount of pollutants is domestic heating. The pollutants
from this source mainly increased due to the increasing of population and households. Thus, it
can be found only in winter. Moreover, the study shows that the most polluted region from the
domestic heating in İzmir is the central district (konak). It has approximately 18% of 10 kt SO2 and
5 kt PM10.
The intensive use of coal for domestic heating in the areas increases the amount of CO, PM10 and
SO2 in the air. As a result, they started to use the high quality coal which has less ash and sulphur
while the eastern part of the city is less exposed to the pollutants due to the wind direction and
less population.
Social Impact of Air Pollution and GHG Emissions:
Altug et al. (2014) stated that a lot of pollutants can cause several problems for the human’s respiratory tract (chronic bronchitis and asthma). Thus, it stated by Likhvar et al. (2015), that it causes
mortality due to the cardiovascular diseases. GHG emissions cause also a negative impact for
human health. There are major air pollutants that emit from the source mentioned above which
affect the social comfort and threaten their health which are:
• Ammonia (NH3): Mainly emit from agriculture and can be formed for secondary pollutant. It
cause irritation for different body parts and it’s sensitive for people who have asthma because
it makes difficulties in breathing.
• Sulfur Dioxide (SO2): Emitted from burning fuels for electricity production. It can produce secondary pollutants. It can cause a health problem (lung and respiratory system) and damage for
the forests and ecosystem in lakes.
• Carbon Monoxide (CO): Produced from incomplete combustion in transportation, industry,
business and household activities. Nervous system will be affected by this particle. Thus, it
cause fatigue and discomfort symptoms.
• Nitrogen Oxides (NOx): Transportation and industrial sectors are the main sources of NOx. It
contains the nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen monoxide and it can help to form ozone. It affects
the lung, liver, spleen function, respiratory system and it causes acid deposition.
• Non Methane Volatile Organic Compound (NMVOC): Emitted from cleaning products, paints,
transport and solvent uses. Some vegetation can produce biogenic NMVOC but the amounts
rely on the species and the temperature. It harms the human health and can be precursors of
ground- level ozone.
Water Resources Pollution
Lakes pollution can occur due to the industrial waste, agricultural activities, urban activities and
mining of metals. This can affect the aquatic life in negative way and damage the ecosystem. This
can be undertaken especially when the concentration of the heavy metal reach the toxic level
in the water (Guven et al. 1999 cited in Karadede and Unlu 2000). Thus, debris (any manufacture
solid waste that entering the waterways from any source) in marine and waterways have a high
impact in water pollution. Bosporus straits in Turkey are exposed to pollution due to the shipping
traffic accidents which cause severe environmental problems. Thus, it’s threatening the health of
12 million residents that live around it.
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ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy