Human Health Risk Assessment and Action Plans for PM10 Pollution: a new integrated methodology for Campania Region (Italy)

Air pollution is a global issue with harmful effects on both human health and the environment. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution causes approximately 7 million premature deaths each year, primarily due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The study presents and discusses a project named ARIA (“Risk Analysis and Action Plans for PM10 Pollution in the Campania Region”). ARIA project addresses the critical issue of PM10 air pollution and its health impacts in the Campania Region (Southern Italy), a territory characterized by dense urbanization. Funded through a regional program in collaboration with MASE (Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security), the project aims to assess population exposure to PM10, estimate associated health risks, and develop evidence-based mitigation strategies. To this end, a novel integrated methodology has been developed to implement a multidisciplinary approach, integrating demographic vulnerability analysis, emission estimation, air dispersion modeling, and health risk assessment following WHO guidelines. Emissions from key sources, including industry, traffic, residential heating, and agriculture, have been spatially allocated using a 1 km² grid. The CALPUFF and CALINE models have been implemented for the simulation of pollutants dispersion, while in-field measurements supported model validation. Health risks was evaluated in terms of premature mortality and years of life lost (YOLL), based on population data, mortality rates, and estimated pollutant concentrations. The city of Salerno was selected as a pilot site for methodology validation.