Characterization of Ambient Air Quality in Selected Urban Areas in Uganda A Low-Cost Approach
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Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Environmental Science & Technology
Abstract
Many cities and urban centers around the world experience
high air pollution episodes attributable to increased
anthropogenic alterations of natural environmental systems.
World Health Organization estimates indicate strong
exceedances of prescribed limits in developing countries.
However, the evidence on local pollution measures is limited
for such cities and Uganda is no exception. Informed
by the practical realities of air quality monitoring, this paper
employs a low-cost approach using passive and active monitors
to obtain characterization of pollution levels based on
particulate matter 2.5, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone over a
six-month period (starting in December 2018) for selected
urban centers in three of the four macro-regions in Uganda.
This is the first attempt to comprehensively assess pollution
levels at a near-national level in Uganda. A combination
of distributed stationary monitors and mobile monitors
installed on motorcycle taxis (boda-boda) was employed in
selected parishes to obtain spatiotemporal variations in the
pollutant concentrations. The results suggest that seasonal
particulate levels heavily depend on precipitation patterns
with a strong inverse relation, which further corroborates
the need for longer monitoring periods to reflect actual
seasonal variations. Informed by the observed level of data
completeness and quality in all the monitoring scenarios,
the paper highlights the practicability and potential of a
low-cost approach to air quality monitoring and the potential
to use this information to inform citizens.
Description
Keywords
Urban Air Pollution Uganda, Low-cost Air Quality Monitoring in Uganda, Mobile air pollution monitoring, Spatiotemporal Variations
Citation
Okure, D., Ssematimba, J., Sserunjogi, R., Gracia, N. L., Soppelsa, M. E., & Bainomugisha, E. (2022). Characterization of ambient air quality in selected urban areas in uganda using low-cost sensing and measurement technologies. Environmental Science & Technology, 56(6), 3324-3339.