Humanity is facing many problems as a result of air pollution such as acid rain, cancer, kidney and lungs problem, infections, decline of agricultural production etc.
During the first part of the 20th century, due to the dramatically increasing emission of air pollutants at the same time, in the absence of environmental protection technologies, several acute air pollution episodes were formed in some countries. One of the first air pollution disasters is occurred in a heavily industrialised area of Belgium. In December 1930, during the Meuse Valley fog event, the stable atmospheric conditions and industrial pollution from steel mills, coke ovens, foundries, and smelters contributed to the significant accumulation of air pollutants including sulphur dioxide (SO2) sulphuric acid, and fluoride gases. Due to this extremely polluted air, more than 60 people died (Nemery et al., 2001). Similarly, the stable atmospheric stratification and the strong pollution from intensive industrial activity and coal-fired home led to extreme air pollution episode in Donora (United States) between 27 October and 30 October 1948. Due to this event, in the town with a population of 14000, 20 deaths, 400 hospitalizations and about 6000 respiratory symptoms were reported (Helfand et al., 2001). The London “Great Killer Fog” event in December 1952 was a consequence of the combination of coal burning during residential heating and industrial production and the unfavourable weather situation. This lethal fog in London resulted in about 3000 more deaths than normal during the first 3 weeks of December 1952, and based on the estimations, about 12000 excess deaths occurred from December 1952 and February 1953 (Bell and Davis, 2001).
Another harmful effect of increased emission of air pollutants was also recognized in the 20th century. The term “acid rain” was already introduced in 1872 by Robert Angus Smith, an English scientist, who experienced that acidic precipitation could damage plants and materials. However, acid rain was considered as a serious environmental problem only in the 1970s, when scientists observed the increase in acidity of some lakes and streams. At the same time, it became clear that the effects of air pollutants could be occurred far from the emission sources due to their long-range transport in the atmosphere.
In the last few decades, due to the emission reduction strategies and legislation, and at the same time the decline in industrial production, air quality has improved in several countries. Even so, air pollution and its effects on the environment are still severe environmental problems, particularly as some pollutants may even have long-term effects. Moreover, in some other parts of the world (especially in rapidly developing Asian countries), the situation becomes more severe due the dramatic increases in emission (Figure 13.1). Therefore, continuous monitoring of air quality by measurements and model simulations are essential.
In this chapter, we present some aspects about the effect of air pollution on the environment and the human health.