Study of lead concentration in the air of Tehran municipality district one in 2008

Subject Areas : environmental management

Reza Sarrafpoor ¹ , Shokrollah Mohammadi ² , Firooz Vallipour ³ , Farzad Rouzbahani ⁴

1 - Faculty of Health, Baghiatallah University of Medical Sciences
2 - Specialist in Infectious Diseases, Milad Subspecialty Hospital
3 - Faculty of Health, Tarbiat Modarres University
4 - Faculty of Health, Baghiatallah University of Medical Sciences

Received: 2009-04-19 Accepted : 2009-07-08 Published : 2009-09-23

Keywords: Lead, Tehran, sampling, temperature, distance,

Abstract :

Lead is one of the heavy metals with a bluish grey color, an atomic number of 82, an atomic mass of 207.19, a spouting point of 1740, and a melting point of 327.43. Lead plays an important role in battery and military industries, making alloys, fuel additives, etc. Lead consumption in the world will reach 9 million tons by the year 2010. This is a cross-sectional study in Tehran municipality district one. In this study, 32 air samples were collected during 105 days from 4 February to 19 May 2008. An S2 Low Volume Sampler pump and a fiberglass filter with a porosity of 3 Micron were used. The filters were analyzed with Spect AA220 atomic absorption apparatus. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software and then compared with the EPA standard rates.  The results of the study show that the mean lead concentration in the air is 0.308 micrograms in m³   (the standard EPA is 1.5 micrograms in m³). The results also indicate a positive relationship between air temperature and concentration of lead (p< 0.05, r = 0.613). Moreover, there is a significant difference between mean lead concentration and the distance of stations (p< 0.05, ANOVA = 0.045). It can be concluded that some important variables such as air temperature, distance of stations, and pollution of local industries are the potential factors of air pollution in Nobonyad Square, Tehran