Spatiotemporal Assessment of PM2.5 Exposure of a High-risk Occupational Group in a Southeast Asian Megacity

Jarl Tynan Collado; Jose Gabriel Abalos; Imee de los Reyes; Melliza T. Cruz; Gabrielle Frances Leung; Katrina Abenojar; Carlos Rosauro  Manalo; Bernell Go; Christine L. Chan; Charlotte Kendra Gotangco Gonzales; James Bernard B. Simpas; Emma E. Porio; John Q. Wong; Shih-Chun Candice Lung; Maria Obiminda L. Cambaliza

doi:10.4209/aaqr.220134

Spatiotemporal Assessment of PM2.5 Exposure of a High-risk Occupational Group in a Southeast Asian Megacity

Special Issue on Air Pollution and its Impact in South and Southeast Asia (IX)

Jarl Tynan Collado This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.¹, Jose Gabriel Abalos¹, Imee de los Reyes², Melliza T. Cruz¹, Gabrielle Frances Leung¹, Katrina Abenojar³, Carlos Rosauro Manalo³, Bernell Go⁵, Christine L. Chan¹, Charlotte Kendra Gotangco Gonzales^3,4, James Bernard B. Simpas^1,2, Emma E. Porio⁶, John Q. Wong⁷, Shih-Chun Candice Lung⁸, Maria Obiminda L. Cambaliza This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.^1,2

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¹Manila Observatory, Quezon City 1108, Philippines
²Department of Physics, School of Science and Engineering, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City 1108, Philippines
³Department of Environmental Science, School of Science and Engineering, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City 1108, Philippines
⁴Ateneo Institute of Sustainability, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City 1108, Philippines
⁵EpiMetrics Inc., Makati, 1209 Metro Manila, Philippines
⁶Department of Sociology and Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City 1108, Philippines
⁷Health Sciences Program, School of Science and Engineering, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City 1108, Philippines
⁸Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan

Received: March 16, 2022
Revised: December 12, 2022
Accepted: December 12, 2022

Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.220134

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Cite this article:

Collado, J.T., Abalos, J.G., de los Reyes, I., Cruz, M.T., Leung, G.F., Abenojar, K., Manalo, C.R., Go, B., Chan, C.L., Gonzales, C.K.G., Simpas, J.B.B., Porio, E.E., Wong, J.Q., Lung, S.C.C., Cambaliza, M.O.L. (2023). Spatiotemporal Assessment of PM_2.5 Exposure of a High-risk Occupational Group in a Southeast Asian Megacity. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 23, 220134. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.220134

HIGHLIGHTS

Personal exposure of Metro Manila jeepney drivers to PM_2.5 was quantified.
The mean PM_2.5 is 36.4 µg m^–³, but exposures at hotspots registered over 90 µg m^–³.
Identified hotspots are tied to traffic and anthropogenic activities.
Section near a shopping mall had consistently high PM_2.5 concentrations.

ABSTRACT

Drivers of open-air public utility jeepneys (PUJs) in the Philippines are regularly exposed to severe levels of fine particulate pollution (PM_2.5), making them the appropriate sub-population for investigating the health impacts of PM_2.5 on populations chronically exposed to these kinds of unique sources. Real-time PM_2.5 exposures of PUJ drivers for a high-traffic route in Metro Manila, Philippines were assessed using Academia Sinica-LUNG (AS_LUNG) portable sensing devices. From all 15-second measurements obtained, the mean concentration of PM_2.5 is 36.4 µg m^–3, seven times greater than the mean annual guideline value (5.0 µg m^–3) set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Elevated levels of PM_2.5 were observed at key transportation microenvironments (TMEs) such as a transport terminal and near a shopping mall. The occurrence of hotspots along the route is mainly attributed to traffic-promoting factors like stoplights and traffic rush hours. Multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis revealed that the area by the shopping mall had the highest contribution (β = 52 µg m^–3) to PUJ driver exposure. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first in the country to perform a detailed characterization of the exposure of a high-risk occupational group to PM_2.5. These results reveal information that is normally undetected by fixed site monitoring (FSM), underscoring the importance of mobile measurements as a complement to FSM in assessing the exposure of urban populations to air pollution more extensively. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the heavy influence of traffic-promoting factors on air pollution, and the feasibility of high-resolution mobile sensing for quantifying pollution characteristics in rapidly developing nations with unique air pollution sources. Gaps in our knowledge of their health impacts may be closed through quantifying exposure using reliable sensing devices and methods presented in this work.