Abstract

The particulate matter pollution, induced mainly by the domiciliary wood heating, vehicular traffic, and industrial activity, has become the main source of concern of urban air quality in cities of colder climates. The city of Temuco, 800 km to the south of Santiago, Chile, suffers from severe wood smoke particulate pollution events. It is estimated that 87% of PM 10 winter emissions originate from residential wood combustion. The relative risk estimations in Temuco were higher than those estimated in Santiago for respiratory mortality and for cardiovascular mortality. The main air pollution sources in Temuco are the residential wood stoves and wood cook stoves, while in Santiago are the diesel from mobile sources. The particles size distribution is different in Temuco and Santiago also. In winter season, the PM 2.5 presents a higher proportion of the total PM 10 in Temuco than in Santiago. These situations could explain the generation of higher toxicity over the exposed population in Temuco than that from Santiago, because finer particles penetrate more deeply in the respiratory system, even entering to the bloodstream and transported to other organs, where the PAH and other air toxics could cause toxic effects. Even though the study focused on PM 10, further analysis should be on PM 2.5 that has been demonstrated having worst effects on human heath. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 101st AWMA Annual Conference and Exhibition (Portland, OR 6/24-27/2008).