Determining Air Quality in Brgy. Pinamucan Ibaba, Batangas City in Relation to the Residents' Health

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Air pollution is one of the biggest problems that confront many countries including the Philippines today. It is a problem because invasive pollutants like particulate matter (PM) when concentrated in one place or another is hazardous to the health of its inhabitants. Therefore, it is only practical for concerned researchers to determine the air quality which is defined in the herein study as PM of any particular area in the country especially if it is hosting industrial companies that operate power plants. in this study, the researchers focused on identifying the concentration of PM in Brgy. Pinamucan Ibaba, Batangas City populated by at least 1600 people and currently hosting JG Summit Petrochemical Corporation which is a coal-fired power plant that manufactures polyolefins or plastic products.

METHODS

A low-cost air quality sensors were used. Adopting the procedure from the study of Kuznetsov et al. (2014), the researchers installed the sensors 2 meters atop from the roof of houses far from trees in seven (7) sitios of the barangay namely, Arce, Soriano, Malaya 1, Malaya 2, Malaya 3, Babasa and Casao. The experiment was conducted for 24 hours for three (3) Saturdays of October 2018. ANOVA Test, Pearson R Coefficient Correlation, Chi-Square Test of Independence were used in the statistical treatment and analysis of data. The experiment was completed in one semester.

RESULTS

Definitive is the findings that PM2.5 which is greater in number than PM10 can place the health of the subject residents at high risk of contracting respiratory diseases considering that the aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 micrometers can penetrate deep inside the lungs of those who will be exposed to the said pollutant. The results gathered showed a significant difference of PM per square inch among the seven (7) sitios of Brgy. Pinamucan Ibaba, Batangas City taking into account the location and date when the data was collected.

DISCUSSIONS

The results reveal the need for infographic materials which should be posted strategically in seven (7) sites in order to inform the inhabitants of preventive measures that will keep themselves from overexposure to invasive PM. Successfullydetermined was the concentration of PM in subject sitios of the barangay. The installation process of the sensors will falter if mounted on roofs near the trees. The integrity of the capability of the sensors to trap PM was a constant factor in the success of the determination of the concentration or number of PM.