Page 64 - Fundamentals of Air Pollution 3E

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Air Quality

The terms ambient air, ambient air pollution, ambient levels, ambient concentra-
tions, ambient air monitoring, ambient air quality, etc. occur frequently in air
pollution parlance. The intent is to distinguish pollution of the air outdoors
by transport and diffusion by wind (i.e., ambient air pollution) from contam-
ination of the air indoors by the same substances.
The air inside a factory building can be polluted by release of contami-
nants from industrial processes to the air of the workroom. This is a major
cause of occupational disease. Prevention and control of such contamination
are part of the practice of industrial hygiene. To prevent exposure of workers
to such contamination, industrial hygienists use industrial ventilation sys-
tems that remove the contaminated air from the workroom and discharge
it, either with or without treatment to remove the contaminants, to the
ambient air outside the factory building.
The air inside a home, office, or public building is the subject of much
interest and is referred to as indoor air pollution or indoor air quality (see
Chapter 23). These interior spaces may be contaminated by such sources
as fuel-fired cooking or space-heating ranges, ovens, or stoves that dis-
charge their combustion products to the room; by solvents evaporated
from inks, paints, adhesives, cleaners, or other products; by formaldehyde,
radon, and other products emanating from building materials; and by other
pollutant sources indoors (1). If some of these sources exist inside a building,

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