Dust Events and Indoor Air Quality in Residential Homes in Kuwait

Yufei Yuan, Barrak Alahmad, Choong-Min Kang, Fhaid Al-Marri, Venkateswarlu Kommula, Walid Bouhamra and Petros Koutrakis
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Yufei Yuan: Environmental Health Department, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Barrak Alahmad: Environmental Health Department, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Choong-Min Kang: Environmental Health Department, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Fhaid Al-Marri: Environmental Lab, Hawalli, Al-Rehab Complex, 36141 Kuwait City, Kuwait
Venkateswarlu Kommula: Environmental Lab, Hawalli, Al-Rehab Complex, 36141 Kuwait City, Kuwait
Walid Bouhamra: President, Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST), 32093 Kuwait City, Kuwait
Petros Koutrakis: Environmental Health Department, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02215, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: Kuwait is a developed Middle Eastern country that is impacted by frequent dust storms from regional and/or remote deserts. The effectiveness of keeping homes tightly closed during these events to reduce dust exposures was assessed using indoor and outdoor particle samples at 10 residences within the metropolitan Kuwait City area. Specifically, this study compared indoor and outdoor levels of black carbon and 19 trace elements (Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Sr, and Zr) during dust and non-dust events and found that particle penetration efficiencies were lower during dust storm events (less than 20–30%) than during non-dust storm events (40–60%). Coarse particles had lower penetration efficiency compared to fine particles, which is due to differences in infiltration rates and settling velocities between these two size fractions. Our findings suggest that increasing home insulation could be an effective strategy to reduce indoor exposure to crustal particles from dust storm events in residential houses of Kuwait City.

Keywords: indoor air quality; Kuwait; particle penetration; dust storms; exposure assessment; indoor to outdoor ratio (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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