Modelling environmental impacts over urban areas and facilities

The Portuguese government has conceived a nationwide plan for the co-incineration of hazardous industrial waste at two existing cement plants located near the cities of Coimbra and Setúbal. This has been a problem of great concern for the populations of both cities, who have demonstrated strong opposition to the incineration of hazardous substances so close to the aforementioned urban centres. This paper describes a study that was carried out to evaluate possible environmental impacts on the city of Coimbra in particular and some of its urban facilities. A computerised environmental impact modelling approach for atmospheric dispersion, using a Gaussian model and its linkage to a geographical information system, was implemented. Using actual physical information, such as the direction and speed of more frequent winds, this study showed how the accidental emission of pollutants into the atmosphere by the cement plant at the north of Coimbra would affect some particularly sensitive urban facilities (e.g. hospital units and pre-primary schools) and all the inhabited area between the cement plant and the city centre. The regional health authority has requested the results obtained to design a plan of ambient monitoring.