An integrated quantitative approach for the assessment of human health risk in the Pace valley of Messina with the Ehhra-gis tool

Due to industrial and civil activities, large quantities of toxic and carcinogenic substances are released into environment and represent potential hazards for human health of exposed receptors. Actually law expected approaches are based on the definition of restrictive limits (threshold values) for several substances and, in some European State qualitative methodologies are proposed. Both the typologies of approaches have been shown to be inadequate to resolve environmental protection problems. This work shows an application of a quantitative risk analysis methodology using a tool, EHHRA-GIS, for the assessment of human health risk in the area of the valley of the Pace torrent situated in the north zone of the city of Messina (Italy). The pollution sources present in the area are: a Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator operating since 1979, a dismissed landfill of urban solid waste used for about 30 years, a platform of urban solid waste treatment which causes the presence of heavy vehicles, and two open pits for the production of bitumen. The land use of the studied area is predominately agricultural and residential excepted for the industrial sites. The applied models (AERMOD e GMS) for assessing the transport of pollutants in different environmental media have been able to consider the particular three-dimensional morphology of the area thus representing highly realistic simulations. The calculation of the total human health risk in the area is useful in order to reduce the emissions considered according to the application of the IPPC Directive and in order to give an significant support to public environmental managers.