Environmental impacts assessment study on residential-industrial suburban community of Rome, Italy

Valle Galeria, a 8x5 km Roman suburb, with a population of about 30,000 residents, is host to a 4.3 million tonnes/year refinery, a 5,500 tonnes/day municipal waste dump site, an asphalt production plant and an incinerator for hospital and industrial wastes. To assist community planners in their decision making relative to the proposed construction of a refuse derived power plant, a new incinerator complex and a turbogas electric power station, ENEA (Italian Agency for New Technology, Energy and the Environment) performed a study to characterize the community's current environmental quality, in particular, its air quality. In addition to the effects caused by present industrial activities, the local natural environment has already suffered negative effects in the past due to the presence of numerous quarries. This paper tables the study's results concerning air pollution concentration levels and sources of air pollution