Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MARCHES (Methodologies for Assessing the Real Costs to Health of Environmental Stressors)
Berichtszeitraum: 2023-01-01 bis 2024-06-30
The air we breathe and the water we drink provide essential life-support to humans and are critical to the opportunities for maintaining good health throughout a lifetime. Air pollution is currently considered the largest environmental burden in Europe causing about 350,000 premature deaths annually, according to the European Environment Agency. Drinking water quality is compromised in many parts of Europe from leaching of agricultural fertilizer nitrates, that may trigger cancers and perhaps birth defects from long-term exposures at low concentrations. The two air and water stressors are intricately interlinked via ammonia evaporation from fertilizers, interacting with sulfates and nitrates in the atmosphere, causing air pollution in terms of secondary particles.
The MARCHES project aims to advance the methodologies applied to account for the welfare economic health costs from these sources of pollution. Among the improvements to be obtained with MARCHES is a fuller inclusion of the morbidity costs incurred by chronic diseases associated with pollution. Reporting Period 1 focused on identifying the relevant health effects for which exposure-response functions are available, and for which economic valuation surveys will be implemented in the project.
The MARCHES project aims to advance the methodologies applied to account for the welfare economic health costs from these sources of pollution. Among the improvements to be obtained with MARCHES is a fuller inclusion of the morbidity costs incurred by chronic diseases associated with pollution. Reporting Period 1 focused on identifying the relevant health effects for which exposure-response functions are available, and for which economic valuation surveys will be implemented in the project.
The MARCHES project is basing its assessments on findings in systematic reviews of scientific literature on the specific health impacts of the pollutants in focus. There is robust evidence for the impacts from air pollution on a range of chronic diseases in the cardiopulmonary domain, some of which are leading to premature mortality. In recent years studies have pointed to further potential disease linkages. Among the new health impacts of interest, where the available evidence is scrutinized in MARCHES, are depression and inflammatory bowel disease as related to air pollution, and preterm birth and colorectal cancers as related to drinking water nitrates. For all the relevant health endpoints, exposure-response functions are derived to allow for statistical estimations of the associations between emissions and impacts. Reporting Period 1 had this effort as its top priority.
To obtain a high degree of accuracy in the analysis of health costs, exposure modeling with high spatial resolution is undertaken in MARCHES with state-of-the-art scientific atmospheric and hydro-geochemical modelling tools, that can capture the complexities of transport, dispersion and chemical transformation of the emissions. The MARCHES project relies on one of only nine high-resolution models in Europe that have qualified for inclusion in the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service model ensemble, the DEHM model (Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model). It further relies on the SWAT model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool), which has gained international recognition as an authoritative tool for modeling of the transport of water and nutrients at catchment scale. Application of these modelling tools allows for a better understanding of which sources, sectors and pollutants that are responsible for the greatest health burdens, and thus should be targeted with appropriate mitigation measures. Reporting Period 1 started preparing the modelling tools through data acquisition and coordination among partners on the assumptions applied.
To obtain a high degree of accuracy in the analysis of health costs, exposure modeling with high spatial resolution is undertaken in MARCHES with state-of-the-art scientific atmospheric and hydro-geochemical modelling tools, that can capture the complexities of transport, dispersion and chemical transformation of the emissions. The MARCHES project relies on one of only nine high-resolution models in Europe that have qualified for inclusion in the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service model ensemble, the DEHM model (Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model). It further relies on the SWAT model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool), which has gained international recognition as an authoritative tool for modeling of the transport of water and nutrients at catchment scale. Application of these modelling tools allows for a better understanding of which sources, sectors and pollutants that are responsible for the greatest health burdens, and thus should be targeted with appropriate mitigation measures. Reporting Period 1 started preparing the modelling tools through data acquisition and coordination among partners on the assumptions applied.
The methodologies of MARCHES are demonstrated in six regional case studies across Europe. In relation to air pollution, the case studies are focusing on Catalonia in Spain, Estonia, Kosovo and the Øresund region bridging southern Sweden and Denmark’s capital Copenhagen. In relation to nitrates in drinking water, the case studies are focusing on the Zelivka catchment of Czechia, from where water supply to the capital of Prague is sourced from surface water, and the Himmerland catchment of Denmark, where supply to the regional capital city of Aalborg is sourced from groundwater. These case studies aim to provide support to the relevant public authorities. Through a series of workshops in each region they and other stakeholders are providing information to the analyses undertaken in MARCHES on the selection of mitigation measures. While health costs from pollution in the past have been assessed during preparation of new legislation, their application for implementation purposes in a regional and local context in collaboration with jurisdictional authorities represents an innovation. During Reporting Period 1 a first round of consultation workshops with local and regional stakeholders were conducted in all six case regions, allowing the project to identify relevant mitigation measures for analysis.