Air Pollution and Lung Capacity of People Living around the Cement Industry

Backgrounds: A cement industry is one of anthropogenic sources of air pollution. In polluting the air, the industry creates some dust particles, nitrogen oxide (NO 2 ), sulfur oxide (SO 2 ), and carbon monoxide (CO). Research Purpose: The research aims at finding out the ambient air quality around a cement industry and relating it with the lung capacity of people living around the area. Methodology: This research uses cross sectional studies by measuring the ambient air quality in the morning, noon, and evening in four different settlements within 3 km from the cement industry. The measurement is then correlated with the FEV1 and FVC of lung capacity of people living around the area. Result: Of all four locations, three have ambient air quality (PM 2.5 = 109.47 µg/Nm 3 , TSP = 454.7 µg/Nm 3) that surpass the quality standard (PM 2.5 = 65 µg/Nm 3 , TSP = 230 µg/Nm 3 ). Of 241 respondents, the average level of FVC and FEV1 is respectively 1.9352 liter (SD: 0.45578) and 1.7486 liter (SD: 0.43874). Furthermore, the level of PM 2.5 in the morning and at noon is respectively p=0.009 and p=0.003; the level of TSP in the morning and at noon is respectively p=0.003 and p=0.01; the level of NO 2 in the morning is p=0.006; the level of SO 2 in the morning, at noon and in the evening is respectively p=0.000, p=0.022, and p=0.000; and the level of CO in the morning, at noon and in the evening is respectively p=0.003, p=0.015, and p=0.024. Those levels are associated with the level of respondents’ FEV1. Moreover, the level of TSP in the morning is p=0.024; the level of SO 2 in the morning and in the evening is p=0.007. These levels relate to the level of respondents’ FVC. Keywords: FVC, FEV1, CO, NO 2 , SO 2 , TSP, PM 2.5 , cement industry.