Assessing the impact of population growth on air quality in Kampala District

Abstract

Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) is a result of land cover changes an important statistic used to communicate air quality . As and industrial growth, air pollution, has had increasing serious and wide spread impacts on the natural environment and human society . Air pollution is linked to several illnesses such as respiratory infections, lung cancer, poor birth outcomes and diseases of the heart and blood vessels which all significantly contribute to deaths. Therefore, this study set out to assess how population a ffect the air quality in Kampala district UBOS data was used in the analysis of population. . During the study Aerosol distribution mapping was then done to determine AOT estimates at different study epochs. Landsat images (Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI) from 1995 to 201 9 were used in carrying out the analysis. The population is examined at parish level using selected points, these selected points were compared to the respective AOT val u es in the same year (2014). increase in population The results also showed tha was the major cause of the steady increase of aerosols in the study area From the results of the research, the study recommends that Int . situ measurements of air pollution indicators such as PM2.5 should be taken regularly for exam ple per year. This will make possible the generation of algorithms that can relate satellite derived AOT to ground measurements of pollution indicators.