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Point source identification using a simple permutation test: a case study of elevated PCDD/F levels in ambient air and soil and their relation to the distance to a local municipal solid waste incinerator

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Abstract

A point source for environmental pollution may be identified by the spatial association of samples collected in the vicinity of the emission source. In this study, we used a simple permutation test to explore the spatial correlations between the ambient air and soil polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin/dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) congener profile concentrations and their distances to a municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) in northern Taiwan. Kendall’s τ was applied for the correlation between the PCDD/F concentrations of a total of 9 airborne and 12 soil sampling sites and their distances to the incinerator. The results showed that the correlation was highly negatively associated for soil PCDD/Fs (τ = −0.515, p-value = 0.011) and was marginal for airborne PCDD/Fs (τ = −0.667, p-value = 0.055), conditional on the seasonal wind attributions. For the 17 individual congener profiles, most of the air and soil samples had a negative association, with 7 and 10 reaching statistical significance (p-value < 0.05) or borderline significance (p-value < 0.10), respectively. The permutation test provides a simple and robust statistical method for the identification of a potential pollution source from a limited sample size. Our analytical results show that dioxin emissions from the investigated MSWI had a definite environmental impact on the surrounding area.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Science Council (NSC 94-2118-M-032-010) and the National Health Research Institutes (BS-096-PP-11) of Taiwan. The authors thank Mr. Jihshin Liu for help in computing and making the plots.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Taiwan

    Chu-Chih Chen

  2. Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, School of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Kuen-Yuh Wu

  3. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Cheng-Shiu University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Guo-Ping Chang-Chien

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  1. Chu-Chih Chen
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  2. Kuen-Yuh Wu
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  3. Guo-Ping Chang-Chien
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Correspondence to Chu-Chih Chen.

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Chen, CC., Wu, KY. & Chang-Chien, GP. Point source identification using a simple permutation test: a case study of elevated PCDD/F levels in ambient air and soil and their relation to the distance to a local municipal solid waste incinerator. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 25, 929–937 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-010-0449-1

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