Smart monitoring of benzene through an urban mobile phone network

Benzene is one of the main air pollutants because of its dispersion throughout the territory and its carcinogenicity. Thus, in accordance with the current European Directive 2008/50/EC, benzene is monitored punctually in EU countries. In this context, the University of Trento and Telecom Italia, in response to specific studies, have developed an approach that could be conceptually divided into two phases: (A) the first one assumes the distribution of low-cost sensors to a part of the local population for the monitoring of carbon monoxide that, in this case, could be used for its indirect role of tracer. These sensors, compatible with smartphones and therefore with the network, allow acquiring remotely a huge amount of data that could be used to create detailed maps of air quality after a process of validation/selection (based on algorithms already developed by Telecom). (B) The second phase is based on the fact that the correlation between carbon monoxide and benzene is scientifically proven in homogeneous areas; thus, through an ad hoc study, it is possible to set a specific correlation carbon monoxide - benzene for each pre-selected area. The result of this method is quantitative information on exposure of the resident population to benzene with a detail not reachable through conventional approaches and suitable for an enhanced activity of decision makers. For a full scale exploitation, this approach requires an economic effort achievable only with external financing as, presently, the official monitoring activity allows only conventional actions.