Guidance and Tools for Integrated Assessments and their Application

Although single enhancements in methodologies regarding health (impact) assessment deserve high merit, the coherence and integration of those developments are of great importance, too. A Guidance System, developed in INTARESE, aims at providing a fundamental knowledge base and (specific) guidance to different user groups like assessors, policy makers and students. The information is provided in a structured and clearly arranged way. Methodologies are explained and put into context, describing their purpose, relevance, advantages and constraints. A complementing Resource Centre provides information on resources needed to perform an integrated assessment including fact sheets on data and models and a core data set. Some tools, like a health impact calculation tool and discussion and collaborative functionalities are also incorporated. In HEIMTSA, the system is expanded by including selected models and data for integrated assessment on a European scale including emission scenarios, dispersion models, exposure models and models for monetary valuation, within a tighter framework encompassing over-arching issues such as spatial integration and uncertainty handling. Integrated assessments will be conducted by applying a multi-pollutant, multi-pathway and multi-media approach, also taking into account other stressors like noise. Different scales and μ-environments will be considered during exposure modelling. Example case-studies will include outdoor and indoor air pollution, noise and pollutants with strong internal dose aspects, including multiple-pathways. A preliminary example using tools for a European-wide integrated assessment was undertaken about the health impacts of heavy metal emissions. In addition to the improvement on the emission data calculation and spatial distribution, the external costs for exposure via inhalation and ingestion to As, Pb, Cd, Cr and Ni were estimated for a Business As Usual and a Maximum Feasible Technical Reduction Scenario in 2010. The overall damage costs were given per country and as country specific costs per t of heavy metal released.