Modelling dispersion of pollutants with a simple software - it is a practical approach

One of the most important assessment in EIA studies of incineration facilities is how a pollutant disperses downwind from a source. A range of solutions exist for this problem, but the question is whether for practical engineering purpose one needs an advanced model to predict accurately enough.
A recently developed Gaussian dispersion model, with its known limitations, was used for long-term prediction of pollutant concentrations downwind from a process emission. This was performed by using building blocks of 1 hour wind magnitude and direction data, day solar insolation and night cloud cover data and process emission data. The predicted results have been compared with results from a SCREEN (a commercially available software) modelling exercise and with UK urban area air quality data. The comparisons were very reasonable and show
that a simple modelling approach may be justified for some practical engineering problems.