Abstract

1
Abstract Introduction This preliminary study on
air quality testing was carried out on the
western edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Reservation. (See figure 1) It was of personal
interest to me to see what equipment and results
would be necessary to find out how healthy or
unhealthy the air we breathe everyday is. There
was concern that the fine parts of the tailings
from the abandoned Uranium mines in western South
Dakota could become airborne and carried to the
reservation by westerly winds. Such a study to
my knowledge has not been done. Methods and
Data Collection We chose 3 locations with the
first site being on the North Dakota side of the
reservation and the other two sites on the South
Dakota side of the reservation. All three sites
were on the western margin of the Standing Rock
Sioux reservation. (See figure 1) We tried to
select sites with high elevations, ridges and
buttes. We estimated wind velocity and
direction. We collected samples as high up as we
could to get away form roads, ranches and farm
dust. Also, any highways or gravel roads with
high volumes of traffic. We selected areas with
grasslands or undisturbed soil. Garmin etrex
geographical information system, global
positioning satellite. Geiger (scintillometer)
counter- radioactivity levels Casella microdust
pro- Aerosol monitoring system Initial
calibration 1112 A.M. 17 November 2005 Purged
probe and set to zero Inserted calibration
filter 167.0 mg/m³ and set upper calibration
limit to 167.0 mg/m³. Calibrated vortex pump in
environmental chamber w/ dry cal or
dc-lite Calibration date 23 May 2005 valid until
23 May 2006 Data and Results This study is an
initial survey data is not valid because this
equipment is not suited for determining
particulates outdoors. It is suited for indoor
air quality testing. This study is not
representative because the equipment collects
2.5 L/min. as opposed to other equipment that
collects at 300 L/min. We are only taking 1
measurement for approximately 30 minutes at a
certain wind direction wind speed as opposed to
24 hour monitoring with many different wind
directions, speeds and times of the year. We
observed wind directions from the SSW, WSW and an
N direction, wind speeds also varied with
readings of 25, 22 and 20 mph (wind directions
and speeds respectively with sites 1, 2 and 3).
High mountains and an approaching weather system
affected these same readings. Filter weights
could not be analytically balanced, a scale that
measured to a thousands or .000, would have been
ideal. Filters weights were not analyzed for
chemical dust analysis. Dust concentration
ranges were 0.004 mg/m³, 0.008 mg/m³ and 0.009
mg/m³ respectively to site 1, 2 and
3. Conclusions The Environmental Protection
Agency standard is 150µg/m³ and cannot exceed
150µg/m³ in any 24 hour period. As one can
clearly see, the results from the three sites
with the highest reading being 9 µg/m³ (site 3)
is 141 µg/m³ under the standard would indicate
good air quality concerning dust concentration.
However, we did not collect samples for 24
consecutive hours or 30 consecutive days. We
also did not have equipment that would give us
good representative data for outdoors. We did
not have a scale that measured to thousandths and
finally we did not analyze for chemical dust
analysis. References http//www.epa.gov/air/airtr
ends/aqtrnd97/brochure/pm10.html http//yosemite.e
pa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/b1ab9f485b098972852562e700
4dc686/809fdce1144e4b60852564d70041a8a6?OpenDocume
nt Acknowledgements The study was supported by
the Lakota Center for Science and Technology at
Oglala Lakota College and an NSF TCUP grant Al
Eastman BS, Environmental Research
Assistant Sitting Bull College