Identifying Air Quality Problems In Your Village

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Identifying Air Quality Problems In Your Village

• Improve and Protect Air Quality in Alaska
  Workshop
• November 6, 2007
• Presented By
• Clint Farr, Gerry Guay, Barbara Trost,
• Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

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Objective

• Help you determine if you have an air quality
  problem in your village
• Help you identify pollution sources and quantify
  emissions
• Understand the tools for evaluating pollution
• Help you decide if monitoring is necessary
• Analyze data and understand impacts

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Why Document ?

• What are the benefits of evaluating and
  documenting a problem?
• Peoples perceptions of a problem differ
• Is dust dangerous or just part of life
• Must get public support to successfully reduce
  pollution
• Identifying pollutant type and levels
• Helps identify possible health impacts
• By identifying pollution sources you begin
  identifying solutions
• Data - objective versus opinion subjective
• convinces agencies and politicians to assist
• Regulations require documentation of problem,
  solutions, and long term success

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Identifying Sources of Air Pollution in Your
Village
What is air pollution and where does it come from
?
Anthropogenic Sources - man made
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Identifying Sources of Air Pollution in Your
Village
What is air pollution and where does it come from
?
Natural Sources
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Identifying Sources of Air Pollution in Your
Village
Mechanical - Disturbing potential pollution
sources

• Walking, riding, driving, wind blowing in a way
  which raises dust from
• dirt roads,
• areas of cleared vegetation,
• construction sites,
• mining operations,
• dried river beds,
• gravel bars

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Sources of Air Pollution
Combustion Burning chemicals or materials

• Burning fuels in a way to produce power, heat,
  light, transportation or waste reduction to
  improve our way of life, for personal enjoyment
  or to survive.
• Common sources
• power plants,
• boat motors,
• Honda engines,
• dump burning,
• airplane engines,
• propane stoves,
• cooking fires

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Sources of Air Pollution
Venting release of vapor into the air

• Emitting vapors or gases into our air where we
  can breathe them.
• Common sources
• gasoline,
• solvents,
• cleaning products,
• airplane/Honda exhaust,
• paints,
• glues

The bottom line everything we do creates
pollution . even breathing
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Air Pollution Evaluating Emissions
Emission Inventories

• Process to help quantify how much pollution is
  released into our environment
• Way to identify which sources emit what pollutant
  and how much
• Good tool for helping estimate impact of
  pollution
• Helpful in designing control strategies

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Tools for Assessing Air Pollution Impacts

• Air Monitoring
• Ambient
• Particulates Manual and continuous samplers
  EPA approved and survey
• Gas Analyzers NOx, SOx, CO, O3, Pb
• Air Toxics Samplers canisters, cartridges
• Indoor Air Quality

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Ambient Air Monitoring

• Evaluate public concerns
• Identify the pollutant(s) of concern
• Develop a monitoring plan
• Select an appropriate air monitor
• Pick a representative site
• Install monitor following siting criteria
• Operate monitor on a fixed schedule
• Compile and analyze data
• Present findings and conclusions to Council

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Data Analysis and Quality Assurance

• Data collection
• Must collect good data
• Must follow Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP)
  to get good data
• Data must be defensible to use
• Data Interpretation
• Must use good data
• Must follow accepted methods of analysis
• Consult experts to help interpret data results

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Tools for Assessing Air Pollution Impacts

• Air Modeling
• mathematical representation of how pollution
  moves in the air
• Approved (guideline) and non-approved models
• Models make certain assumptions which may or may
  not represent reality
• Models work best on flat terrain with good
  weather information

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How to Measure Emissions
Emission Modeling fixed source
How do you model this?
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Tools for Assessing Air Pollution Impacts
Gaussian Plume Distribution
Ex ISC/ScreenSimplified useful for simple
terrainRequires training to use
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How to Measure Emissions
Emission Modeling
Puff Models - plume movement tracked with time
Takes more computing powerWorks better for
long-range transportNeed advanced training
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What are your villages air quality concerns?