The Environment and You: Find Air Quality Information

1
The Environment and YouFind Air Quality
Information

• Helena VonVille, MLS
• Library Directory
• University of Texas School of Public Health at
  Houston

Harris County Public Library
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What is the air quality?

• National air quality standards
• What is considered unhealthy or dangerous?
• Air Quality Index
• Air Emissions Events Report
• Reviewed in Releases presentation
• See the last item in the table of contents
• Air Quality in Texas Metro Areas

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National Ambient Air Quality Standards

• Established by the Environmental Protection
  Agency
• Intended to protect the public from exposure to
  harmful pollutants

• Includes 6 pollutants
• Ozone
• Particulate matter
• Carbon monoxide
• Sulfur dioxide
• Lead
• Nitrogen dioxide
• Houston/Galveston/ Brazoria has exceeded the
  ozone standard and is not in attainment

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National Air Quality Standards
From http//www.tceq.state.tx.us/compliance/moni
toring/air/monops/naaqs.html
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National Air Quality Standards
From http//www.tceq.state.tx.us/compliance/moni
toring/air/monops/naaqs.html
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Air Quality Index (AQI)

• Air Quality Index is determined in the following
  way
• Ozone
• Based on either the peak 8-hour average since
  midnight OR the peak one-hour measurement since
  midnight
• 85 ppb or parts per billion for an 8-hour average
  exceeds the NAAQS 125 ppb for a 1-hour
  measurement exceeds NAAQS
• Houston area held to the 1-hour
• Sulfur dioxide and Particulate matter
• 24-hour average
• Carbon monoxide
• Peak 9-hour running average since midnight

From http//www.tceq.state.tx.us/compliance/moni
toring/air/monops/aqi_interpret.html
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What is the Air Quality Index?

• Index for reporting daily air quality
• 5 major pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act
• Ground-level ozone
• Particle pollution (particulate matter)
• Carbon monoxide
• Sulfur dioxide
• Nitrogen dioxide

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Air Quality Index (contd)
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Air Quality in Texas Metro Areas
Air quality index for February 10, 2005
Click on any of the green boxes to pull up a more
extensive report for that area. In this case, the
Houston Metro Area has been selected
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Report for Houston Metro Area
Here is the report for the Houston Area. Lets
break it down to see if we can understand what it
is telling us.
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Report Components
Date and time the report was generated is shown.
You can select a different date if you wish.
The first column shows the monitoring station.
Then we see a general description of Air Quality
and the Critical Pollutant, i.e. the one that is
causing the most concern.
The last columns show the Air Quality Index (AQI)
Rating for each pollutant.
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Report for Houston Metro Area (contd)
Particulate matter is the pollutant of concern
although it is not high.
To learn more about air quality in Channelview,
click on it.
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Channelview Air Quality
Click on Current Measurements at Channelview
C15/A115 to view all of the currently available
air quality recordings.
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Channelview Report 2/10/2005
The numbers in bold show the high point for that
row for the day.
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Definitions in the Side Bar
Information on the environmental standard can be
found by clicking on any of the links in the
sidebar.
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Search for a Different Date
You can search for a specific day as well as have
the report highlight times by checking the boxes
below the date/time format.
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Search for a Different Date (contd)
Ozone is highlighted here in yellow as it has
gone over 80 which makes it at an unhealthy level
for some people.
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Create a Monthly Report
From the Channelview main page, click on the link
to Monthly Summary Report.
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Report for October 2004
Select the month and year, and select the topic
of the report you want. Click Generate Report.
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Ozone ppb in October 2004
This report provides an hourly account by day of
the parameter searched. In this example, a
report was created that displayed ozone (parts
per billion). There were several hours on
October 4th when ozone reached an unhealthy level.
Take me to HAPs