Malek - The winter time air pollution in Cache Valley

The winter time air pollution in Cache Valley, Utah, USA: Causes and Possible Solutions Esmaiel Malek Department of Plants, Soils, Climate Utah State University Logan, UT 84322-4820, U.S.A Telephone: 435-797-3284, Fax: 435-797-2117, E-mail: emalek@mendel.usu.edu The Utah Department of Environmental Quality has called a ’Red Air Quality Alert’ day for Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, and Weber Counties for Wednesday February 20, 2008 The Bear River District Health Department has called a RED day for Cache County Wood-burn conditions and health statements are as follows: Cache County: Air Quality condition as issued by the Bear River Health Dept.: RED Health Advisory: Sensitive people (those with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly, and children) should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors http://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.DisplayTopStory&StoryType=1 Examples of the wintertime air pollution in Cache Valley, UT Southwest view of the valley Wellsville Mountains Polluted air Polluted air February, 2002, 4:00 p.m Snow covered hill January, 2004 Everybody heard the news in January 2004, about the worst national air pollution in Logan, Cache County, Utah, U.S.A., a metropolitan area with a population of 102,720 (Toth et al., 2006) Among the media’s comments were: “Logan’s (the county seat) air is the dirtiest in the U.S.” “Logan’s air found worst to breathe in the U.S.” Cache Valley on a “good” day (Feb 25, 2002) Cache Valley on a “moderate” day (Feb 23, 2002: PM2.5 ≈ 40 µg/m3) Cache Valley on a “very bad” day (Feb 16, 2004; PM2.5 = 101.6 µg/m3) Pictures: Dr Martin What caused the high concentration of polluted material in the air in Cache Valley during the period of - 15 January, 2004? Factors responsible for this highly winter-time polluted air in Cache Valley can be related to: ♣- Geography, ♠ - Meteorology, ♥ - Environment -♣ The Cache Valley geographical structure: Chemical Composition of Cache Valley PM2.5 -Ammonium Nitrate = ammonia + nitrogen oxides (NOx) (mostly from vehicles) -Ammonium Sulfate = ammonia + sulfur oxides (SOx) (diesel engines and coal.) -Organic Carbon = fuel vapors, solvent vapors and unburned fuel in exhaust from poorly maintained vehicles -Elemental Carbon = incompletely combusted hydrocarbons (diesel soot, black and blue exhaust, wood-burning stoves, black smoke from incomplete coal burning) -Crustal Elements = dust from dirt roads and wind storms off the west desert Monitoring sites throughout the Cache Valley Newly established site Loading BGI Air Sampler Comparison of Exposed and Unexposed Filters Changing PM 2.5 Filter Transport of Air Samplers Downloading RUN Data BGI PQ200A Air Sampler Control Panel and Sampling Apparatus http://atlas.utah.gov/website/amccurrent/ EPA recently strengthened the 24-h PM2.5 standard from the 1997 level of 65 µg m-3, and retained the current annual fine particle standard at 15 µg m-3 (12-18-2006) Take it easy! Life goes on!! Concluding Remarks - The wintertime-high levels of particulate matters (PM2.5) in Cache Valley were associated with significant health problems within 1-5 days of exposure, ranging from: asthma attacks, increased ER visits, heart attacks, strokes, and may be to death - Infants, young children, and the elderly were particularly vulnerable to the effects of PM2.5 What can be done to alleviate the wintertime high concentration of air pollutants in the Valley? - Cache Valley is the State of Utah leader in dairy products Research is necessary to reduce ammonia from waste products and reduce the nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) from automobile and diesel exhausts Reduction of ammonia from animal waste products Animal feeding: - Reduced nitrogen diets (less crude proteins) - Dietary electrolyte balance to affect pH Waste treatment (confinement and storage): - Frequent removal - Biological nitrification of liquid wastes before discharge to lagoon - Acidify manure - Cover manure pits Reduction of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) from automobile and diesel exhausts - Identification and repair or removal of old vehicles could result in a 15 percent reduction of NOx during wintertime inversions - Community education (driving as little as possible, car pooling, or using public transportation) followed by behavioral changes with decreased vehicle miles traveled (VMT) could result in additional reductions of NOx emissions Cache Valley Teens Taking Steps to Help Environment http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=818102 Warning tools: Main Street, Logan Main Street, Logan Main Street, Logan Main Street, Logan Meteorological and Environmental Aspects of One of the Worst National Air Pollution Episode (January, 2004) in Logan, Cache Valley, Utah, U.S.A Esmaiel Malek* and Tess Davis* Randal S Martin+ Philip Silva++ * Utah Climate Center, Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, U.S.A + Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, U.S.A ++ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, U.S.A (J Atmos Res., 2006) Questions? ... period of - 15 January, 2004? Factors responsible for this highly winter- time polluted air in Cache Valley can be related to: ? ?- Geography, ♠ - Meteorology, ♥ - Environment -? ?? The Cache Valley geographical... http://www.airquality.utah.gov/Public-Interest/Current-Issues /cache- valley- PM/ Science/CacheValleyScience.htm - Environment ♣ Air pollution is referred to as the degradation of air quality resulting... Martin (2006): http://www.airquality.utah.gov/Public-Interest/Current-Issues /cache- valleyPM/Outreach /Cache% 2 0Valley% 2 0Air% 20Quality%20Studies%202006.pdf Sources of Ammonia in Cache Valley: - Cache