Toxic Monitoring

Austin Round Rock Toxic Study (ARTS) Project

Download:

2005 Urban Air toxic Monitoring Program (UATMP) Final Report (ERG, Full report: 216MB)

* TOC

* Introduction, 2005 UATMP, Data Summary

* States: Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri,

New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin

* Note large files (10 MB+)

* Data Quality and Conclusion/Recommendations

2005 UATMP Appendices (>8MB)

ARTS Presentation - Austin Toxic Final Results (URS, Nov 2006)

ARTS Presentation - Austin Toxic Halftime Report (URS, Aug 2006)

About the Project and Project Objective

CAPCOG air toxics monitoring project is funded by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant. EPA's goal of the national-scale assessment, or NATA, is to identify those air toxics which are of greatest potential concern, in terms of contribution to population risk. The assessment includes compiling a national emissions inventory of air toxics emissions from outdoor sources, estimating population exposures across the contiguous United States, and characterizing potential public health risk due to inhalation of air toxics including both cancer and non-cancer effects. With this solicitation, the remaining goal of estimating ambient concentrations of air toxics across the contiguous United States is being implemented. This monitoring is in support of the aforementioned activities and will aid decision makers at both the state and national level in assessing current activities by comparing monitored values with modeled data. In addition, projects are being solicited that will assess community reduction projects via pre- and post- monitoring at project sites.

Overview

Objectives

Targeted pollutants

Toxic Monitoring Network (Map)

Data

News

Links

Overview of EPA grant solicitation for projects to perform air sampling to assist communities in characterization of air toxics

EPA has solicited grant applications for pilot demonstration projects designed to assist state and local communities on characterization of their local air toxics problems and to track their air toxics reduction activities. The national air toxics monitoring program is being developed in conjunction with both the National Air Monitoring Strategy and the Agency’s Air Toxics Strategy. Click here for the iinformation on the Air Toxics Program, including the Concept Paper that addresses the components of the strategy, and general information on the overall Strategy

As the air toxics and general ambient air monitoring strategies are formulated, a common set of needs is being addressed on behalf of the ambient air monitoring community. The National Air Monitoring Strategy has provided a basic framework under which the air toxics program is well integrated. The linkage to the national strategy is illustrated by two dominant principles that emerged from the national strategy. First, monitoring programs must have an appropriate balance between national prescriptive measurements (e.g. trends) and more flexibility to address local issues that are not well handled through a national design given the diversity of toxics issues across the nation. The balance between the National Air Toxics Trends System (NATTS) and the emerging community monitoring assessments reflects adherence to this principle. Second, the national strategy is directing a movement toward multiple measurements across numerous pollutant groups, recognizing the fact that most air pollution issues are well integrated from a scientific perspective, and enormous economies of scale are realized from integrating program management efforts across pollutant groups.

The goal of the national-scale assessment, or NATA, is to identify those air toxics which are of greatest potential concern, in terms of contribution to population risk. The assessment includes compiling a national emissions inventory of air toxics emissions from outdoor sources, estimating population exposures across the contiguous United States, and characterizing potential public health risk due to inhalation of air toxics including both cancer and non-cancer effects. With this solicitation, the remaining goal of estimating ambient concentrations of air toxics across the contiguous United States is being implemented. This monitoring is in support of the aforementioned activities and will aid decision makers at both the state and national level in assessing current activities by comparing monitored values with modeled data. In addition, projects are being solicited that will assess community reduction projects via pre- and postmonitoring at project sites.

Objectives for Community Monitoring Assessments

These studies are intended to complement the NATTS by providing the flexibility to address issues that are not ubiquitous at a national level and to provide additional spatial resolution beyond a NATTS. Ideally, the aggregate of projects should provide some protypical examples that can be relied upon without duplication in other areas. An example might be a single airport analysis or characterization of wood smoke that allows for either direct translation of results to other locations or provides directions for similar studies in areas experiencing common problems. A list of expected data uses follows:

1. Evaluating air quality models that in turn are used for exposure assessments. Air quality models are the direct tool for exposure assessments. However, they require supporting observations to instill confidence in model results, or to direct needed improvement in underlying model formulations or related emission inventories.

2. Develop a baseline reference frame of air quality concentrations that provide the basis for the longer term measuring of progress of a planned emissions strategy program.

3. Develop spatial differences in pollutant concentrations that are driven by factors such as proximity to major roadways, influence associated with important stationary sources and other factors unique to particular communities.

4. Characterize pollutants that are not ubiquitous everywhere (e.g., mobile source BTEX compounds), yet remain a problem on a national scale. An example might be characterization of wood smoke problems that are not isolated geographically (for example, issues in the Northwest, upper Midwest, Northeast, mountainous regions in general) but do not require a true trends approach. Specific violation issues pertaining to a local plant operation that are very unique to a single area would not be under the scope of this objective.

5. Test the application of available advanced technologies that can be operated on a routine basis.

Measured target pollutants: