ed States
 . ironmental Protection
Agency
Planning and Implementing
a Real-time Air Pollution
Monitoring and Outreach
Program for Your Community
The AirBeat Project of Roxbi
Massachusetts
t
 Environmental Monitoring for Public Ace

      & Community Tracking

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Disclaimer: This document has been reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and approved
for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommenda-
tion of their use.

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                                             EPA/625/R-02/012
                                               November 2002
 Planning and Implementing a Real-time Air
Pollution Monitoring and  Outreach Program
               for Your Community

 The AirBeat Project of Roxbury,  Massachusetts
            National Risk Management Research Laboratory
                  Office of Research and Development
               U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
                    Cincinnati, OH 45268
                                                 50% Recycled/Recyclable
                                           -—^— s\ Printed with vegetable-based ink on
                                            ( /^  _) paper that contains a minimum of
                                            \r |(/ 50% post-consumer fiber content
                                            — '^ processed chlorine free

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The development of this handbook was managed by Scott Hedges (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory) with the support
of Eastern Research  Group, Inc., an EPA contractor. Technical guidance was provided by the AirBeat proj-
ect partners. EPA would like to thank the following people and organizations for their substantial contribu-
tions to the contents of this handbook:
    George Allen, NESCAUM (formerly of the Harvard School of Public Health)
    Lee Alter, Western  Governors' Association (formerly of NESCAUM)
   Jennifer Charles, Charles Consulting
    Matthew Goode, Suffolk County Conservation District
    Patrick Kwon, NESCAUM
   Jerry Sheehan, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
   Jodi Sugerman-Brozan, Alternatives for Community & Environment
Gratitude is also expressed to the following  individuals, who served as reviewers of the early drafts of
this handbook:
    Norm Beloin, U.S. EPA Region I
    Fred Corey, Aroostook Band ofMicmacs
   James Hirtz, U.S. EPA Region VII
    Swati Prakash, West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc.
    Richard Wayland,  U.S. EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards
11

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r
            CONTENTS
                                                                                                     Page

            CHAPTER 1    INTRODUCTION	1-1
                    1.1      About the EMPACT Program	1-2
                    1.2      About the AirBeat Project	1-2
                    1.3      About This Handbook	1-4
                    1.4      For More Information	1-5

            CHAPTER 2    HOW TO USE THIS HANDBOOK	2-1

            CHAPTER 3    ABOUT GROUND-LEVEL OZONE AND FINE
                            PARTICULATE MATTER	3-1
                    3.1      About Ozone	3-1
                    3.2      About Fine Participate Matter	3-2
                    3.3      About Black Carbon	3-4
                    3.4      National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone and Particulate Matter	3-5
                    3.5      Existing Monitoring Programs for Ozone and Particulate Matter	3-6
                    3.6      The Air Quality Index—A Tool for Reporting Air Quality Information	3-8
                    3.7      For More Information	3-9

            CHAPTER 4    BEGINNING THE PROGRAM	4-1
                    4.1      Program Structure: Overview of a Community-Based
                            Air Pollution Monitoring and Outreach Program	4-1
                    4.2      Selecting Program Partners	4-2
                    4.3      Identifying Potentially Impacted Communities	4-4
                    4.4      Getting To Know the Community	4-5
                    4.5      Estimating Program Costs	4-6

            CHAPTER 5    MONITORING	5-1
                    5.1      Overview of AirBeat's Monitoring Efforts	5-1
                    5.2      Key Steps in Designing and Implementing a Monitoring System	5-3
                    5.3      For More Information	5-12

            CHAPTER 6    DATA MANAGEMENT	6-1
                    6.1      Introduction to Data Management	6-1
                    6.2      Overview of AirBeat's Data Management Efforts	6-2
                    6.3      Hardware Components Used to Operate the  Data Management Center	6-4
                    6.4      Software Components Used to  Operate the Data Management Center	6-5
                    6.5      Creating the AirBeat Web Site	6-8
                    6.6      Creating the Telephone Hotline	6-8
                                                                                                       ill

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CHAPTER 7   EDUCATION AND OUTREACH	7-1
       7.1
       7.2
       7.3

APPENDIX A
Developing an Outreach Plan	7-1
Education and Outreach Tools	7-6
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Outreach Efforts	7-14
THE PASO DEL NORTE ENVIRONMENTAL
MONITORING PROJECT	
                                                                               A-l
APPENDIX B   THE ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY AIR PROJECT	B-l

APPENDIX C   THE ST. LOUIS REGIONAL CLEAN AIR PARTNERSHIP	C-l

GLOSSARY..                                                                   . G-l
IV

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  1
INTRODUCTION
        Over the past 15 years, an epidemic of asthma has been occurring in
        the United States. Children, in particular, have been severely
        affected. EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection estimates that
4.8 million children under 18 years of age—one out of every fifteen chil-
dren—have asthma. Asthma rates have  increased 160 percent in the past 15
years in children under 5 years of age.
The problem is even worse among some inner-city populations. In certain
neighborhoods of New York City, for example, one out of every five
children has asthma. In Roxbury, an urban neighborhood in the heart of
Boston, the asthma hospitalization rate is annually among the highest in
Massachusetts (in 1992, it was five times the state average). Although
people of all ages, races, and ethnic groups have been affected by asthma,
nationwide data show that the epidemic is most severe among lower income
and minority children.
These data have lead to heightened concern about the quality of air that
inner-city children are breathing—both indoors and out. In recent years,
scientists have developed a better understanding of the role that air pollu-
tants can play in exacerbating asthma symptoms and triggering asthma
attacks. Much work has been done to reduce children's exposures to indoor
air pollutants and allergens such as cigarette smoke, cockroach particles, dust mites, and animal hair since
these are considered among the most common asthma triggers. At the same time, there is growing recogni-
tion of a need for better information on children's exposures to outdoor air pollutants.
Throughout most of the United States, levels of outdoor air pollutants are much lower today than in
the past. However, in some parts of the country (particularly urban areas), outdoor air pollution is still a
concern. Pollutants of concern1 include ground-level ozone (which is formed by the chemical reaction of pol-
lutants from cars, trucks, buses, power plants, and other sources) and particulate matter  (which includes dust,
dirt, soot, smoke, and liquid droplets emitted into the air by sources such as cars, trucks, buses, factories, and
construction activities). Both of these pollutants have been linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
To protect their respiratory health, inner-city residents need timely access to  air quality data. Levels of
outdoor air pollutants such as ozone and particulate matter vary from day to day and even during the course
of a single day. Access  to air quality forecasts and real-time data can allow residents to reduce their exposures
when pollutant levels are high. For children and others with asthma, reducing exposures to asthma triggers
can be part of a multi-faceted approach to managing symptoms that also includes behavior changes, drug
therapy, and frequent medical follow-ups. Patient  education is also key to this approach.
                                                                   many urban areas, outdoor air
                                                                    pollution is still a concern.
1 Another class of pollutants that can cause special threats in urban areas is air toxics, which are those air pollutants that are known or suspected
 to cause cancer or other serious health problems. Air toxics are not addressed in this handbook. For more information on nationwide efforts to
 monitor and reduce emissions of air toxics, visit EPAs Air Toxics Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/.
INTRODUCTION

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In 1999, a team of academic, community, and government organizations launched a pilot project to collect
and communicate real-time data2 on air pollution in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.
This pilot project, which became known as AirBeat, was funded with a grant from EPA's EMPACT
Program. The AirBeat project had two main goals: 1) to develop and implement real-time ambient air
pollution monitoring and data management techniques for ozone, fine particulate matter (PM2 5), and
other air quality parameters, and 2) to communicate real-time air quality data to the public in a way that
can be easily understood and used by community residents to reduce human exposure.
To meet these goals, AirBeat established an ambient air quality monitoring station in the center of Roxbury.
This station continuously collects air pollution data, which are presented in real time for public access on
the AirBeat Web site (http://www.airbeat.org/)  and via a telephone hotline system (617-427-9500). The
AirBeat team also developed an extensive outreach program for educating the public about air pollution,
health effects, and precautionary measures.
This technology transfer handbook presents a case study about the AirBeat project. It describes how AirBeat
got its start, how the project's partners approached the technical and human challenges facing them, and
what lessons they learned in the process. The handbook also provides information, recommendations,
suggestions, and tips to assist other groups in  developing or refining a comparable program  for their own
community. These recommendations, tips, and suggestions come primarily from the AirBeat project, but
also to a limited extent from case studies, lessons learned, and recommendations gleaned from other compa-
rable environmental monitoring projects. The handbook is written primarily for community organizers,
non-profit groups, local government officials,  tribal officials, and other decision-makers who will imple-
ment, or are considering implementing, air quality monitoring and outreach programs.

 1.1   ABOUT THE  EMPACT  PROGRAM
This handbook was developed by EPA's EMPACT Program (http://www.epa.gov/empact). EPA created
EMPACT (Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking) to promote new and
innovative approaches to collecting, managing, and communicating environmental information to the
public. Working with communities across the country, the program takes advantage of new technologies
to provide community members with timely, accurate, and understandable environmental information they
can use to make informed, day-to-day decisions  about their lives. EMPACT projects cover a wide range of
environmental issues, including water quality, ground water contamination, smog, ultraviolet radiation, and
overall ecosystem quality. Some projects were  initiated by EPA, while others  (including the AirBeat project)
were launched by EMPACT communities themselves through EPA-funded Metro Grants.

 1 .2  ABOUT THE  AIRBEAT  PROJECT
Planning for the AirBeat project began in 1997 and 1998. EMPACT began funding AirBeat in 1999,
and that spring the project started operating its air pollution monitoring station in the center of Roxbury.
Real-time delivery of air quality data began in 2000 with the  launch of the AirBeat Web site and telephone
hotline system.
AirBeat focused on the Roxbury neighborhood for two reasons. First, there has been heightened concern
over outdoor air quality in Roxbury due to high rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. And second,
there are a number of strong community organizations in Roxbury that have been working  for years on a
variety of environmental health and justice issues.
^ In this handbook, the term "real time" is used to indicate that data are presented to the public almost as soon as they are collected, with only a
 slight delay for data processing and quality assurance. AirBeat reports pollutant concentrations as hourly averages, with results generally made
 available to the public within 15 minutes of the end of the averaging period.


 1-2                                                                                CHAPTER  1

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Roxbury is a heavily urbanized neighborhood. Its population of 60,000 people is about 70 percent African
American and 18 percent Latino. The poverty rate is more than 30 percent in the neighborhood and 45
percent for children under 18 (U.S. Census Report, 1990). Environmental concerns in Roxbury include
high traffic volumes, vacant lots, illegal trash dumps, and pollution from autobody shops.

In the mid 1990s, concern over outdoor air quality in Roxbury began to focus on motor vehicles,  especially
exhaust from diesel trucks and buses. Research conducted in 1996 revealed that there were more than 15
truck and bus depots within a one-mile radius of Roxbury, garaging more than 1,150 diesel vehicles. In
1997, local environmental and community organizations formed a coalition called Clean Buses for Boston
to pressure the regional transit agency to convert its bus fleet from diesel to cleaner alternatives. Some of
these organizations also began discussions with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
(MA DEP) aimed at establishing an ambient air quality monitoring station in Roxbury.

AirBeat's monitoring and outreach project grew out of these efforts. In 1998, MA DEP decided to set up
a monitoring station in the Dudley Square area of Roxbury (see map) to measure levels of PM2.5  in the
ambient air. The station was to be part of MA DEP's statewide monitoring network. With funding from
an EMPACT grant, the AirBeat  team was able to expand the Dudley Square monitoring effort to  include
continuous measurements of PM2 5, ground-level ozone, and black carbon soot (BC). (Black carbon, a
INTRODUCTION
1-3

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component of PM2 5, was chosen because it is a strong indicator of local diesel emissions. See Section 3.3
for more information about BC.) The team also decided to set up a state-of-the-art data management and
delivery system so that the Dudley Square monitoring station would be the first station in the common-
wealth to present air quality data to the public in real time, using a Web site (http://www.airbeat.org) and
other communication venues. In addition, the AirBeat team planned an extensive outreach program to
educate the public about the connections between air pollution and health effects.

The AirBeat project is a partnership between:

   • Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), a Roxbury-based, non-profit environmental
     justice organization that coordinates AirBeat's education and outreach efforts.

   • Harvard University School of Public Health, which developed some of the innovative instrumentation
     set-ups for the AirBeat monitoring station and shared responsibility for implementing the real-time
     measurements.

   • MA DEP, which operates 42 ambient  air monitoring stations throughout Massachusetts and has
     overall responsibility for the Roxbury station.

   • Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), an interstate association of
     air quality control agencies that managed AirBeat's data management and mapping  efforts and the
     development of the project's Web site  and hotline.

   • Suffolk County Conservation District, which acted as the lead agency, responsible for coordinating the
     AirBeat project.

Chapters 4 through 7 of this handbook provide more details about the roles each of these partners played in
the AirBeat project.
                 Current Status and Sustainability of the AirBeat Project
  Since the end of the EMPACT grant period, in 2001, AirBeat has continued to provide real-time data
  on air pollution to the Roxbury community. The Dudley Square monitoring station (and all of its instru-
  mentation) is maintained by MA DEP, which operates the station as part of its statewide monitoring
  network with state and federal funding. AirBeat's Data Management Center runs on an automated basis
  from the offices of NESCAUM, with little human oversight needed. The ongoing operation of this equip-
  ment means that, for the foreseeable future, air pollution data will continue to be downloaded from the
  Dudley  Square monitoring station and posted to the AirBeat Web site for public access.
  AirBeat outreach activities will also continue,  but at a scaled-back level.  Air quality is still a major
  concern in Roxbury, and AirBeat information has become woven  into the fabric of many of ACE's com-
  munity  education and empowerment initiatives in the neighborhood.  So as ACE continues its work, the
  AirBeat message will  continue to go out to Roxbury residents.
 1 -4
CHAPTER  1

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 1.3  ABOUT THIS  HANDBOOK
A number of communities throughout the United States have expressed interest in beginning projects
similar to AirBeat. The purpose of this handbook is to help interested communities and organizations learn
more about AirBeat and to provide them with the technical information they need to develop their own
programs. The Technology Transfer and Support Division of the EPA Office of Research and Development's
(ORD's) National Risk Management Research Laboratory initiated the development of this handbook in col-
laboration with EPA's Office of Environmental Information. ORD, working with AirBeat's project partners,
produced the handbook to leverage EMPACT's investment in the project and minimize the resources needed
to implement similar projects in new areas.
Both print and CD-ROM versions of the handbook are available for direct online ordering from ORD's
Technology Transfer Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ttbnrmrl. A PDF version of the handbook can also be
downloaded from that site. In addition, you can order a copy of the handbook (print or CD-ROM version)
by contacting ORD Publications by telephone or mail at:
EPA ORD Publications
26 W. Martin Luther King Dr.
Cincinnati, OH 45268-0001
EPA NSCEP Toll free: 1-800-490-9198
EPA NSCEP Local:  513-489-8190
Please make sure that you include the title of the handbook and the EPA document number in your
request. We hope that you find the handbook worthwhile,  informative, and easy to use.

 1.4  FOR  MORE  INFORMATION
Try the following resources for more on the issues and programs this handbook discusses:
The EMPACT Program
http:I Iwww. epa.gov/empact/

The AirBeat Web site
http://www. air beat, org
Alternatives for Community & Environment
http://www. ace-ej. org/
Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection
http://www.state. ma. us/dep/dephome. htm
NESCAUM
http:I I www. nescaum. org/
EPA's Office  of Children's Health Protection
http://www. epa.gov/children/
American Lung Association
http://www. lungusa. org/asthma/
National Asthma Education and Prevention
Program, National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute
http://www. nhlbisupport. com/asthma/index, html
AirBeat Contacts:
George Allen
NESCAUM
Phone: 617-367-8540 x235
Email: gallen@nescaum.org
Jodi Sugerman-Brozan
Alternatives for Community & Environment
Phone: 617-442-3343 x23
Email: jodi@ace-ej. org
Jerry Sheehan
Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection
Phone: 617-292-5500
Email: jerry.sheehan@state. ma. us
INTRODUCTION
                                            1-5

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2
HOW  TO   USE  THIS  HANDBOOK
       This handbook presents a case study of the AirBeat project. The handbook also provides information,
       recommendations, suggestions, and tips to assist other groups in developing or refining a real-time
       air pollution monitoring and public outreach project for their own community. The handbook
 covers the following key steps in developing an AirBeat-type project:
  Identifying target
  communities and
  selecting program
  partners
                Developing a mon-
                itoring system for
                making continuous
                measurements of
                air pollutants
Using state-of-the-
art technology for
managing data
and delivering it
to community
residents in
real time
Creating an out-
reach program to
educate residents
about air pollution
and health effects
The handbook provides simple "how to" instructions on each facet of planning and implementing an
AirBeat-type program, along with important background information on air pollution and health effects:

    • Chapter 3 provides information about ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter, the two major
      air pollutants that are the focus of AirBeat s monitoring efforts. The chapter covers pollutant sources
      and health effects and gives an overview of existing monitoring programs that are in place nationwide
      for measuring ambient concentrations of ozone and particulate matter.

    • Chapter 4 describes the steps in beginning an AirBeat-type program: identifying potential target
      communities,  getting to know the community, selecting partners for the program, and estimating
      program costs.

    • Chapter 5 discusses the key steps  in developing a monitoring system: preparing a quality assurance
      plan; siting a monitoring station;  selecting monitoring instrumentation and equipment; and installing,
      operating, and maintaining the equipment.

    • Chapter ^provides detailed information about data management and delivery, focusing on the
      equipment and software needed to establish a data management center and such data-delivery tools
      as a Web site and telephone hotline system.

    • Chapter /provides guidance  on education and outreach to community residents about air pollution,
      health effects,  and the benefits of using real-time air quality data to reduce exposures to harmful
      pollutant  levels. The chapter includes detailed information on outreach tools and approaches used
      by the AirBeat project, along  with sample outreach materials.
Haw TO  USE  THIS  HANDBOOK
                                                                                      2-1

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Interspersed throughout the handbook are stories about the lessons learned in the course of the AirBeat
project. The handbook also refers you to supplementary sources of information, such as Web sites, guidance
documents, and other written materials. In addition, the handbook includes appendices that present alter-
natives to the approaches used by the AirBeat project:

    • Appendix A presents a case study of the Paso del Norte Environmental Monitoring Project, an interna-
     tional effort to provide the public with real-time data on air quality, traffic, and weather for a region
     along the U.S.-Mexican border that is home to a rapidly growing and bilingual population.

    • Appendix B gives an overview of the St. Louis Community Air Project (CAP), a multi-year commit-
     ment to better understand the presence of air pollutants in  St. Louis and take the necessary steps to
     improve the air quality. CAP provides an excellent model for involving the local community in all
     aspects of planning and implementing an  air quality  monitoring and outreach program.

    • Appendix C describes another Missouri-based effort:  the St. Louis Regional Clean Air Partnership,
     a public-private partnership formed to raise awareness of regional air quality issues and to encourage
     activities to reduce emissions of air pollutants. The Partnership demonstrates how a program can cost-
     effectively leverage monitoring data from existing state-run  monitoring networks and deliver it to the
     public in the context of an innovative education and outreach effort.

The handbook is designed for managers and decision-makers who may be considering whether to imple-
ment an AirBeat-type monitoring and outreach program in their community, as well as  for organizers who
are interested in improving or refining their existing programs.
2-2
CHAPTER  2

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3
                 GROUND-LEVEL  OZONE  AND
FINE  PARTICULATE  MATTER
       This chapter provides background information about ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter
       (PM2 5), the two major air pollutants that are the focus of AirBeat's monitoring efforts. Sections 3.1
       and 3.2 describe the sources and health effects of these two pollutants and identify those people
most at risk from unhealthy exposures. Section 3.3 presents information about the sources and health
effects of black carbon, a component of PM2 5 that is monitored by the AirBeat project. Section 3.4 sum-
marizes the National Ambient Air Quality Standards that EPA has established for ozone and particulate
matter to protect people and the environment from adverse effects. Section 3.5 provides an overview of the
existing monitoring programs that are in place nationwide for measuring ambient concentrations of ozone,
particulate matter, and other major air pollutants. Finally, Section 3.6 introduces readers to the Air Quality
Index, a tool developed by EPA to provide people with timely and easy-to-understand information on local
air quality and whether it poses a health concern.

The information in this chapter should be useful to any person interested in air pollution and the national
strategies for monitoring pollutant levels in ambient air, whether that person be a community organizer
responsible for implementing a monitoring program or a member of the public concerned about elevated
pollutant levels in his or her community.

 3.1   ABOUT   OZONE
Ozone is an odorless, colorless gas composed of three atoms of oxygen.  It occurs both in the Earth's upper
atmosphere and at ground level. Ozone can be good or bad, depending on where it is found:

    • Good ozone (upper level). Ozone occurs naturally in the Earth's upper atmosphere—10 to 30 miles
     above the Earth's surface, where it forms a protective barrier that shields people from the sun's harmful
     ultraviolet rays. This barrier is sometimes called the "ozone layer."
    • Bad ozone (ground level). Because of pollution, ozone can also be  found in the Earth's lower atmos-
     phere, at ground level. Ground-level ozone is a major ingredient of smog, and it can harm people's
     health by damaging their lungs. It can also damage crops and many common man-made materials,
     such as rubber, plastic, and paint.

 3.1.1  SOURCES DF GROUND-LEVEL  DZDNE
Ground-level ozone is not emitted directly into the air but  forms when  two kinds of pollutants—volatile
organic compounds and nitrogen oxides—mix in the air and react chemically in the presence of sunlight.
Common sources of volatile organic compounds  (often referred to as VOCs)  include motor vehicles, gas
stations, chemical plants, and other industrial facilities. Solvents such as dry-cleaning fluid and chemicals
used to clean industrial equipment are also sources of VOCs.  Common sources of nitrogen oxides include
motor vehicles, power plants, and other fuel-burning sources.

 3.1.2  DZDNE  HEALTH   EFFECTS
Ozone can affect people's health in many ways:
    • Ozone can irritate the respiratory system. When this happens, you might start coughing, feel an irrita-
     tion in your throat, and/or experience an uncomfortable sensation in your chest. These symptoms can
     last for a few hours after ozone exposure and may even become painful.
ABOUT  GROUND-LEVEL OZONE  AND  FINE  PARTICULATE MATTER
                                                                                   3-1

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    • Ozone can reduce lung function. When scientists refer to "lung function," they mean the volume of air
     that you draw in when you take a full breath and the speed at which you are able to blow out the air.
     Ozone can make it more difficult for you to breathe as deeply and vigorously as you normally would.
    • Ozone can aggravate asthma. When ozone levels are high, more asthmatics have asthma attacks that
     require a doctor's attention or the use of additional asthma medication.

    • Ozone can aggravate chronic lung diseases, such as emphysema and bronchitis.
    • Ozone can inflame and temporarily damage the lining of the lung. Ozone damages the cells that line
     the air spaces in the lung. Within a few days, the damaged cells are replaced and the old cells are shed.
     If this kind of damage occurs repeatedly, the lung may change permanently in a way that could cause
     long-term health effects.

3.1 .3  PDPULATIDNS MOST AT  RISK FROM  DZDNE
In most parts of the United States, ozone pollution is likely to be a concern during the summer months,
when the weather conditions needed to form ground-level ozone—lots of sun, hot temperatures—normally
occur. Ozone pollution is usually at its worst during  summer heat waves when air masses are stagnant.
Ozone levels also vary during the day, and are typically highest during late afternoon and decrease rapidly at
sunset.
Most people only have to worry about ozone exposure when concentrations reach high or very high levels.
However, some groups of people are particularly sensitive to ozone, and members of these groups are likely
to experience health effects before ozone  concentrations reach high levels. People most sensitive to ozone
include:
    • Children. Active children are the group at highest risk from ozone exposure. Such children often spend
     a large part of their summer  vacation outdoors, engaged in vigorous activities either in their neighbor-
     hood or at summer camp. Children are also more likely to have asthma or other respiratory illnesses.
     Asthma is the most common chronic disease  for children and may be aggravated by ozone exposure.

    • Adults who are active outdoors. Healthy adults  who exercise or work outdoors are considered a
     "sensitive group" because they have a higher level of exposure to ozone than people who are less active
     outdoors.
    • People with respiratory diseases, such as asthma. There is no evidence that ozone causes asthma or
     other chronic respiratory disease, but these diseases do make the lungs more vulnerable to the effects
     of ozone. Thus, individuals with these conditions will generally experience the effects of ozone earlier
     and at lower levels than less sensitive individuals.
    • People with unusual susceptibility to ozone. Scientists don't yet know why, but some healthy people are
     simply more sensitive to ozone than others. These individuals may experience more health effects from
     ozone exposure than the average person.
Scientists have found little evidence to suggest that either the elderly or people with heart disease have
heightened sensitivity to ozone. However, like other adults, elderly people will be at higher risk from ozone
exposure if they suffer from respiratory disease, are active outdoors, or are unusually susceptible to ozone.

3.2  ABOUT  FINE  PARTICULATE  MATTER
Particulate matter (PM) is the general term used for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in
the air. These particles and droplets come in a wide range of sizes. Some are large or dark enough to be seen
as soot or smoke. Others  are so small they can be detected only with an electron microscope.
3-2                                                                               CHAPTER 3

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PM can harm people's health when it is inhaled into the lungs. PM is also the major cause of reduced visibil-
ity (haze) in many parts of the United States. Deposition of PM  from the atmosphere can damage
environmental ecosystems and man-made objects such as monuments and statues.
The environmental and health effects of PM can vary, depending on the size of the particles. Because they
are less heavy, smaller particles stay in the air longer and travel farther when emitted to the atmosphere, con-
tributing to haze. Smaller particles also can be inhaled more deeply into human lungs, increasing the
potential for severe health effects. In addition, smaller particles generally include more toxic substances than
do larger particles.
Because of these differences, EPA maintains two separate ambient air quality standards for particulate matter.
One standard addresses levels of "fine" particulate matter (known as PM25), which contains particles less
than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. The other standard addresses PM10, containing particles that are less than
10 micrometers in diameter.

3.2.1  SOURCES  DF  FINE  PARTICULATE MATTER
Particulate matter originates from many different stationary and  mobile sources as well as from natural
sources. Particles larger than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (often  referred to as coarse particles) are generally
emitted from sources such as vehicles traveling on unpaved roads, materials handling, and crushing and
grinding operations, as well as windblown dust. Fine particles  (less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter), which
are the focus  of the AirBeat project, result from fuel combustion from motor vehicles, power generation, and
industrial facilities, as well as from residential fireplaces and wood stoves. The particles originating from
these sources often include certain heavy metals and organic compounds that have been associated with
excess cancer risk.

Some fine particles are emitted directly from their sources,  such as  smokestacks and cars. In other cases,
gases such as  sulfur dioxide,  nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds interact with other compounds
in the air to form fine particles. Their chemical and physical compositions vary depending on location, time
of year,  and weather.

3.2.2  PMZ  5  HEALTH  EFFECTS
When people inhale, they breathe in air along with  any particles that are in the air. The air and the particles
travel into their respiratory system (the lungs and airway). Along the way, the particles can stick to the sides
of the airway or travel deeper into the  lungs. If particles are small and get very far into the lungs, special cells
in the lung trap the particles and then they can't get out.
Scientific studies have linked fine particles (alone or in combination with other air pollutants), with a series
of significant health problems, including:
   • Premature death.
   • Respiratory related hospital admissions and emergency room visits.
   • Aggravated asthma.
   • Acute respiratory symptoms, including aggravated coughing and difficult or painful breathing.

   • Chronic bronchitis.
   • Decreased lung function that can be experienced as shortness of breath.
   • Work and school absences.
GROUND-LEVEL  OZONE AND  FINE  PARTICULATE  MATTER                   3-3

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To fully understand the potential health effects of fine particles, scientists must have information about
the chemical composition of PM2 5, which is known to vary from location to location and from season to
season. To help characterize trends in chemical composition, EPA is currently establishing a network of
PM2 5 speciation monitors across the United States. The  information from this network will allow scientists
to better understand the emission sources contributing to PM2 5 and the potential for long-term health
effects (including cancer) from human exposures. For more information on EPA's PM2 5 speciation
program, go to http://www.epa.gov/ttn/amtic/speciepg.html.

3.2.3  PDPULATIDNS  MOST AT  RISK  FROM  FINE  PARTICULATE
          MATTER
The following people are most at risk from exposures to PM2 5:
    •  The elderly. Studies estimate that tens of thousands of elderly people die prematurely each year from
     exposure to ambient levels of fine particles. Studies  also indicate that exposure to fine particles is asso-
     ciated with thousands of hospital admissions each year. Many of these hospital admissions are elderly
     people suffering from lung or heart disease.
    • Individuals with preexisting heart or lung disease. Breathing fine particles can also adversely affect
     individuals with heart disease, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis by causing additional medical treat-
     ment. Inhaling fine particulate matter has been attributed to increased hospital admissions, emergency
     room visits, and premature death among sensitive populations.
    •  Children. Because children's  respiratory systems are still developing, they are more susceptible to envi-
     ronmental threats than healthy adults. Exposure to  fine particles is associated with increased frequency
     of childhood  illnesses, which are of concern both in the short run, and for the future development of
     healthy lungs in the affected children. Fine particles are also associated with increased respiratory
     symptoms and reduced lung function in children, including symptoms such as aggravated coughing
     and difficulty or pain in breathing. These can result in school absences and limitations in normal
     childhood activities.

    • Asthmatics and asthmatic children. More and more people are being diagnosed with asthma every
     year. Fourteen Americans die every day from asthma, a rate three times greater than just  20 years ago.
     Children make up 25 percent of the population, but comprise 40 percent of all asthma cases.
     Breathing fine particles, alone or in combination with other pollutants, can aggravate asthma, causing
     greater use of medication and resulting in more medical treatment and hospital visits.

3.3 ABOUT   BLACK  CARBON
Black carbon (BC), an  air pollutant that is monitored by the AirBeat project, is a component  of PM2 5
(typically about 10 percent by mass in urban areas). BC is similar to soot and is emitted directly into the air
from virtually all combustion activities. It is especially prevalent in exhaust from diesel-burning trucks and
buses, which tend to be the primary source of BC in urban areas. Other sources of BC include coal-burning
power plants, jet fuel, forest fires,  and wood-burning stoves and fireplaces.

EPA has not established a national health standard specifically for BC. The reasons are two-fold. First,
because black carbon is a component of PM2 5, BC levels in ambient air are  regulated under the National
Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM2 5 (see Section 3.4). Second, not enough is known about the specific
health effects of black carbon to set a national standard. However, a large number of human epidemiology
studies have shown that diesel exhaust as a whole (which contains black carbon) is associated with increases
in lung cancer and may aggravate  asthma. More information on the health effects associated with diesel
exhaust can  be found in EPA's Health Assessment Document for Diesel Exhaust, located online at
http://www. epa.gov/ncea/dieslexh. htm.
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AirBeat measures BC concentrations as a surrogate for diesel exhaust. In other words, the data on BC
concentrations help the AirBeat team evaluate the degree to which diesel trucks and buses are contributing
to overall PM2 5 levels.

3.4  NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR  QUALITY  STANDARDS
        FDR  DZDNE AND   PARTICULATE  MATTER
Ground-level ozone and particulate matter are regulated under the Clean Air Act, which is the comprehen-
sive federal law that regulates air emissions in the United States. The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set
standards for six "criteria" air pollutants that are commonly occurring, including ozone and particulate
matter.3 These standards are known as the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). EPA is
required to re-evaluate each NAAQS every 5 years and either affirm the current standard or promulgate
a new standard based on the currently available scientific research.

Under the Clean Air Act, EPA develops two standards for each pollutant of concern:
   • A primary standard to protect public health. The primary NAAQS can  be defined as the levels of air
     quality that EPA has determined to be generally protective of people's health.
   • A secondary standard to protect public welfare. Public welfare includes effects on soils, water, crops,
     vegetation, buildings, property, animals, wildlife, weather, visibility, transportation, and other
     economic values, as well as personal  comfort and well-being.

For ozone, the primary and secondary standards are identical. The same is true for particulate matter.
You can find out more about the Clean Air Act and the  NAAQS in EPA's Plain English Guide to the Clean
Air Act, found online  at http://www. epa.govloarloaqpslpeg_caalpegcaain. html.

3.4.1 ABOUT THE  NAAQS FDR  DZDNE
In 1997, EPA adopted new, more stringent standards for ozone, based on research that found that the
original NAAQS for ozone, known as the 1-hour standard, was not adequately protective of human health.
The  1-hour standard limited ozone levels  to 0.12 parts per million averaged over a 1-hour period. The new
standard, known as the 8-hour standard, requires that a  community's ozone levels be no higher than 0.08
parts per million when averaged over an 8-hour period.

3.4.2 ABDUT THE  NAAQS FDR  PARTIDULATE  MATTER
EPA also revised the NAAQS for particulate matter in 1997. Up to that point, federal PM standards had
applied only to particles up to  10  microns in diameter (PM10). A  review of the scientific data indicated,
however, that it is the  smaller (or fine) particles—less than 2.5 microns in diameter—that are largely
responsible for the health effects of greatest concern and for visibility impairment.

Based on this information, EPA issued revisions to strengthen the particulate matter standards by keeping
the existing PM10 standards and adding new standards that provide more stringent goals for fine particles
in air. The revised standards are shown in the following table.
3 The other criteria pollutants are carbon monoxide (CO), lead (Pb), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2).

 GROUND-LEVEL OZONE AND FINE PARTICULATE MATTER
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TABLE  3-1.  NAAQS  FOR  PM
  Pollutant    24-hour Standard
                                            i a
                                   AN D  P M
                                                             2.5
  PM10
150 micrograms per cubic meter

To attain this standard, the 99th percentile of the
distribution of the 24-hour concentrations for a
period of 1 year, averaged over 3 years, must not
exceed 150 micrograms per cubic meter at each
monitor within an area.
                                              Annual Standard
50 micrograms per cubic meter

To attain this standard, the arithmetic
mean of the 24-hour samples for a
period of 1 year, averaged over
3 consecutive years, must not exceed
50 micrograms per cubic meter.
  PM2.5
65 micrograms per cubic meter

To attain this standard, the 98th percentile of the
distribution of the 24-hour concentrations for a
period of 1 year, averaged over 3 years, must not
exceed 65 micrograms per cubic meter at each
monitor within an area.
15 micrograms per cubic meter

To attain this standard, the 3-year average of
the annual arithmetic mean of the 24-hour
concentrations from single or multiple population
oriented monitors must not exceed
15 micrograms per cubic meter.
3.5  EXISTING  MONITORING   PROGRAMS  FOR  OZONE
        AND  PARTI CU LATE  MATTER
Under the Clean Air Act, states are required to establish air monitoring networks—air quality surveillance
systems that consist  of a series of carefully placed monitoring stations. Each station measures the ambient
concentrations of important air pollutants, including ground-level ozone and PM, in the immediate vicinity
of the station. States are required to report the data gathered from the monitoring stations to EPA.
Information provided by the state air monitoring networks is used for a number of purposes. Two key
objectives are:
    • Determining what areas of the United States are in compliance with the NAAQS. A geographic area
     that meets the  primary health-based NAAQS is called an attainment area. Areas  that do not meet the
     primary standard are called non-attainment areas. The Clean Air Act requires each state to develop
     State Implementation  Plans (SIPs) describing the programs a state will use to maintain good air
     quality in attainment areas and meet the NAAQS in  non-attainment areas.

    • Provide information to the public about local air quality. Each year, EPA issues a National Air Quality
     and Emissions  Trends  Report, which examines trends among the six criteria pollutants. In addition,
     efforts are increasingly being made to deliver timely air quality information directly to the public for
     use in daily decision making. EPA's AirNow Web site (http://www.epa.gov/airnow) provides the public
     with daily air quality forecasts as well as real-time air quality data for over 165 cities across the United
     States. A number of local and regional programs have also been launched to deliver real-time informa-
     tion to the public. The AirBeat project is just one example. See the appendices of this handbook for
     summaries of other, similar programs.
Other objectives of air quality surveillance include: 1) determining source impacts, 2)  determining general
background levels, 3) measuring regional  transport, 4) evaluating effects such as visibility impairments and
ecosystem impacts, and 5) developing and evaluating strategies for controlling pollution levels.
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             3.5.1  TYPES  DF  MDNITDRS
             Four different types of monitoring systems are used to carry out ambient air monitoring for criteria pollu-
             tants under the Clean Air Act:4
                 • State and Local Air Monitoring Stations (SLAMS). The AirBeat monitoring station in Roxbury is
                  part of the SLAMS network operated by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
                  SLAMS stations are used to demonstrate if an area is meeting the NAAQS. A SLAMS system consists
                  of a carefully planned network of fixed monitoring stations, with the network size and station distribu-
                  tion largely determined by the needs of state and local air pollution control agencies to meet their
                  SIP requirements. EPA gives states and localities flexibility in determining the size of their SLAMS net-
                  work based on their data needs and available resources. Nationwide, the SLAMS network consists of
                  around 4,000 monitoring stations (see map).

             STATE  AND  LOCAL  AIR  MONITORING   STATIONS  (SLAMS)
                 • National Air Monitoring Stations (NAMS). NAMS are used to supply data for national policy and
                  trend analyses and to provide the public with information about air quality in major metropolitan
                  areas. NAMS are required in urban areas with populations greater than 200,000. NAMS monitoring
                  stations are selected from a subset of the SLAMS network, and EPA requires a minimum of two
                  NAMS monitors in each of these metropolitan areas. There are two categories of NAMS monitoring
                  stations: stations located in areas of expected maximum ozone concentration, and stations located in
                  areas where poor air quality is combined with high population density.

                 • Special Purpose Monitoring Stations (SPMS). SPMS provide data for special studies needed by state
                  and local agencies to support SIPs and other air program  activities. The SPMS are not permanently
                  established and can be adjusted easily to accommodate changing needs and priorities. The SPMS
                  are used to supplement the fixed monitoring network as circumstances require and resources permit.

              For information on existing monitoring efforts targeted at air toxics, visit the Web site of the National Air Toxics Assessment at
              http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/nata/. Because the AirBeat project does not focus on air toxics, this class of pollutants is not discussed in this handbook.
             GROUND-LEVEL  OZONE  AND  FINE PARTICULATE MATTER
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    • Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Stations (PAMS). PAMS are required to obtain more compre-
     hensive and representative data about ozone air pollution in ozone non-attainment areas designated as
     serious, severe, or extreme. PAMS networks are used to monitor surface and upper-air meteorological
     conditions and ozone precursors (these are the various pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds
     and nitrogen oxides, that mix in the air and react chemically in the presence of sunlight to  create
     ground-level ozone).
EPA's standards for monitoring networks are found in the Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR Part 58,
National Primary and Secondary Ambient Air Quality Standards). You can access and review these CFR
sections from the Ambient Monitoring Technology Information Center (AMTIC) Web site at
http:llwww. epa.gov/ttn/amtic/40cjr58. html.
EPA is currently revising its national air monitoring strategy. In starting new AirBeat-type programs in the
future, organizations should gather information on the latest air monitoring network designs that are in use.

3.6 THE  AIR  QUALITY  INDEX—A TDDL  FDR  REPORTING
       AIR  QUALITY  INFORMATION
The Air Quality Index (AQI)  is a tool developed by EPA to provide people with timely and easy-to-under-
stand information on local air quality and whether it poses a health concern. It provides a simple, uniform
system that can be used throughout the country for reporting levels of major pollutants regulated under the
Clean Air Act, including ground-level ozone and participate matter.
The AQI converts a measured pollutant concentration to a number on a scale of 0 to 500. The higher the
index value, the greater the health concern. For most of the criteria pollutants, the AQI value of 100 corre-
sponds to the National Ambient Air Quality Standard established for the pollutant under the Clean Air Act.
This is the level that EPA has  determined to be generally protective of human health. For PM2 5, the AQI
value of 150 corresponds to the 24-hour NAAQS of 65 micrograms per cubic  meter.

As shown below, the Air Quality Index scale has been divided into six categories, each corresponding to a
different level of health concern. Each category is also associated with a color.
Color
Green
Yellow
Orange
Red


Air Quality Index Value Health Descriptor
OtoSO
51 to 100
101 to 150
151 to 200


Good
Moderate
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
Unhealthy


The level of health concern associated with each AQI category is summarized by a descriptor:

    • Good (green). When the AQI value for your community is between 0 and 50, air quality is considered
     satisfactory in your area.

    • Moderate (yellow). When the index value for your community is between 51 and 100, air quality is
     acceptable in your area. (However, people who are extremely sensitive to ozone may experience respira-
     tory symptoms.)
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    • Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (orange). Some people are particularly sensitive to the harmful effects
     of certain air pollutants. For example, people with asthma may be sensitive to sulfur dioxide and
     ozone, while people with heart disease may be sensitive to carbon monoxide. Some groups of people
     may be sensitive to more than one pollutant. When AQI values are between 101 and 150, members of
     sensitive groups may experience health effects. Members of the general public are not likely to be
     affected when the AQI is in this range.
    • Unhealthy (red). When AQI values are between 151 and 200, everyone may begin to experience
     health effects. Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.
    • Very Unhealthy (purple). AQI values between 201 and 300 trigger a health alert for everyone.
    • Hazardous (maroon). AQI values over 300 trigger health warnings of emergency conditions.
     AQI values over 300 rarely occur in the U.S.

For more information about the AQI, check out the EPA brochure entitled Air Quality Index—A Guide to
Air Quality and Your Health (EPA-454/R-00-005), found online at http://www.epa.gov/airnow/aqi_cl.pdf

3.6.1  HDW  \S  THE AIR  QUALITY  INDEX CALCULATED?
SLAM networks take measurements of levels of ozone,  particulate matter (both PM2 5 and PM10), and
other criteria pollutants several times a day. These are then converted into corresponding AQI values using
standard conversion scales developed by EPA. For example, an ozone measurement of 0.08 parts per mil-
lion, which happens to be National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone, would translate to an AQI
value of 100.
Once the AQI values for the individual pollutants have been calculated, they are then used to  calculate an
overall single index value for the local area. The single AQI value is determined simply by taking the highest
index value that was calculated for the individual air pollutants. This value becomes the AQI value reported
in a community on a given day. For example, say that on July 12,  your community has an AQI rating of
115 for ozone and 72 for carbon monoxide. The AQI value that will be reported that day for your commu-
nity is  115. On days when the AQI for two or  more pollutants is greater than  100, the pollutant with the
highest index level is reported, but information on any other pollutant above 100 may also be reported.
Guidelines  for reporting air quality using the AQI can  be found online at
http://www. epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/tl/memoranda/rg701 .pdf.

3.7  FDR  MORE  INFORMATION

3.7.1  EPA  PUBLICATIONS  DN  GROUND-LEVEL DZDNE  AND
         PARTICULATE  MATTER
Ozone and Your Health (EPA-452/F-99-003)
http://www.epa.gov/airnow/ozone-c.pdf
This short, colorful pamphlet tells who is at risk from exposure to ozone, what health effects are caused by
ozone, and simple measures that can be taken to reduce health risk.
Smog— Who Does It Hurt? (EPA-452/K-99-001)
http://www.epa.gov/airnow/health/smog.pdf
This 8-page booklet provides more detailed information than "Ozone and Your Health" about ozone health
effects  and  how to avoid them.
Haze—How Air Pollution Affects the View (EPA-456/F-99-001)
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/tl/fr_notices/haze.pdf
This two-page pamphlet gives a general description of what regional haze is, where it comes from, and  what
is being done to reduce it.
GROUND-LEVEL OZONE  AND FINE  PARTICULATE  MATTER                  3-9

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PM—How Paniculate Matter Affects the Way We Live 6- Breathe
http-.llwww. epa.govlairlurbanairlpmlindex. html
This short pamphlet describes the sources and health effects of particulate matter and summarizes EPA's
strategies for reducing PM.

3.7.2  ONLINE  RESOURCES  ABOUT THE  NATIONAL AMBIENT
         AIR  QUALITY STANDARDS
EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards Web site
http-.llwww. epa.gov/oar/oaqps/
EPA's Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act (EPA-400/K-93-001)
http-.llwww. epa.gov/oar/oaqps/peg_caa/pegcaain. html
EPA's Updated Air Quality Standards for Smog (Ozone) and Particulate Matter
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/naaqsfin/
EPA's Revised Ozone Standard (1997 fact sheet)
http-.llwww. epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/naaqsfin/o3fact. html
EPA's Revised Particulate Matter Standards (1997  fact sheet)
http-.llwww. epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/naaqsfin/pmfact. html

3.7.3  ONLINE  RESOURCES  ABOUT AM Bl E NT Al R  MONITORING
EPA's Ambient Monitoring Technology Information Center (AMTIC) Web site
http-.llwww. epa.gov/ttn/amtic/
EPA's AirNow Web site
http-.llwww. epa.gov/airnow/
EPA's Monitoring Requirements for Particulate Matter (1997 fact sheet)
http-.llwww. epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/naaqsfin/pmonfact. html
Ozone Monitoring, Mapping, and Public Outreach: Delivering Real- Time Ozone Information to Your
Community (EPA-625/R-99-007)
http-.llwww. epa.gov/airnow/empact/start. htm

3.7.4  EPA  PUBLICATIONS ABOUT THE AIR  QUALITY  INDEX
Air Quality Index—A Guide to Air Quality and Your Health (EPA-454/R-00-005)
http:llwww.epa.govlairnowlaqi_cl.pdf
This booklet explains EPA's Air Quality Index (AQI) and the health effects of major air pollutants.
Guideline for Reporting of Daily Air Quality—Air Quality Index (EPA-454/R-99-010)
http-.llwww. epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/tl/memoranda/rg701 .pdf
This guidance is designed to aid local agencies in reporting air quality using the AQI.
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4
BEGINNING  THE  PROGRAM
       This chapter provides information and recommendations,
       based on the experience of the AirBeat project, on important
       first steps that you will need to take as you start your com-
munity-based air pollution monitoring and outreach program.
Section 4.1 presents a brief overview of the structure of an AirBeat-
type program and outlines the roles and responsibilities of program
partners. Section 4.2  discusses the critical process of selecting pro-
gram partners who can best help you meet your program's objectives
within your target community. Section 4.3 presents guidance on
identifying potentially impacted communities that you may want to
target with your program. Section 4.4 provides tips on getting to
know your target community in terms of the cultures and languages
of residents, their awareness of air quality issues, and other factors.
Finally, Section 4.5 offers suggestions on estimating program costs
and leveraging resources  available to you.
The information in this chapter is designed primarily for managers
and decision-makers who may be considering whether to implement
AirBeat-type programs in their communities, as well as for organizers
who are interested in  improving or refining existing programs.
                                                            Get to know your target community,
                                                            including the cultures and languages
                                                                of the people who live there.
4.1   PROGRAM  STRUCTURE: OVERVIEW  OF  A  COMMUNITY-
        BASED  AIR  POLLUTION  MONITORING AND
        OUTREACH  PROGRAM
AirBeat is a multifaceted project that engages in a variety of activities—everything from writing and distrib-
uting flyers to developing Web sites and calibrating monitoring equipment. These activities can be grouped
into four main categories, which make up the main components of the project:  monitoring, data manage-
ment and delivery, education and outreach, and project management.
The following paragraphs summarize these activities to provide an overview of how the AirBeat project
works. These activities are described in much greater detail in Chapters 5 through 7.
Monitoring
           During the planning stages for monitoring, a quality assurance plan is developed
           by senior technical experts familiar with the monitoring technologies  to be applied.5
           Based on the plan, the monitoring site is then selected and the specific monitoring
           equipment to be used is identified and procured. On-site installation  of the monitor-
           ing shelter and equipment is typically performed by a skilled field technician who
           will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the equipment during the
           program. After equipment installation and checkout are completed, method-specific
           Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), reflecting all technologies being applied,
           must be developed. Monitoring activities are conducted by field technicians in
           accordance with the SOPs and the monitoring schedule previously developed.
 In the case of AirBeat, the two partner organizations responsible for monitoring (MA DEP and the Harvard School of Public Health) already had
 well-established quality assurance (QA) programs in place. These programs included QA protocols for many of the measurement methods run at
 the Dudley Square monitoring station. AirBeat s senior technical experts developed a separate QA narrative to cover the operation of measurement
 methods run specifically for the AirBeat project. See Chapter 5 for more information about this narrative.
 BEGINNING  THE  PROGRAM
                                                                                       4-1

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Data Management
Outreach
                     AirBeat's data management and delivery activities are performed by an automated
                     Data Management Center (DMC), which is comprised of several hardware and
                     software components. The DMC was developed during the EMPACT grant period
                     (1999 to 2001) by AirBeat's information technology experts, and continues to oper-
                     ate today with minimal human oversight. The DMC executes numerous functions:
                     downloading data files from the monitoring station via a modem-to-modem connec-
                     tion; storing the raw data to a database; validating data completeness and integrity;
                     translating data into Air Quality Index values for reporting pollutant levels; generat-
                     ing graphics; and delivering data to the public via the AirBeat Web site and
                     telephone hotline.
                     AirBeat's outreach efforts include two types of activities: 1) disseminating air quality
                     data, and 2) educating Roxbury residents about the connections between air pollu-
                     tion and respiratory illnesses and about the steps that people can take to reduce
                     harmful exposures. AirBeat has two automated systems for data dissemination—the
                     AirBeat Web site and telephone hotline—which are still in operation today. During
                     the EMPACT grant period, the AirBeat team conducted an extensive education
                     campaign that relied on multiple approaches and outreach tools, including fact
                     sheets and flyers, contextual materials posted on the Web  site, press releases,
                     curriculum modules, workshops and presentations, and events and tours. AirBeat
                     also conducted direct outreach to nurses  and other health care providers.
                     Some education and outreach efforts are  still ongoing (see Section 1.2 for the
                     current status of the AirBeat project).
                     Project management under AirBeat was handled during the EMPACT grant period
                     by the Suffolk County Conservation District (SCCD), a body of five elected individ-
                     uals who volunteer their time  to the agency, and Charles Consulting, a small,
                     independent firm that was hired to manage the day-to-day operations of the project
                     during the start-up phase. Management duties included project coordination, sched-
                     uling and facilitating meetings of the AirBeat team, and partnership building. The
                     management team  also helped select subcontractors, wrote reports, and managed the
                     budget. The need for a defined project management team ended in 2001 with the
                     conclusion of the grant period.
The flow chart on the following page summarizes the basic structure of the AirBeat project. The chart
identifies the main activities of the project, the team members responsible for these activities, and the flow
of work and communication between team members. It also shows the flow of data.

4.2  SELECTING  PROGRAM   PARTNERS
As described in Chapter 1, AirBeat grew out of a partnership between several public, private, and non-profit
organizations. These included a university, a state environmental agency, a county conservation agency, an
interstate air quality association, and a community-based environmental justice organization.
Why were so many partners needed for what is essentially a small-scale program? The activities conducted
by AirBeat during the EMPACT grant period (1999  to 2001) demanded a number of specialized skills,
from communication and language skills to air monitoring training, from Internet  design experience to
project management skills. Each partner played a different role in the project, based on the specific skills
and qualifications that partner had to offer.
Management
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                STRUCTURE  OF  THE  AIRBEAT  PROJECT
                                                            Project Management
                                                           • planning & coordination
                                                           • manage budget
                                                           • build partnerships
                                                           • select subcontractors
                                                           • develop reports
                                                                I
                            Senior Monitoring Experts
                            • site selection
                            • QA planning
                            • instrumentation selection
                            • develop SOPs
                            • quality control
                         IT Experts
                  • select hardware/software
                  • build data management center
                  • develop AirBeat Website
                  • develop telephone hotline
                     Field Technicians
                     • instrumentation
                      installation,
                      operation, and
                      maintenance
 Monitoring Site
measurements of:
• PM2.5
• 03
• BC
• weather
                                                                I
                                 Outreach Team
                            • develop outreach materials
                            • press releases
                            • workshops & presentations
                            • internship program
                            • outreach to schools and
                             health care providers
  Data Management Center
• download data from monitors
• validate data
• translate data into formats for
 delivery to public
• generate graphics
   Website & Hotline
• disseminate data to public
• maps and graphs
• provide contextual
 educational material
• links to other information
=D>
                                                                Other Data
                                                             • hazecam images
                                                             • weather
                                                             • ozone maps
                                                                                                            > = Flow of work and
                                                                                                              communication between
                                                                                                              project team

                                                                                                            >= Flow of data through
                                                                                                             automated systems
               For example, the Harvard School of Public Health, a founding AirBeat partner, offered the technical skills
               needed for developing innovative instrumentation set-ups for the Roxbury monitoring station. Harvard's
               staff also had the expertise to develop quality assurance plans for validating monitoring data. Alternatives  for
               Community & Environment (ACE), the project's community partner, did not offer these kinds of technical
               skills, but contributed something just as important: familiarity with the Dudley Square neighborhood and
               the communication skills necessary to work closely with its residents.

               In  starting your own air pollution monitoring and outreach program, you'll need to assemble a team of
               individuals or organizations who offer a similar range of skills and qualifications. To select partners or team
               members, you should think about how each  will fit into the overall program structure, and how different
               partners can work together to create a successful program. You will also need to consider their relationship
               to the target community. For example:

                    • An organization or agency that already  has strong ties to the community can be ideal for conducting
                     outreach and education for your program. Community action programs or neighborhood health
                     centers can be  a good choice.
               BEGINNING  THE  PROGRAM
                                                                                      4-3

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    • Partnering with a state or local air pollution control agency can allow you to tap into the existing
     monitoring infrastructure in your area and can ease the financial burden of setting up a monitoring
     station and procuring the necessary equipment and instrumentation. Agency staff can also offer your
     program a wealth of monitoring expertise. Depending upon which state you live in, air pollution
     monitoring may be carried out at the state level, or at the local, county, regional, tribal, or territorial
     level. EPA Regional Offices also can be valuable  partners in your monitoring efforts.

     To find the agency (or agencies) responsible for air monitoring in your area,  check out the Clean Air
     World Web site (http://www.cleanairworld.org/). The Web site allows you to search by state for air
     pollution  control agencies, and provides contact  names and information.
    • A nearby college or university can help with any research components of your program, or may be able
     to provide assistance and equipment for the monitoring activities.

4.3 IDENTIFYING  POTENTIALLY  IMPACTED
       COMMUNITIES
The first step in beginning  an air quality monitoring and outreach program is to identify target communi-
ties in your area that may be impacted by air pollution. There are two main approaches to doing this: using
existing air quality data, or  using air pollution predictors.

4.3.1   USING  EXISTING AIR  QUALITY DATA
In attempting to identify potentially impacted communities, you should start by doing some research to
find out what types of air quality monitoring or testing is being (or has been) conducted in your area. Your
state or local  air pollution control agency should be able to provide you with information about its own
monitoring programs and will likely know about any other local monitoring efforts (for example, air quality
testing done by nearby universities or community organizations). See Section 4.2 for tips on contacting
state and local agencies. EPA Regional Offices can also serve as a source of information.

Agency staff should also be able to point you to state publications and online resources that present any
monitoring results that are publicly available. Most states, for example, publish an annual air quality report
that summarizes monitoring results and identifies long-term air quality trends. Increasingly, states are also
posting monitoring results directly to the Internet.
On a national level, EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) publishes an annual
National Air Quality and Emissions Trends Report, which gives a detailed analysis of changes in air pollution
levels over the last  10 years, plus a summary of the current  air pollution status. Among other things, the
report identifies those cities and regions of the country that have been designated  non-attainment areas—
areas where air  pollution  levels persistently exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for criteria
pollutants. Information on  non-attainment areas can also be found in EPA's "Green Book"
(http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/greenbk/index.html), an online resource published by  OAQPS.
Another valuable source of information is EPA's AlRData Web site, found at
http://www.epa.gov/air/data/index.html. The AlRData site gives you access to air pollution data for the entire
United States. It presents annual summaries of air pollution data from three EPA databases:
    • The AIRS (Aerometric Information Retrieval System) database, which provides data on ambient
     concentrations of criteria air pollutants at monitoring sites, primarily in cities and towns.
    • The NET (National Emission Trends) database, which provides estimates of annual emissions of
     criteria air pollutants from point, area, and mobile sources.
    • The NTI  (National Toxics Inventory) database, which provides estimates of annual emissions of
     hazardous air pollutants from point, area, and mobile sources.
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4.3.2  USING PREDICTORS  DF AIR PDLLUTIDN
Another approach to identifying potentially impacted communities involves looking for geographic areas
where the important predictors of air pollution are present. These predictors include (but are not limited to):
    • Heavy traffic flows (especially diesel traffic). Motor vehicles produce a variety of air pollutants, includ-
     ing particulate matter and other pollutants that  combine to form ground-level ozone. Diesel trucks
     and buses, in particular, are a significant pollutant source. Most state departments of transportation
     (DOTs) conduct ongoing studies to evaluate traffic flows and the types of vehicles using the roads.
     Contact your state DOT to ask whether they can provide study results for your area. Communities
     located near major transit corridors have a high  potential for impacts from vehicle emissions.
    • Industrial emissions. The presence of nearby industrial facilities (such as oil refineries, chemical plants,
     power plants, and asphalt plants) can be a predictor of air pollution. You can find out where such
     industries are located by contacting your state environmental agency or EPA Regional Office.
     For information on emissions of toxic pollutants, try searching EPA's Toxic Release Inventory  (TRI)
     database to identify facilities in your area that have reported releases of toxics to the environment.
     The TRI is found at: http://www.epa.gov/tri/
    • High density of smaller businesses that release air pollution. Many small businesses (such as gas
     stations, autobody shops, and dry cleaners) produce air pollution. Though emissions from these
     individual sources may be relatively small, collectively their emissions can be of concern—particularly
     when large numbers are located in heavily populated areas.
    • Construction activity, materials handling, and crushing and grinding operations.  All of these  activities
     can act as a source of air pollution (coarse particulate matter, especially).
As part of the process of identifying potentially impacted communities, you might also want to gather
information on local asthma hospitalization rates and the prevalence of other respiratory illnesses. By them-
selves, high asthma hospitalization rates are not considered an indicator of outdoor air pollution. (After all,
there are other types of exposures, such as exposure to cigarette smoke and indoor air pollutants, that can
trigger asthma attacks requiring hospitalization.) However, statistics on asthma incidence can help you iden-
tify communities that are vulnerable and potentially in-need of the type of data that your program  will be
generating. If these statistics show that local asthma rates are elevated, you can do additional research to
determine if the community might be impacted by outdoor air pollution.
Community concern about elevated asthma rates in Roxbury was a driving motivation in the launch of the
AirBeat project. Yet the project might never have come to fruition without the work done by Roxbury com-
munity organizations to quantify the number and types of local air pollution sources. For example, youth
associated with ACE's Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project undertook an effort to map air pollu-
tion sources in Roxbury neighborhoods. This research revealed that there were more than 15 truck  and bus
depots within a one-mile radius of Roxbury, garaging more than 1,150 diesel vehicles. With  this informa-
tion in hand, community leaders were able  to capture the attention of state environmental officials  with
their request that a monitoring station be sited in Roxbury.

4.4  BETTING TD  KNOW  THE  COMMUNITY
Once you have identified your target community, your task is to learn more about it. Make sure you have
your target area clearly mapped and marked so that you can begin planning. Next, find out the key "statis-
tics" about the community. Some of the questions you will want to answer about the community include:
    • What are the cultures and languages of the people who live there?
    • What are the residents' income and education levels?
    • What organizations and agencies are active in the community?


BEGINNING THE  PROGRAM                                                            4-5

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   • What health care facilities are located there?
   • How many children in the community suffer from asthma and other respiratory illnesses?

   • What is the level of awareness among community members about air pollution issues and health
     effects? What concerns do community members have about local air quality?
Information such as income and education levels can be obtained from census data; other information
about the community can be provided by your community partners (see Section 4.2) and by your local
or state department of health. All of this information will help you form a clear picture of your target
community and the best ways to reach them.
       Lessons Learned: Gathering Community Input Through Public Meetings
 One effective way of getting to know your target community is to hold public meetings. You can use
 these meetings to present your plans for developing an air pollution monitoring and outreach program
 and to gather input  from community members about their air quality concerns. Once your program  is
 underway, public meetings provide an opportunity for alerting the community about the availability of
 your real-time  data and educating residents about connections between air pollution and respiratory
 illnesses. AirBeat's outreach partner, Alternatives for Community & Environment, incorporated AirBeat
 information into dozens of workshops for youth peer groups from community health centers and housing
 developments. ACE staff also made presentations at large community events such as the Youth
 Summit,  which attracts roughly 200 youth participants.
 One Missouri-based program, the St. Louis Community Air Project (CAP), holds monthly community
 partnership meetings. These meetings give community representatives an opportunity to help direct the
 CAP project, communicate to the project coordinators what resources the community would find most
 useful, and learn about the most recent findings of the ongoing program research. Community input
 gathered during these meetings is a driving force in the ongoing evolution of CAP. See Appendix B  for
 more  information on the St. Louis Community Air Project.
4.5 ESTIMATING  PROGRAM  COSTS
Another important step for your organization to take when it is considering setting up an air pollution
monitoring and outreach program is to estimate how much your planned activities will cost. Although your
program need not be as large or ambitious as AirBeat's, you may find it helpful to know how much money
AirBeat spent.
Over its first two and a half years, AirBeat received roughly $500,000 in funding from EPA's EMPACT
Program. These funds were allocated to the five partner organizations, each of which was responsible for
specific activities involved in the startup and implementation of the project:
   • Project management was handled by the Suffolk County Conservation District (SCCD). This cost
     roughly $100,000, or 20 percent of the overall EMPACT budget for AirBeat. Specific management
     responsibilities included coordinating and facilitating meetings, writing reports, managing the AirBeat
     budget, building partnerships, and helping select subcontractors. SCCD hired an independent con-
     tractor, Charles Consulting, to oversee the day-to-day operations of the project during the EMPACT
     grant period.
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    1 Air pollution monitoring was conducted during the grant period by two organizations: the Harvard
     School of Public Health and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. HSPH staff
     were responsible for selecting the innovative measurement methods used at the Dudley Square station,
     developing quality assurance procedures for these methods, installing instrumentation, and operating
     and maintaining the monitoring equipment during the early project phases. This cost roughly
     $60,000. MA DEP held overall responsibility for the station (which is part of the state's monitoring
     network) and operated and maintained the station during the later phases of the grant period. MA
     DEP also purchased much of the instrumentation for the station. MA DEP's contributions to the
     AirBeat monitoring effort were generally paid for out of the agency's budget, although MA DEP did
     receive about $10,000 from AirBeat for the purchase of instrumentation.

     Overall, roughly $70,000, or 14 percent, of the AirBeat budget went toward the monitoring efforts.
     However, it should be noted that these figures don't represent the actual costs of the monitoring effort,
     since many costs were paid by MA DEP.
    1 Data management and delivery efforts were conducted by NESCAUM (Northeast States for
     Coordinated Air Use Management). These efforts cost roughly $250,000, or 50 percent of the AirBeat
     budget. Most of these funds went toward the development of an automated Data Management
     Center, which downloads data files from the monitoring station, validates the data, and prepares the
     data for delivery to the public. NESCAUM's other responsibilities included development of the
     AirBeat Web site and telephone hotline system. Since  the end of the grant period, the Data
     Management Center, Web site, and telephone hotline have continued to operate in automated fashion.
    1 Education and outreach efforts were conducted during the grant period by Alternatives for Community
     & Environment. These cost roughly $80,000, or 16 percent of the AirBeat budget. ACE's activities
     included developing fact sheets and flyers, issuing press releases, creating and teaching curriculum mod-
     ules on air quality issues, delivering workshops and presentations, and staging events and tours. ACE
     also conducted direct outreach to nurses and other health care providers and ran an internship program
     for Roxbury youths. Some of these activities have continued since the end of the grant period.
                   AIRBEAT  COST BREAKDOWN,  1999-2001
BEGINNING  THE PROGRAM
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This breakdown represents the startup and implementation costs of a cutting-edge program over roughly
two and a half years. These costs should not be taken as completely representative of the ongoing costs of
other air pollution monitoring and outreach programs. Since the end of the EMPACT grant period, in
2001, AirBeat has continued to provide real-time data on air pollution to the Roxbury community, with
MA DEP  financing the operation of the Dudley Square monitoring station as part of its statewide monitor-
ing network. AirBeat's Data Management Center, Web site, and telephone hotline operate on an automated
basis, with NESCAUM providing the little human oversight that is needed.
It is certainly possible for new programs to avoid some
of the major costs absorbed by the AirBeat project.
Here's just one example: Today, many state and local
air control agencies have the capability of providing
the public with real-time data from their monitoring
networks.  In other words, these agencies have devel-
oped data management systems that can validate
continuous monitoring data, process it, and deliver  it
via Web sites in real time. In 1998, at the start of the
AirBeat project, MA DEP did not have this capability.
Therefore, as described in Chapter 6, AirBeat needed
to create a Data Management Center of its own that
could perform the real-time validation and processing
functions—and this was an extremely costly task.
A new AirBeat-type program getting underway today
might be able to avoid this cost altogether if it could
download pre-processed data (rather than raw data)
from a partner agency's network. A model for this
type of cost-efficient program is the St. Louis Regional
Clean Air Partnership, described in Appendix C.

In the end, the actual costs of your program will
depend on the decisions you make in response to numerous
questions, both small and large, that will arise during the planning and implementation stages of your
program. Examples include: How many pollutants will your program monitor? Can you partner with a state
or local air control agency that is already monitoring those pollutants in your target community? Will you
need to purchase monitoring instrumentation? What other  organizations will you partner with,  and what
resources and areas of expertise do they bring to the table? Will your team include a qualified Internet
Technology specialist who can oversee the data management operation on a daily basis, or will you need to
subcontract this work?
During the planning of an AirBeat-type pro-
gram, one principle to keep in mind is to
always leverage existing resources. Do some
research and networking and find out what
activities are going on in your area related to
air pollution. Is there a Web site out there
already that reports ambient pollutant levels
to the public? Then think carefully if there's a
need for another one. Is there a local commu-
nity group that is educating the public on  air
pollution issues? That group might make an
excellent outreach  partner. Is  there a profes-
sor at the local  university who is mapping
pollutant sources in your area? Perhaps he or
she would be interested in contributing to
your project.
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5
MONITORING
       This chapter provides general information on how to develop a monitoring system for making contin-
       uous measurements of ozone, fine particulate matter (PM2 5), and black carbon soot in ambient air.
       Section 5.1 gives an overview of AirBeat's monitoring efforts. Section 5.2 details the key steps in
 designing and implementing a monitoring system and provides illustrative examples from the AirBeat proj-
 ect. These key steps include:
    • Quality assurance planning (Section 5.2.1).

    • Siting a monitoring station (Section 5.2.2).

    • Selecting monitoring instrumentation and equipment (Section 5.2.3).
    • Installation, maintenance, and operation of monitoring equipment (Sections 5.2.4  and 5.2.5).
 The information in this chapter is designed primarily for program managers and others who are interested
 in the monitoring process. The chapter is meant to provide an overview of the work and considerations that
 go  into designing a monitoring system. The chapter is not meant to provide step-by-step instructions. Any
 organization that is interested in developing an ambient air monitoring program is advised to consult with
 senior technical experts before launching the process.

 5.1  OVERVIEW  OF  AIRBEAT'S   MONITORING  EFFORTS
 AirBeat's real-time pollution data come from a single monitoring station located in Dudley Square, a major
 commercial hub in the center of Roxbury. This monitoring station is part of a statewide network of 42 moni-
 toring sites operated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to gather data on ambient concentrations of
 criteria pollutants.  Under the Clean Air Act, every state is required to operate a similar network of monitors
 (called State and Local Air Monitoring Stations, or SLAMS) to ensure that air quality meets federal standards.
 See Chapter 3 of this handbook for more information on SLAMS and federal air monitoring requirements.
 The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MA DEP), an AirBeat partner, is the agency in
 charge of siting and operating the monitoring stations in the commonwealth's SLAMS network. In 1997, MA
 DEP began investigating the possibility of siting a PM2 5 monitor in Roxbury to comply with new PM2 5
 monitoring requirements  set by EPA earlier that year (go to http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/naaqsjin/pmonfact.html
 for a summary of the requirements). These requirements call for states to operate at least one PM2 5 monitor
 in every metropolitan area with at least 500,000 people. The requirements also direct the states to site PM2 5
 monitors in areas where there is both a likelihood of observing high PM2 5 concentrations  and  also a poten-
 tially large affected population. Based on preliminary PM2 5  monitoring that had been carried out by various
 groups, Roxbury seemed to meet the requirements for a Boston-based monitoring location.

 In siting the monitor, MA DEP invited the input of several local community organizations, including
 Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), an environmental justice organization that had advocated
 the need for air quality monitoring in Roxbury. Together, they settled on the Dudley Square location. Out of
 this cooperative effort, the AirBeat project was born. The driving motivation behind the project was a desire  to
 leverage the air quality information from the new monitoring site by making the data accessible to Roxbury
 residents in real time. The final AirBeat team included MA DEP, ACE, the Suffolk County Conservation
 District, and two locally based organizations with proven expertise in ambient air monitoring: the Harvard
 School of Public Health and Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM).
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MA DEP's original intention had been to outfit the Dudley Square monitoring station with the same
instrumentation being used at the time (circa 1998) at other PM2 5 monitoring sites around the
commonwealth. This meant that the station would produce measurements of PM2 5 and two other criteria
pollutants: sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen. The PM2 5 measurements would not be continuous.
Once the other AirBeat partners became involved, the decision was made to augment the monitoring
capabilities of the Dudley Square station to address concerns that are specific to the Roxbury community.
Chief among these concerns was the suspicion that elevated concentrations of certain air pollutants, such as
ozone and particulate matter, might be contributing to Roxbury's high asthma  hospitalization rate and the
incidence of other respiratory illnesses. Community members had also raised specific questions about
potential health effects associated with diesel emissions from trucks and buses (research by ACE interns
had revealed that more than 1,150 trucks and buses are garaged within 1.5 miles of Dudley Square).

To  address these questions, the AirBeat team arranged to include the following monitoring capabilities at
the Dudley Square site:
    • Continuous monitoring for PM2 5.
    • Continuous monitoring for black carbon soot, which is a strong indicator of local diesel emissions.
     Although  BC is a component of PM2 5 (typically about 10 percent by mass), its temporal variation
     can be very different, often peaking during morning rush hour. The Dudley Square station is the only
     monitoring site in the commonwealth that measures BC.

    • Continuous monitoring for ozone.6
    • Meteorological monitoring to track weather conditions.
The AirBeat team also made arrangements with MA DEP to download the raw monitoring data directly
from the Dudley Square station via a modem-to-modem connection, so that AirBeat could process the data
and deliver it to the public in real time. The Dudley Square station became the first  monitoring site in
Massachusetts producing real-time data that are accessible to the public online  (http://www.airbeat.org)
or through a telephone hotline (617-427-9500).
In addition, the AirBeat team arranged to download  images of the  Boston skyline from a HazeCam located
12  miles northeast of the city. The images from the camera, posted hourly to the AirBeat Web site, are
meant to demonstrate the effects of urban air pollution on visibility, in addition to public health. See
Chapter 6 for more information on  the use of HazeCam images.

In selecting the instrumentation for the Dudley Square station, the AirBeat team chose to test two innova-
tive methods for air quality monitoring. The first of these, the  Continuous Ambient Mass Monitor
(CAMM),  is a new tool  for measuring PM2 5 concentrations in ambient air. The CAMM was tested side by
side with another, more-established PM monitor (the TEOM)  and proved reliable. The AirBeat team also
tested an innovative method for monitoring BC concentrations: the Aethalometer, which provides a surro-
gate measurement of diesel emissions. Like the CAMM, the Aethalometer proved reliable, and it is the first
BC monitor capable of taking continuous measurements at unattended monitoring stations. Section
5.2.3.2, below,  provides  additional details about both of these  innovative instruments.
Three AirBeat partners shared the work of planning, setting up and operating the project's monitoring system:
    • The Harvard School of Public  Health, which was responsible for selecting and  setting up the innova-
     tive monitors for PM2 5 and BC, developing standard operating procedures, and conducting routine
     reviews.
° Along with ozone and PM2 5, the station also monitors other criteria pollutants, including carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and oxides of nitrogen,
 although these data are not reported to the public by AirBeat.

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    • MA DEP, which was responsible for selecting and setting up much of the station's instrumentation
     consistent with other MA DEP monitoring sites, developing standard operating procedures, and man-
     aging day-to-day operation and maintenance of the monitoring equipment.
    • NESCAUM, which established and operated data management systems for downloading air quality
     data from the Dudley Square station, validating the data, and delivering it to the public in multiple
     formats.
The efforts of these three organizations are described in more detail in the following sections and in
Chapter 6.

5.2  KEY STEPS  IN   DESIGNING  AND   IMPLEMENTING
        A  MONITORING  SYSTEM
Organizations interested in launching an AirBeat-type project should begin by  contacting the agency in
their state or region that is responsible for air quality monitoring. As described in Chapter 3 of this hand-
book, every state in the United States is required to operate a network of stations for measuring
concentrations of common pollutants in ambient air. Monitoring for these pollutants is conducted  in every
large city and in numerous other locations. No matter where your organization is located, your best option
for developing reliable ozone and particulate data within a reasonable budget is to tap into the existing
monitoring infrastructure(s) in your area. Using the AirBeat model, you should try to develop a partnership
with the air quality agency in your region or state. Such agencies have  the resources and expertise needed to
develop and operate reliable monitoring systems, as well as insight into the availability of other environmen-
tal monitoring resources.
The following subsections provide an overview of the key steps in designing and implementing an ambient
air monitoring system for ozone and fine particulate matter. The information presented here is geared
toward the development of monitoring systems that are consistent with EPA's standards for ozone and
PM2 5 monitoring networks. The information is meant to help program managers and others understand
the monitoring process; it is not meant to be a substitute for the knowledge and expertise offered by senior
technical experts.

5.2.1  QUALITY ASSURANCE  PLANNING
Planning for quality assurance activities and preparation of a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP)
are central to the success of any environmental data collection operation. The QAPP details how quality
assurance (QA)7 and quality control (QC)8 will be implemented for the complete duration of the project.
All projects involving the generation or acquisition and use of environmental measurements data must be
planned and documented prior to the start of data collection.
In a single document, the QAPP provides an overview of the entire project, describes the need for the
measurements, and defines QA/QC activities to be applied to the project, with enough detail to provide
a clear description of every aspect of the project.

The critical functions to be addressed in the QAPP are:
    • Project Background and Management. This section of the QAPP should provide background
     information and define the problem to be addressed and the general goals of the project. It should  also
     describe project  organization (e.g., staffing responsibilities), quality objectives and acceptance criteria
     for measurement data, special training and/or certification requirements, and plans for documentation
     and record keeping.

'  Quality assurance is defined as an integrated system of management activities involving planning, implementation, documentation, assessment,
  reporting, and quality improvement to ensure that a process, item, or service is of the type and quality needed and expected by the client.
°  Quality control is defined as the overall system of technical activities that measures the attributes and performance of a process, item, or service
  against defined standards to verify that they meet the stated requirements established by the customer; operational techniques and activities that
  are used to fulfill requirements for quality.

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    • Technical Approach. This section of the QAPP should address the design and implementation of the
     project's measurement systems. The point is to ensure that appropriate approaches/methods are
     employed for performing measurements, data handling, and QC, and that these approaches/methods
     are thoroughly documented. The section should also detail what measurements are expected, what the
     applicable technical quality standards and/or criteria are, what the project schedule is, and what the
     reporting requirements are.
    • Assessment/Oversight. This section of the QAPP should describe what QA/QC steps will be taken
     to ensure the effectiveness of the project and that all project facets are conducted according to plan.
     Facets to cover include: (1)  experimental design, (2) representativeness of the data, (3) instrument
     operation and data acquisition, (4) calibration check procedures, (5) data quality indicators,
     (6) systems and performance audits, and (7) peer review.

    • Data Validation and Usability. The QAPP should also describe what steps will be taken to ensure that
     the individual data elements conform to the criteria specified in the project's Data Quality Objectives.
Identifying Data Quality Objectives (DQOs) is one of the first steps  in preparing a QAPP. DQOs are
qualitative and quantitative statements, developed using the EPA DQO Process, that clarify study objectives
and specify tolerable levels of potential errors. DQOs establish the quality and quantity of data needed to
support program decisions. An example of a DQO used by the AirBeat project for its real-time  data set is:
"Precision and accuracy of better than  10% for ozone and continuous PM2 5". The project's QA plan
included detailed procedures for determining whether or not this DQO was being met.
For more information on QAPPs, see the document EPA Requirements for Quality Assurance Project Plans,
available online at http://www.epa.gov/quality/qs-docs/r5-final.pdf. EPA's Guidance for the Data Quality
Objectives Process can be found at http://www.epa.gov/quality/qs-docs/g4-final.pdf
                              Quality Assurance Project Plans
 A QAPP should demonstrate that:
   • Technical and quality objectives for the project have been identified and addressed.
   • Intended measurement approaches are appropriate for achieving project objectives.
   • Assessment procedures are sufficient to confirm that the project's Data Quality Objectives will be met.
     Any limitations on the use  of the data have been identified and documented.
5.2.1.1  AIRBEAT'S GJ UALITY  ASS U RANG E PLANNING
At the outset of AirBeat, two of the project's partner organizations—MA DEP and the Harvard School of
Public Health—already had well-established QA programs in place. As the operator of a statewide ambient
air monitoring network, MA DEP is required to have an EPA-approved QA program. Likewise, Harvard
had developed a QA program that was evaluated by EPA for earlier monitoring efforts.
Rather than create a new QAPP to encompass the entire AirBeat project, MA DEP and Harvard were able
to draw upon their existing QA plans. These plans included QA procedures for many of the measurement
methods run at the Dudley Square monitoring station. AirBeat's senior technical experts developed a separate
QA narrative to cover the operation of measurement methods run specifically for the AirBeat project.
These included the continuous monitoring for PM2 5, black carbon soot, and ozone.
The QA narrative, which is presented at the end of this chapter, provides background information about the
monitoring effort, defines DQOs and the procedures for determining whether or not DQOs are being met,
describes guidelines for assessing  data completeness, and identifies procedures for detecting equipment failures.
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5.2.2  SITING A  MONITORING  STATION
To ensure that measurement data collected during any monitoring effort are appropriate for their intended
use, monitoring stations must be located to provide, to the extent practical, the most unbiased and accurate
representation of the area being characterized. The selection of an appropriate location for a given ambient
air monitoring application is dependent on:

   • Project-specific DQOs.
   • Method-specific specifications and recommendations.
   • Monitoring site type (i.e., criteria pollutants, ozone precursors, air toxics, special application) and scale
     issues (i.e., macro, micro).
   • Practical limitations.

Let's look at each of these considerations in turn.

5.2.2.1  PROJECT-SPECIFIC  DATA QUALITY OBJECTIVES
The first step in appropriately siting a monitoring station is understanding the project-specific DQOs
associated with the monitoring effort being planned. The DQO process is described in Section 5.2.1.

5.2.2.2  METHOD-SPECIFIC  REQUIREMENTS
Most monitoring methods contain specifications and recommendations for siting the associated monitoring
instrumentation and any ancillary equipment. The siting specifications and recommendations can be quite
different from one monitoring method to another. If multiple monitoring methods are proposed  for one
site location, the siting specifications of each  proposed method must be compared to determine compatibil-
ity. If conflicts exist in the siting specifications for different monitoring methods, prioritization  of the
targeted pollutants must be conducted. After the pollutants of interest have been prioritized, the siting spec-
ifications corresponding to the highest priority pollutant should be applied to the site location identification
process, with the potential effect on lower priority targeted pollutants documented.

5.2.2.3     MONITORING  SITE  TYPE AND SCALE  ISSUES
As with the specific monitoring method requirements, the monitoring site types have individual specifications
and recommendations for locating a site. Examples of four primary site types  are:
   • Criteria pollutants—monitoring performed at locations  of highest impact in areas where adherence to
     National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) must be documented.
   • Ozone precursors—monitoring performed around areas where the NAAQS for ozone have been
     exceeded.
   • Air toxics—monitoring performed at locations determined to represent a snap-shot of an area or the
     potential for health risk.

   • Special application—monitoring performed at a location potentially impacted by a specific source(s)
     for either regulatory or non-regulatory purposes.

Macro- and micro-scale siting issues must also be considered.  Macro-scale issues include:
   • Will the site typically be downwind of the  sources  of air pollution?
   • Will the local air parcel represent the monitoring goals?
   • Is cross contamination from other emission sources an issue?
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Micro-scale issues include:
    • Can all method-specific siting criteria be met, and if not, what will be the effect on the quality of the
     data generated?
    • Are power and/or other required utilities accessible?
    • Is there adequate space for the platform/shelter?

    • Is the site free of air flow obstructions?
    • Is security an issue and if so, can it be managed?
    • Is the safety of field staff at an acceptable level?

5.2.2.4 PRACTICAL  LIMITATIONS
Even after detailed and careful determination of where a site should ideally be located, practical limitations
may impact the ability to meet the ideal. Practical limitations include:
    • Availability of, and access to, property.
    • Access to power and/or telephone  service.
    • Security and/or liability issues.
In cases where practical limitations prevent positioning a monitoring site at the location considered ideal,
there are two alternatives: 1) the site may be positioned as close to the ideal location as possible if serious
impacts to the data will not result; or 2) another appropriate location will have to be identified.

5.2.2.5 SITING  THE  AIRBEAT MONITORING  STATION
Prior to the initiation of the AirBeat project, the environmental group Alternatives for Community &
Environment had lobbied MA DEP to  set up a monitoring site in what ACE considered to be an air pollu-
tion "Hot Spot" in Roxbury. Roxbury is a heavily urbanized neighborhood in the heart of Boston that is
impacted by local bus and truck sources, and ACE relayed to MA DEP the community concern about
exposure to diesel exhaust.
In response to  these community concerns, MA DEP closed down a monitoring site located in the nearby
town of Chelsea in order to initiate monitoring in Roxbury. In the process of developing DQOs for the
planned Roxbury monitoring station, MA DEP determined that respirable particulate, or PM2 5, was the
highest priority targeted pollutant. Consequently, selection of an appropriate location for a Roxbury moni-
toring site was made based on siting considerations consistent with a top priority of performing
representative PM2 5 measurements in an inner city neighborhood environment. Roxbury presented itself
as an ideal monitoring site location because:

    • Historically, Roxbury has documented high  rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses that raised
     widespread concern about  the local air quality.
    • Diesel-powered vehicles have been shown to be major contributors to PM2 5 emissions, and there are
     more than 15 bus and truck depots housing more than 1,150 diesel-powered vehicles within the
     Dudley Square  area of Roxbury.
After evaluating adherence to the project DQOs and all of the siting specifications and recommendations
associated with the proposed monitoring methods, a suitable site location was identified in the Dudley
Square area of Roxbury, in an unused portion of a Boston Edison Electrical Substation yard. MA DEP
secured permission from the Boston Edison Company to use the substation yard and locate a monitoring
shelter, instrumentation, and ancillary equipment on their property. To ensure safety and security, MA DEP
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                                                             The Dudley Square monitoring station.
contracted to have a chain link fence installed to segregate the monitoring area from the area where active
electrical transformers were located, and to provide security for the monitoring equipment and personnel
during the study. After the fencing was installed, the monitoring shelter was erected at the site. Applicable
location/siting specifications for each of the monitoring methods were documented in the method-specific
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) prepared by MA DEP and HSPH prior to the onset of monitoring
(see Section 5.2.5).
The final siting of the Dudley Square station meets
EPA's guidance for PM2 5 monitoring, which calls
for measurements to be conducted in locations where
there is both a likelihood of observing high PM2 5
concentrations and also a potentially large affected
population. For ground-level ozone, the Dudley Square
station is considered a "neighborhood-scale site,"
producing measurements that are representative of
"conditions throughout some reasonably homogenous
urban subregion, with dimensions of a few kilometers."
(This definition is from EPA's standards for monitoring
networks as published in the Code of Federal
Regulations: 40 CFR Part 58, National Primary and
Secondary Ambient Air Quality Standards, accessible
online at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/amtic/40cfr58.html.}
While the ozone data from the Dudley Square
station accurately  represent the concentrations that
Roxbury residents are exposed to, the data are  not
representative of the ozone exposures of people who live outside of Boston's urban center—particularly those
people who live downwind from the city, with its many pollution sources. To counteract this, the AirBeat
Web site also includes regional ozone maps, which provide site visitors with information on ozone levels in
the greater Boston area (the maps are downloaded from EPA's AirNow Website at http://www.epa.gov/airnow).

5.2.3  SELECTING  MONITORING  INSTRUMENTATION  AND/OR
          EQUIPMENT
Many air pollutants can be measured using multiple,  but unique, types of instrumentation and/or
equipment. It is important that the correct approach  most suited to the  specific needs of an individual
monitoring effort be selected. The selection process is keyed to the monitoring methods determined to be
appropriate during development of the project DQOs.  Specific selection issues that should be considered are:
   • Measurement of the correct parameters.
   • Required quantity and quality of the data.

   • Ability to measure on the correct time scale.
   • Compatibility with the site design (outdoor or  indoor environment).
   • Compatibility with other equipment (for example, interfacing continuous emissions monitors and
     meteorological instrumentation with a data acquisition system).
   • Any regulatory-driven requirements.

In the case of criteria pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter, EPA has designated a number
of "reference methods" or "equivalent methods" for measuring ambient pollutant concentrations. EPA has
approved each of these methods for use in state or local air quality surveillance systems. Where determina-
tion of compliance with primary and secondary air quality standards is  required, instrumentation must be
MONITORING
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certified by EPA to be a reference method or equivalent method. The equivalency designation provides that
each separate instrumental approach may be directly substituted for the corresponding reference method,
and the data obtained are acceptable for any use allowed by the reference method.
The  following is an overview of the basic types of equipment needed to perform continuous air monitoring:
   • Extraction equipment—used to extract a sample of a pollutant from the atmosphere for analysis.

   • Analyzers—measure the pollution concentration in a sample of ambient air. Where possible, analyzers
     should meet  the reference method or equivalent method requirements specified by EPA to help ensure
     that air quality measurements are accurate.
   • Calibration units—determine the relationship between the observed and the true values of a measured
     parameter. Accuracy is the extent to which measurements represent their corresponding actual values,
     and precision is a measurement of the variability observed over repeated analyses. The accuracy and
     precision of data derived from air monitoring instruments depend on sound instrument calibration
     procedures.
   • Data loggers—computerized systems that can control and record data generated from several instru-
     ments at a monitoring site. With a data logger, you can interact with software using either a keyboard
     or an interactive, command-oriented interface.  Data loggers perform numerous functions: reviewing
     collected data, producing printed reports, controlling the analyzer and other instruments, setting up
     instrument operating parameters, performing diagnostic checks, setting up external events and alarms,
     and defining external storage.
Data can be downloaded from the data loggers to an off-site computer through a modem connection. In
addition to the off-site computer and modem, data acquisition and processing software and a data storage
module are needed to make the data available for further processing. See Chapter 6 for more information
on data management, processing, and delivery.

5.2.3.1   INSTRUMENTATION SELECTED  FDR  THE  DUDLEY SQUARE
            MONITORING  STATION
Table 5-1 provides a list of the specific instruments and equipment used at the Dudley Square monitoring
station. With a few notable exceptions, most of the instrumentation installed at the station was selected by
MA  DEP. Because the Dudley Square station is part of a statewide SLAMS network and generates data that
are used for determining compliance with federal air quality standards, MA DEP relied on instruments that
have been designated by EPA as reference or equivalent methods. These include instruments for making
continuous measurements  of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide. Because EPA
regulations  currently  do not allow for continuous PM2 5 monitors to be used for compliance monitoring,
MA  DEP installed a Thermo Andersen RAAS2.5-300 Sequential Sampler at the site to measure 24-hour
PM2 5 concentrations. These 24-hour measurements are used for determining compliance with the 24-hour
National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM2 5 (see Section 3.4.2).
Of the compliance monitors listed in the first section of Table 5-1, AirBeat uses only data from the continu-
ous ozone monitor. These ozone data are reported in real time on the AirBeat Web site. The second section
of the table lists the instruments used for gathering the real-time PM2 5 and black carbon data reported on
the site. See Section 5.2.3.2 for more information about these instruments.
When looking through the table, keep in mind that air monitoring technology is a rapidly evolving field.
Because much of the  instrumentation for the Dudley Square site was selected in the period between 1998
and  1999, it does  not necessarily represent the best or most up-to-date instrumentation currently available.
If you are interested in launching an AirBeat-type monitoring program and have questions about  appropri-
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ate instrumentation, contact your state or local air control agency, which will have up-to-date information
on the latest EPA-certified measurement methods. Indeed, you should make every effort to engage your
state or local air control agency as a partner in your monitoring effort. If you are interested in gathering
further information on reference or equivalent methods for measuring criteria pollutants, you can also visit
the following Web page, operated by EPA's Ambient Monitoring Technology Information Center:
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/amtic/criteria.html. The Web page provides lists of EPA-approved instrumentation.

TABLE  B-1 . MONITORING  INSTRUMENTATION AND  EQUIPMENT   USED
                 AT  DUDLEY  SQUARE SITE
Ozone (03)
Fine Particulate
Matter (PM2 5)
Nitrogen Dioxide (N02)
Sulfur Dioxide (S02)
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Calibration System
Calibration System
Advanced Pollution Instrumentation (API) 400 03 Analyzer (EPA Reference Method Number EQOA-0992-087)
Thermo Andersen RAAS2. 5-300 Sequential Sampler (EPA Reference Method Number RFPS-0598-0120)
TECO 42C N02 Analyzer (EPA Reference Method Number RFNA-1 289-074)
TECO 43C S02 Analyzer (EPA Equivalent Method Number EQSA-0486-060)
API 300 CO Analyzer (EPA Reference Method Number RFCA-1 093-093)
Dasibi Model 5008 Multipoint Gas Phase Titration Calibration System with a Dasibi Model 5011 Zero Air Unit
(Meets EPA monitoring requirements as defined in 40 CFR Part 53) with Protocol 1 Certified Gas Cylinders
TECO Model 146 Multipoint Gas Phase Titration Calibration System with a TECO Model 111 Zero
(Meets EPA monitoring requirements as defined in 40 CFR Part 53) with Protocol 1 Certified Gas
Air Unit
Cylinders
Instruments Used for AirBeat-Specific Measurements
Black Carbon Soot
PM2.5
PM2.5
PM2.5
Haze
AE-21 Dual Channel Aethalometer, Magee Scientific, Inc.
Met One Instrumentation 1020 Beta Attenuation Mass Monitor
Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM), Rupprecht & PatashnickCo., Inc.
Andersen Continuous Ambient Mass Monitor (CAMM)
Hazecam Automatic Camera Visibility Monitoring System, Air Resources, Inc.
Meteorological Monitors
Meteorological
Parameters
Met One Instrumentation Meteorological Station for Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Temperature, Barometric
Pressure, Relative Humidity and Solar Radiation (Meets EPA monitoring requirements as defined in
40 CFR Part 53)
Data Acquisition System
Datalogger
Computer
Modems
Data Software
Environmental Systems Corporation (ESC) Model 8816 DSM Data Acquisition Unit
HP Brio Desktop
Zoom Telephonies Models 14.4K and V34 plus
ESC E-DAS Digi-trend Software for Windows
MONITORING
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5.2.3.2  RESEARCH  INSTRUMENTATION APPLIED  AT THE AIRBEAT
            MONITORING  SITE
As mentioned in Section 5.1, the AirBeat team chose to test two innovative methods for air quality
monitoring at the Dudley Square site: the Continuous Ambient Mass Monitor (CAMM), a new tool for
measuring PM2 5 concentrations in ambient air, and the Aethalometer, which measures concentrations of
black carbon as a surrogate for diesel emissions.

The CAMM is a new technology that was made commercially available by Andersen Instruments in the
summer of 2000. The AirBeat team tested the CAMM side by side with another, more-established PM
monitor: the Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM). (The TEOM is usually used for PM10
measurements, but can be adapted for PM2 5 monitoring by placing an impactor inlet upstream to remove
particles larger than 2.5 micrometers.) These comparative tests showed that the CAMM produced represen-
tative data. In March 2001, the TEOM was turned off, and for the following year the CAMM was used to
generate the PM2 5 data that were posted to  the AirBeat Web site and updated on an hourly basis. In spring
of 2002, problems emerged with the CAMM unit and it could not be repaired by the manufacturer in a
timely manner. The CAMM was replaced by a Met One Instrumentation Beta Attenuation Mass Monitor,
which is still in use.
To supplement the core air pollution measurements
of ozone and PM2 5, AirBeat also measures aerosol
black carbon and UV-absorbing carbon using the
Aethalometer, a real-time optical absorption monitor-
ing instrument. Measurements of black carbon are
of interest because black carbon is a surrogate for
elemental carbon; mass of black carbon as reported
by the Aethalometer agrees well with integrated
elemental carbon mass samples. Hourly data from
the Aethalometer are available on the AirBeat Web
site. In urban areas, the predominant source of black
carbon is from diesel fuel used in buses, trucks,  and
construction equipment. Although black carbon is a
component of PM2 5 (around 10 percent by mass,
typically), its temporal variation can be quite different, usually peaking during morning rush hour.
Real-time measurements of black carbon  are thus required to evaluate the temporal variation and provide
useful information on potential health effects to residents of the area.

5.2.4  INSTALLING AND MAINTAINING  MONITORING  EQUIPMENT
The key to effective installation of instrumentation and equipment at a site is to plan ahead of time a layout
allowing the best use of the  interior and exterior space available so that field personnel can operate the site
in an efficient and safe manner. When planning the site layout, particular consideration must be given to
adherence to any/all siting requirements (i.e., specified distances around  and between collections systems,
height from  ground level of sample collection intakes, acceptable instrumentation temperature ranges, etc.).
Equipment must be situated so that field technicians  have the space to conveniently conduct operation and
repair activities, without disturbing the function of other instrumentation and equipment. It is essential to
plan for adequate electrical power with outlets located in close proximity to the equipment.
Safety must  also be a primary consideration when planning a site layout. Placement of instrumentation and
equipment must minimize the potential for personal injury. Injury can be the result of physical, electrical,
chemical, or environmental  hazards. All applicable occupational health and safety standards must be met.
The technology used to continuously monitor
fine particles is constantly evolving and being
improved. The experience of the AirBeat proj-
ect—which used three different technologies
within a two-and-a-half-year period—demon-
strates this point. Any organization planning a
new AirBeat-type project should do its home-
work before deciding upon a particular type of
monitor.
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After the instrumentation is installed and operating, a maintenance
plan should be developed to ensure continued operation. The mainte-
nance plan may be a separate  document, or planning for instrument
maintenance may be a part of the Standard Operating Procedures
(SOPs) written for the monitoring program (see Section 5.2.5 for
information on SOPs). Procedures and schedules must be established
for activities intended to  reduce the potential for missing data due to
monitoring instrumentation, equipment, or station malfunctions or
problems.
There are two approaches to maintenance that must be  addressed—
preventive and corrective. Preventive maintenance involves
conducting planned service activities prior to, and in an effort to
avoid, failures. Based on manufacturers' recommendations, historical
information on previous  application of the equipment,  and sound
knowledge, the following determinations must be made:
   • What are the components that must be replaced at specific
     intervals and what are the intervals?
   • What are the components that can receive  servicing to extend their
     lifetime, and what is the service and interval for service?
Computers and monitoring equipment
   inside the secure shelter at the
      Dudley Square station.
A schedule reflecting required service activities must be developed, and service must be conducted accord-
ingly. When developing the schedule, make sure to consider the timing of service activities so that data
collection won't be disrupted (affecting data capture completeness).

Because of their complexity, electro-mechanical devices occasionally fail. Given this fact, the primary pur-
pose of corrective maintenance planning is to establish procedures that ensure that unscheduled repairs are
completed as rapidly as possible. An integral facet of efficient corrective maintenance is possessing a store of
appropriate replacement parts. Based on input from the manufacturer, a list of replacement parts for each
monitoring or critical ancillary device should be developed. The list should be detailed and present items by
part description, vendor, part number, cost, and approximate delivery time required. Parts determined to
have the highest potential for failure, or that have a long delivery time, should be obtained and stored until
required.

A maintenance checklist presenting the date  of service, equipment identification information, service
performed, person performing the  service, and any associated notes should be prepared at the time of each
servicing activity, for both preventive and corrective maintenance actions.

5.2.4.1  AIRBEAT'S  MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES
AirBeat defined the specific procedures for maintaining monitoring instrumentation—and the appropriate
frequency of maintenance—in the  SOPs that were developed for each instrument. During the EMPACT
grant period (1999 to 2001), quality checks for AirBeat included twice-a-week station visits, with routine
inspection of all systems at each visit. Monitors were calibrated quarterly, with flow or precision checks
performed bi-weekly. At least one internal performance audit was conducted on all monitors during the
grant period. Since 2001, all instruments at the Dudley Square station have been maintained by MA DEP.
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5.2.5  OPERATING THE  MONITORING  EQUIPMENT
To ensure that representative data and a high data capture rate are achieved, each piece of monitoring
equipment must be operated in strict accordance with an in-depth operating protocol. Although general
operating instructions are typically provided by the manufacturer, and general operational guidelines and
performance specifications are available for EPA-approved methods, these instructions and guidelines do not
provide the level of detail needed to facilitate standardized operation of monitoring equipment. To achieve
the appropriate level of detail and standardization, and to consequently ensure that the monitoring equip-
ment provides high quality data, Standard Operating Procedures must be prepared for each specific
measurement method/approach conducted.
EPA has published a document that provides guidance for preparing SOPs, available at
http://www.epa.gov/qualityl/qs-docs/g6-final.pdf. Where monitoring data will be used for determining compli-
ance with federal air quality standards, SOPs should be prepared according to this guidance and should
address specific topics as follows:
    • Introduction and background information.

    • Location and siting criteria applied.
    • Calibration procedures, standards, acceptance criteria, and schedule.

    • Quality control procedures, standards and checks, acceptance criteria, and schedule.
    • Data reduction, validation procedures, reporting, and schedule.

5.2.5.1  DPERATIDN  D F TH E  Al RBEAT MD N ITDRI NB  EQUIPMENT
The monitoring conducted at the Dudley Square monitoring station during the EMPACT grant period was
performed in accordance with well-prepared SOPs as presented in Table 5-2.
As the  table shows, most of the SOPs were documents prepared by MA DEP for operating instrumentation
in the agency's SLAMS network. These SOPs were prepared according to EPA guidance. Each document is
very long and highly detailed.

The Harvard School of Public Health developed the SOPs for the Aethalometer, TEOM, and CAMM.
These are shorter, less formal documents.  Given that the data from these instruments were not used by
MA DEP for determining the commonwealth's compliance with federal air quality standards, it was not
necessary for  Harvard to follow the official EPA guidance for developing SOPs. The SOP for the
Aethalometer is presented as a sample at the end of this chapter.
TABLE  S-2.  SDPs  FOR THE DUDLEY SQUARE  MONITORING  EQUIPMENT
Instrument Type
Aethalometer
Tapered Element Oscillating Balance Monitor
Continuous Ambient Mass Monitor
Continuous Emission Monitor
Equivalent Continuous Emission Monitor
Continuous Emission Monitor
Semi-continuous Beta Attenuation Mass Monitor
Meteorological Monitoring System

Black Carbon Soot
PM2.5
PM25
Carbon Monoxide
Ozone
Oxides of Nitrogen
PM2.5
Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Relative Humidity,
Temperature, Solar Radiation, Barometric Pressure


HSPH
HSPH
MA DEP
MA DEP
MA DEP
MA DEP
MA DEP
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5.3  FDR  MORE  INFORMATION
EPA Requirements for Quality Assurance Project Plans (EPA QA/R-5, EPA/240/B-01/003)
http://www.epa.gov/quality/qs-docs/r5-final.pdf

Guidance for the Data Quality Objectives Process (EPA QA/G-4, EPA/600/R-96/055)
http://www.epa.gov/quality/qs-docs/g4-final.pdf
EPA Guidance on Technical Audits and Related Assessments for Environmental Data Operations
(EPA QA/G-7, EPA/600R-99/080)
http://www.epa.gov/quality/qs-docs/g7-final.pdf

Network Design for State and Local Monitoring Stations (SLAMS), National Air Monitoring Stations
(NAMS), and Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Stations (PAMS). Code of Federal Regulations.
Title 40, Part 58, Subpart E, Appendix D.
Quality Assurance Handbook for Air Pollution Measurement Systems, Volume II, Part 1 (EPA-454/R-98-004)
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/amtic/files/ambient/qaqc/redbook.pdf
Technical Assistance Document for Sampling and Analysis of Ozone Precursors (EPA/600-R-98/161)
http://www. epa.gov/ttn/amtic/pams. html
Compendium of Methods for the Determination of Toxic Organic Compounds in Ambient Air
(EPA/625/R-96/01 Ob) http:llwww.epa.gov/ttn/amtic/airtox.html
Designated EPA Reference and Equivalent Methods for Criteria Pollutants
http://www. epa.gov/ttn/amtic/criteria. html
Equivalent Reference Method Designation Procedures and Program. Code of Federal Regulations.
Title 40, Part 53.
Guidance for Preparing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) (EPA QA/G-6, EPA/240/B-01/004)
http://www.epa.gov/qualityl/qs-docs/g6-final.pdf
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                                             Roxbury Air Monitoring
           AIRBEAT   QUALITY  ASSURANCE  NARRATIVE   STATEMENT
   MA DEP and HSPH, the two organizations responsible for making the environmental measurements, both have been
   collecting air pollution data for over 25 years and have established QA programs in place.  MA DEP's QA program is
   required by the U.S. EPA for their SLAMS program, and the HSPH QA program has been required and evaluated by
   the U.S. EPA as part of recent cooperative agreements with that agency. This QA narrative covers the operation of
   measurement methods run specifically for this EMPACT project (hourly means for real-time PM2 5, black carbon soot,
   and ozone)  and the real-time data processing and validation for those methods that is done specifically for use in this
   EMPACT project. It does not cover the non-EMPACT integrated methods being run at  the same site or the data pro-
   cessing and validation of "official" MA DEP data streams for real-time PM2 5, black carbon soot, and ozone, since the
   MA DEP has existing QA programs in place for those efforts, and those data will not be directly used by this project.
   Although continuous PM2 5 and BC are relatively new methods and not yet commonly used for routine ambient moni-
   toring, HSPH has been running both of these methods in several studies since 1990, including a 3-year study in Boston.
   The experience gained from this previous work with these methods will be applied to both the operational and data vali-
   dation aspects of EMPACT, and will insure generation of complete and high quality data for this project.

   Data Quality Objectives for the  real-time (hourly) data set will include precision (coefficient of variation) and accuracy
   of better than 10% for ozone and continuous PM2 5. For ozone, this is determined by repeated calibrations and internal
   audits; for continuous PM2 5 by external flow checks, mass transducer calibrations, and comparison to integrated 24-
   hour samples (TEOM).  For the Aethalometer assessment of precision and accuracy is limited to flow checks, since there
   are no other practical techniques for precision and accuracy for this method. Traditional techniques of replicate sam-
   pling used for integrated PM sampling methods can not be readily used for any of these continuous methods, since that
   would require multiple samplers.

   Station visits will occur at least twice a week; routine inspection of all systems will be performed at each visit.  Monitors
   will be calibrated quarterly, with flow or precision checks performed bi-weekly.  The TEOM PM2 5 impactor will be
   cleaned twice a week, per EPA requirements.  TEOM and Aethalometer leak checks will be performed at least quarterly.
   Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all of these methods have been developed for previous studies and will be
   adapted for use in this project. All ozone, flow, and mass calibration standards used are NIST traceable.  At least one
   internal and if possible, one external performance audit will be conducted on all monitors during the EMPACT moni-
   toring period.

   Completeness will be assessed on an hourly basis; a valid hour requires 75% of the interval (45 minutes) to  be valid; a
   valid day requires 18 valid hours (75%).  Since this is a short-term pilot program, seasonal or yearly completeness criteria
   are not used; however we  expect to achieve an overall daily data capture and public reporting rate of 95% or higher after
   the system is fully functional.  There is no sample custody for these continuous methods other than data management,
   which is discussed elsewhere in this proposal.  The sampling and analytical methods are discussed in the proposal's
   Approach section.

   Although as noted in the proposal the data for this project will not be the final validated data set that will be submitted
   to AIRS by the MA DEP, it is still important that the preliminary real-time data distributed to the public via EMPACT
   be of known quality. Therefore it is important for this project that instrument failures are detected automatically to pre-
   vent grossly invalid data from being publically presented.  This will be accomplished by utilizing built-in status flags on
   the instruments and by real-time data screening for outliers, impossible values, 'stuck values', rates of change, excessive
   short-term (1 minute interval) noise, etc. All instruments will be configured to allow observation of negative values for
   screening purposes.  These data processing issues, along with other real-time data handling QA processes, are addressed
   in the attached Information Management Plan. As  a final independent check of the EMPACT data management
   process, a subset of the "official" MA DEP hourly data set will be compared with archived EMPACT data on an ongo-
   ing basis as  the MA DEP validated data becomes available on a quarterly basis, approximately 1 to 3 months after
   collection. Any significant discrepancies will be investigated.  The validated MA DEP data for these monitors will be
   made available via the EMPACT Web site on a quarterly basis when it is submitted to the U.S. EPA AIRS database.
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r
                                                       Roxbury Air Monitoring
                                          OPERATING  PROTOCOL  FOR  BC  WITH
                                                                                                          TM
                                    MAGEE   SCIENTIFIC  AE-21   AETHALDMETER
                                                   G. Allen, HSPH, Rev. 1, September 20, 1999

                  This protocol is for Black Carbon (BC) soot measurements using the Magee Scientific AE-21 dual channel
                  Aethalometer™ with a 4-lpm Harvard Impactor (HI) PM2.5 inlet at the Roxbury MA DEP site. The instrument is run
                  with tape-saver mode off and flow reported at 20E C.

                  Any times that data are not valid while the system is "on-line" should be noted in the site computer log, along with
                  any comments or notes. If at all possible, avoid doing any procedure that causes loss of data during periods with
                  BC concentrations higher than about 5 ug/m3.

                  Once Each Week:

                  1. Check the system date and time on the Aethalometer display and on the data logger PC. The Aethalometer time
                    should be within 5 minutes of the PC's time. Times should always be EST (subtract 1 hour from daylight time). If
                    the time is reset, record the time error before changing the time, and the date and  time you changed the time. The
                    Aethalometer must be "stopped" to  change the time, but does not need to be taken "off-line" from the data acquisi-
                    tion system, since the -5 volt output in this state automatically flags the data as void in the data logger. A security
                    code must be entered to stop the Aethalometer and perform certain other system operating tasks; the default code is
                    111 and should not be changed. If there is a clear trend in the system time error (for example, a system typically
                    gains 2 minutes each week), set the  time somewhat off in the opposite direction of the trend to reduce the need for
                    frequent system time changes. For the fast clock example given above, set it 4 or 5 minutes slow each clock reset.

                  2. Check the sample flow on the Aethalometer display and record it in the log. It  should be 4.0 ±0.3 1pm. Adjust with
                    the valve on the pump if necessary, and record the after adjustment value in the log sheet.

                  3. Check the Aethalometer display for normal operation (reasonable readings, no  error messages, etc).

                  4. Change both impactor plates on the roof inlet. Plates can be reused at least 5 times by field cleaning before being
                    throughly cleaned in the lab. Wipe the deposit off the plates with a Kimwipe, apply one drop of mineral oil on each
                    plate, and blot dry after 30 seconds  to remove any excess oil.

                  5. Check the filter tape supply. Change it if the thickness of the roll is less than 1/8" thick. Re-tension the tape roll
                    take-up spool if needed. Inspect the used filter tape spots that are visible for distinct and uniform borders between
                    the exposed and unexposed areas. If obvious poor seals are noted, contact HSPH.

                  Once Each Month:

                  1. While the Aethalometer is in its normal run mode, perform an external flow check. Do not stop data collection on
                    the Aethalometer to do this test, since that can change the flows. The "tape-saver" function must be off to perform
                    this flow check procedure.

                  la. Measure the sample flow at the inlet of the fine mass impactor using a BIOS flow meter, dry test meter, rotameter,
                     or other calibrated volumetric (e.g, not STP) flow measurement device with a range of 3 to 5 1pm. Wet flow devices
                     are not recommended since they can not be used below freezing, and have a RH dependent error due to water
                     vapor. The external flow meter must be at ambient temperature for readings to be valid. A STP flow device can be
                     used if the temperature is 20E C; in this case skip the next step.
                                                                   — more —
               MONITORING
5-1 5

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                                           Roxbury Air Monitoring
   Ib. Record the flow from the Aethalometer display (a Sierra MFM with STP at 70E F). Correct the external volumet-
      ric flow measurement to a standard condition of 20E C and 29.92" He as follows:
                    STP flow = actual flow  *
                                                        293
                                            273 + ambient T in degrees C
Station BP (in inches)
       29.92
  For this site (Roxbury), station pressure can be the pressure reported from Logan Airport, since the site elevation is less
  than 30 meters above sea level.

  Ic. Calculate the % error of the Aethalometer flow compared to the external flow standard. % error = 100 x
     (Aethalometer display - external STP flow) / external STP flow If the flow difference is more than 10%, contact
     HSPH.

  2. Leak check the Aethalometer by disconnecting the inlet hose at the rear of the instrument and blocking the inlet on
     the back. Record the flow on the flowmeter display after 30 seconds; it should be less than 1.5 1pm. Reconnect the
     sample line.

  3. Change the Aethalometer data disk. The Aethalometer does not need to be interrupted to do this as long as the
     change is done during the first three minutes of any five minute measurement cycle [based on the Aethalometer's
     internal clock]. Before changing the disk, start by labeling a new disk with the site and start date/time (local standard
     time). Remove the old data disk and insert the new disk. Immediately put the write protect tab on the old disk, and
     record the end date/time (EST) on the disk label. Return the disk to HSPH.

  Once Each 6 Months:

  Perform an optical strip  check according to the manual. Also verify that the concentration reported by the data logger
  agrees with the Aethalometer display within 200 ng while  the optical strip is in place. Record the results of both these
  in the comment section  of the instrument log.
5-1 &
                  CHAPTER  5

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     6
DATA  MANAGEMENT
            This chapter presents general information about managing, processing, and delivering data generated
            from an air pollution monitoring effort. Section 6.1 provides an introduction to data management
            and suggests ways of reducing the costs and technical challenges involved. Section 6.2 offers an
      overview of AirBeat's data management efforts, focusing on the functions of the project's Data Management
      Center, where all project data are collected, managed, and archived. Sections 6.3 and 6.4 discuss the hard-
      ware and software components used to operate the Data Management Center. Finally,  Sections 6.5 and 6.6
      describe the creation of AirBeat's Web site and telephone hotline.

      Sections 6.1 and 6.2 are meant to provide a plain English overview of data management for programs man-
      agers and others who may have limited experience with information technology (IT). The other sections are
      more technical in nature, and are designed for IT specialists who may be charged with creating a data man-
      agement  system for an air pollution monitoring and outreach program.

      6.1  INTRODUCTION TO  DATA  MANAGEMENT
      In an environmental monitoring project such as AirBeat, data management is the process of collecting data
      generated by monitoring instruments, validating and standardizing the data, storing the data in a database,
      and then translating the data into formats that can be communicated to the public. Today, most data man-
      agement  systems are automated systems operated by complex configurations of computer hardware and
      software. Building such systems requires the expertise of experienced information technology specialists.
      The scale of your project's data management needs, and the resources required for this project phase, will
      depend on  a number of factors. Will your project be providing  real-time data? How many types of data will
      you be reporting? Will your project be responsible for assuring the quality of the data,  or will QA proce-
      dures be  conducted by the agency or organization that owns and operates the monitoring sites?
      As indicated in Section 4.5 of this handbook
      ("Estimating Program Costs"),  data management
      turned out  to be one of the most costly and techni-
      cally challenging components of the AirBeat project.
      This was true for several reasons. One key factor was
      AirBeat's decision to build a data management system
      that could collect, process, validate, and deliver data
      in real time. The Massachusetts Department of
      Environmental Protection (MA DEP), the agency
      that owns and operates the AirBeat monitoring sta-
      tion as well as 41 others in the  commonwealth, has its
      own program for collecting, processing, and validating
      air quality data. However, at the inception of AirBeat
      in 1998,  MA DEP did not have the capabilities for man-
      aging and delivering data in real time. This meant that the AirBeat project was required to  build its own
      real-time data management system from scratch—a costly proposition.
      It's worth noting that there are  ways of structuring an air pollution monitoring and outreach program that
      can reduce  the costs and challenges involved with data management. Today, many state and local air control
      agencies have the data management capabilities to provide the public with real-time data from their
      monitoring networks (MA DEP intends to develop this capability in the coming years).
                                            Find out if your state or local air control
                                            agency has the data management capabilities
                                            to provide the public with real-time data from
                                            its monitoring network. If so, you might be
                                            able to arrange with the agency to download
                                            pre-processed data (rather than raw data)
                                            from the agency's network, thereby avoiding
                                            the costs of building a separate data manage-
                                            ment system.
DATA MANAGEMENT
                                                                                    6-1

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An AirBeat-type program getting underway today might be able to arrange with its state or local air control
agency to download pre-processed data (rather than raw data) from the agency's network, thereby avoiding
the costs of building a separate data management system. A model for this type of cost-efficient program is
the St. Louis Regional Clean Air Partnership, described in Appendix C.
In reality, no two projects will have precisely the same data management needs or  systems. This chapter
describes the AirBeat project's data management system as a case study, meant to illustrate some of the
considerations that go into building a real-time system for managing and processing environmental infor-
mation. The chapter also describes the work that went into creating the AirBeat Web site and telephone
hotline, two key tools for delivering air pollution data to the public.

DESIGN DIAGRAM  FOR AIRBEAT DATA  MANAGEMENT  SYSTEM
           Monitoring Site
                           Polled by modem ,
  CD
  O
  O
  CO
www.hazecam.net
  H-
       Digital Camera
        Web Server  Live View of Boston
            Ozone Maps
                                  Primary Computer
                                     NESCAUM Office
                                     • Quality Assurance
                                     • Graphics generation
                                     • Hosting hotline
                                     • Web site
                                          Windows (Pentium III) Server
                                                                                Web Site
                                                                              Internet Access
                                                                                 ~
                                                                              www.airbeat.org
                                                                             Telephone Access
I
C
0
W
«•+
O
O
O
3
3
c
                                                                            v    (617)427-9500   ,
6.2  OVERVIEW OF AIRBEAT'S  DATA  MANAGEMENT
        EFFORTS
All data for the AirBeat project were and are being collected, managed, and archived at a single Data
Management Center, which puts the data into a standard electronic format and performs quality checks
prior to making the data available to the public.
The  AirBeat Data Management Center (DMC) is shown schematically in the diagram above. As the
diagram shows, the DMC collects data from multiple sources. Types of data include monitoring data
downloaded from the data logger at the AirBeat monitoring site, hazecam images downloaded from a digital
camera Web server, and  ozone maps downloaded from EPA's AirNow Web site (http://www.epa.gov/airnow).
In addition, some data on weather parameters originate from the National Weather Service and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
6-2
                                                                           CHAPTER 6

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Once the data are processed and validated, they are communicated to the public via various venues. AirBeat
had planned to implement multiple communication venues to optimize communication with the public,
including a toll-free telephone hotline, an e-mail and fax listserver, an AirBeat Web site, and an information
kiosk to be located in the Roxbury community. Due to budget constraints, only the hotline and the AirBeat
Web site were implemented during the period of the EMPACT grant (1999  to 2001). (Roxbury high
school students also developed an innovative flag system for communicating  air quality data to the
public—this is described in Chapter 7.)

Though the DMC handles a variety of data streams from different sources, its key function is processing
the data from the AirBeat  monitoring site in Dudley Square. This involves collecting the data, assuring its
quality, storing the data in a standardized format, and translating the data into other formats for communi-
cation to the public. A further breakdown of the steps  in this process is as follows:

   • Download an ASCII  text file from the Dudley Square air monitoring station. Each file contains the
     measured levels of each air pollutant for the previous hour, along with weather parameters. The files
     are available over a standard telephone line (modem-to-modem) and must be automatically  retrieved
     every hour.

   • Validate data file completeness and integrity.

   • Transfer file contents  to a database.

   • Flag data that do not meet pre-defined quality control limits (as defined by MA DEP and the Harvard
     School of Public Health).

   • Calculate Air Quality Index values for quality-assured data (see Chapter  3 for information on the AQJ).

   • Copy quality-assured data and indices into database tables for use by graphics, Web, and voice-response
     software programs.

   • Generate and record logs to monitor system operation.

   • Alert system administrator when certain errors occur.

All of the specifications cited above are achieved by some combination of hardware, commercially available
software packages, information available from the Internet, and code written in Visual Basic®. These are
described in more detail in the following section. An overall picture of the Data Management Center data
flow is shown in the flow chart below.

AIRBEAT DATA FLOW










AirBeat Server
1 Web Server L

^1 Database [^^
( Hotline |»
^^^^^^^^^~ / ^
1 Archive [^^


1 Air Monitor U-^j


/" "\
Application
Data Management

Data Collection


Datalogger r




4—\ Mot
^^^^
/

^
-^•l Mo




Jem
J

\
^ j

dem










DATA  MANAGEMENT
6-3

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              Lessons Learned: Including an IT Specialist on the Project Team

 At the outset of the AirBeat project, none of the partner organizations had an information technology specialist
 on staff who could take on the technically challenging task of creating and operating the project's Data
 Management Center. As a result, the AirBeat project team decided to hire a contractor to lead this effort. In
 selecting the contractor, the team hoped to give preference to a local (preferably Roxbury-based) contractor
 who would be able to meet and interact with the AirBeat team regularly.

 In the execution of the project, the selected contractor (a small local  business) was unable to complete the
 work in a satisfactory manner. The initial version of the data management software created by the contractor
 was full of bugs. Because of a lack of responsiveness in addressing these problems, the contractor was
 removed from the project after approximately one year, leaving the AirBeat project in a difficult position: with
 the data management hardware installed and operational but with only part of the software in place and opera-
 tional. Also, documentation to support the operation of the Data Management Center was minimal. (The
 contractor had been asked to document all data formats, scripts, parameter definitions, and directory struc-
 tures to maximize transferability and sustainability of the project.)

 NESCAUM hired an Information Technology specialist, who discarded most of the computer programs written
 by the original contractor. New source code was written to link commercial software packages and to manage
 data input. The resulting Data Management Center operated smoothly, but the AirBeat team had learned a
 lesson in the process: For any project requiring collection of environmental monitoring data, it is helpful to
 include a qualified and experienced IT specialist on the project team who can oversee the data management
 operation on a daily basis and ensure that the work is being performed correctly and documented thoroughly.
 Incorporating this IT specialist on the project management team is highly desirable.

 If a contractor is going to be used, consider the pros and cons of using a small local business versus a larger,
 more established company. Reasons to select a small local business include offering positive  support to the
 community and  benefitting from a small business's personal connections to the community. However,
 considerable difficulties can arise if the business moves or closes before the completion of the work. Larger
 businesses, on the other hand, offer stability and perhaps a larger skill set (or more areas of expertise),  but
 typically don't have the same types of community connections.

 The bottom line is: include an IT specialist on your project team if at  all possible.
6.3  HARDWARE  COMPONENTS  USED  TO  OPERATE THE
        DATA  MANAGEMENT  CENTER

To operate its Data Management Center, AirBeat uses a Dell Dimension 450 MHZ computer with a
13.6 GB hard drive and a US Robotics 28.8K external modem. These hardware components were selected
and purchased in the 1998/1999 time frame. The components have served AirBeat well, and continue to
be used today. However, the components are not listed in this handbook as recommendations for the use
of other AirBeat-type programs.  Because of the rapid evolution of hardware in the field of information
technology, most computer systems that could be purchased today would outperform the system described
above. For example, a search of the US Robotics Web site or a general search for modems will show that
the 28.8K external modem is no longer readily available: most equipment manufacturers now feature
56K modems of various types. AirBeat originally intended to use an internal modem to download data
from the Dudley Square monitoring site. However, AirBeat's original contractors reported problems using
the internal modem that was supplied as part of the computer system and therefore went to an external
modem. Since the external modem was performing acceptably when responsibility for the Data
Management Center shifted to the NESCAUM IT specialist, no changes were made.
6-4
CHAPTER 6

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                                               When selecting hardware for your data man-
                                               agement system, carefully consider how your
                                               memory needs might evolve over the  lifetime
                                               of your project.
The computer system purchased for AirBeat was
originally obtained with 128 MB of memory,
but the computer memory was upgraded for
performance reasons to 384 MB. At the present
time, the system could be upgraded further if
required. The hard drive purchased for this
computer system has a capacity of 13.6 GB.
After 2 to 3 years of utilization of this hard drive
in the operation of AirBeat, less than half of this capacity (around 6 GB) is being used, and not entirely
for material related to AirBeat. The hard drive is still more than sufficient, and could be upgraded if required.

6.4  SOFTWARE  CDMPDNENTS  USED  TD  OPERATE THE
        DATA  MANAGEMENT CENTER
The software tools used to perform the functions required of the Data Management Center are summarized
in the table below. Some of these components are discussed in detail following the table.

TABLE  6-1. SOFTWARE  CDMPDNENTS  OF  THE  DMC
Package
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft Access 97
Visual Basic® 6.0
SaxComm Objects
Microsoft IIS 3
(Windows NT 4.0 Operating System)
Graphics Server
Dialogic Software
(with accompanying Dialogic IVR Board)

Stores data and metadata
Database to support the telephone hotline
Application programming language
Terminal emulation: connects to the data logger at the monitoring site and
captures monitoring data
Used to create and operate the AirBeat Web site
Creates graphs on the Web site
Presents air quality information via telephone hotline
DATA MANAGEMENT
                                                                                             6-5

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Visual Basic® 6.0
The single software package selection that determined most of the subsequent choices of other available
packages was the choice of Visual Basic® 6.0 (VB) as the application programming language. VB is
Microsoft Windows-specific, so there were no other options for the hardware system selected. The original
contractors selected VB because they were most familiar with it, not necessarily because VB was the best
technical choice. VB is used for three things: 1) to import ASCII  data from the data logger at the monitor-
ing site to a text-based data file residing on the production server, 2)  to import data from the data file to the
MS Access® data model, and 3) to verify the quality and integrity of the information by processing the data
through a rules algorithm defined by the AirBeat project team. VB performs the following  functions:
    • Reading a text file
    • Listing a directory

    • Creating a log file
    • Reading and writing large files
    • Reading and writing binary data
    • Watching file system changes

NESCAUM considered switching the AirBeat Data Management Center from the Windows-based Visual
Basic® to freely available software. Cost-effective alternatives to VB that NESCAUM considered include
Tel, a freely available scripting language available for multiple operating systems, including Windows and
Linux. Tel is a language that provides the building blocks for custom applications. NESCAUM also consid-
ered Perl (possibly in combination with Tel), since Perl is a language especially suited for manipulating
strings, and a major portion of the programming effort required string manipulation. Perl could also
produce Web server scripts  as well as ASP, the Windows-specific program. Numerous books and manuals
describing Tel and Perl are available online through O'Reilly  Bookstores:  http://www. OREILLY.com.

To make the switch away from Visual Basic®, AirBeat would  have incurred a significant cost in re-program-
ming. Ultimately, it was not deemed practical for AirBeat to change after the original choices had been
made. For organizations interested in starting an AirBeat-type program, the bottom line is: carefully evalu-
ate the capabilities and associated costs of any software package before committing to a purchase. Consider
freely available alternatives, and remember that software is a rapidly evolving field.
SaxComm Objects
Another commercial software package, SaxComm Objects, was used  by the AirBeat project for terminal
emulation—that is, connecting to the data logger at  the monitoring site and capturing the  monitoring data.
This software performs a screen capture of the text screens containing the data generated by the data logger.
SaxComm Objects is used to dial up to a text-based  service, with  the specific benefit of being able to embed
in another application.

To utilize the commercial software for data transfer, the IT specialist  on the AirBeat project team wrote
Visual Basic® code to run a timer that invokes SaxComm Objects every hour, sending the  software the
phone number to dial and the  commands to send to the site data loggers, as well as telling  the software how
to handle the screen capture file. The returned file that is transferred is a text file containing a table with all
of the monitoring data; a representative file is found at ftp://airbeat.org/upload/roxbury/bookmarkl.txt.
6-6
CHAPTER  6

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                    Lessons Learned: Use of a Digital Camera—Hazecam

 CAMNET is an organization initiated by NESCAUM to raise public awareness about the effects of air pollution
 on visibility. This function is accomplished, in part, through a network of real-time visibility cameras located at
 scenic urban and rural locations. CAMNET pictures are updated every 15 minutes. In addition, real-time air
 pollution and meteorological data are provided to help distinguish natural from man-made causes of poor
 visibility and to provide health-relevant data to the public on current air pollution levels. Air pollution and
 meteorological data are updated every hour.

 AirBeat's Data Management Center downloads hazecam images from a digital camera sited by NESCAUM, MA
 DEP, and the EPA Regional office to provide real-time  images of the Boston skyline. The digital camera is part
 of a turn-key system supplied at a cost of $6,000 to $7,000 by Air Resource Specialists, Inc.
 (http://www.air-resource.com). The system includes the following components:

   • A high resolution  digital camera with zoom lens and integrated scripting.

   • A custom-designed controller.

   • A Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) palm computer interface.

   - A battery-backed  power system (AC or solar power).

     A lockable environmental enclosure.

 Air Resource Specialists  hosts and operates a digital camera network over most of the northeast United States,
 and digital images from the Boston area are supplied to the network  (http://www.hazecam.net) as well as the
 AirBeat Web site. The camera is positioned appropriately to take timed pictures of the Boston skyline, showing
 haze, fog, or a clear day. In operation, the computer is programmed to tell the digital camera to take a picture
 at the specified time intervals. The digital image is downloaded from the camera to the  hard drive of the com-
 puter and sent by modem to Air Resource. Air Resource edits the digital image, as required, and then sends
 the edited image to subscribing Web sites.

 The digital camera image is central to the AirBeat Web site and  provides a prime illustration of the guiding
 principle for a project such as AirBeat: make full use of all  available resources. A major investment of time
 and capital resources would be required to purchase a digital camera system and program the system to send
 images at regular time intervals to the AirBeat Web site. Accepting a digital image sent from Air Resource and
 putting this image on  the AirBeat Web site is a relatively small cost.
           A hazecam image of the Boston skyline, taken on a relatively clear day, with low pollutant levels.
DATA  MANAGEMENT
s-v

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6.5  CREATING  THE  AIRBEAT WEB  SITE
The work of creating a Web  site for disseminating air quality data is best done by a qualified and experi-
enced IT specialist. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, it is helpful to include an IT specialist on your
project team. If a contractor must be used for your Web-development efforts, look for a contractor with
extensive experience in HTML coding, basic scripting skills, and some experience working with
Web-enabled databases. The contractor should  also have familiarity with Web accessibility guidelines
and demonstrated experience at creating attractive and user-friendly Web pages.
The AirBeat Web site (http://www.airbeat.org) was created by several contractors, who worked on the site
in succession. The Web site has two primary functions: to provide public access to AirBeat's real-time air
pollution data and other air quality information,  and to promote AirBeat's outreach goals by presenting an
array of online educational materials and providing links to other sources of information. Section 7.2.1 of
this handbook discusses these functions in more detail and provides visual examples of the ways that air
quality information is presented on the Web  site.
To create the Web site, AirBeat's contractors paired the existing hardware with Microsoft Internet
Information Server (IIS) 3, available as a part of Windows NT 4.0 Server. IIS is a standard Web and File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, with built-in  Web page generation scripting. For information on a  more
recent version of this software, see http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/technologies/web/default.asp.
Adobe Photoshop was used for designing  and creating graphics for the Web site. The html pages were writ-
ten using a text editor,  rather than  a specific software package. The scripted (dynamic) parts of the Web site
were done using Active Server Page (ASP) scripts, a part of the Web server software (Microsoft IIS  3).
Programming  was done in the Microsoft Visual Studio Environment,  a software package that includes
Visual Basic®.
The graphs on the Web site, which continue to be updated hourly, are created with Graphics Server
(http://www.graphicsserver.com). Graphics Server is a very powerful graphics production program that has its
interface in Visual Basic®. Graphics Server adds interactive graphs to the numerical data that are being put
into the Web site, using multiple platforms, multiple hosts, multiple interfaces, and an extensive range of
graphs, charts, and statistical functions. The data features of Graphics Server allow charting of up to
128,000 dynamic data  points in a single graph  and can even plot incoming data in real time. See Section
7.2 for examples of the types of graphs generated on the Web site.
The AirBeat Web site is operational and available to  the public. Maintenance and improvements to the sys-
tem have continued since the end of the EMPACT grant period (1999 to 2001), and the Web site
continues to operate at the NESCAUM office.  The Data Management Center can integrate data into the
Web site from Internet resources (for example,  ozone maps are integrated from EPA's AirNow Web site:
http://www.epa.gov/airnow). The Web site  also provides links to other organizations' Web pages.

6.6  CREATING  THE  TELEPHONE  HOTLINE
AirBeat's telephone hotline (617-427-9500) was created so that Roxbury residents without Internet access
can still obtain timely information about air  quality.  The hotline reports current pollutant concentrations
and also reports the highest concentrations for  the current day and the peak concentrations from the previ-
ous day. In addition, the hotline message interprets these data from a public health  standpoint and
recommends actions that sensitive individuals can take to reduce exposures.
The hotline is supported by a Dialogic IVR Board with accompanying software.  (Information about
Dialogic equipment can be found at http://www.voiceinternational.com/.} The AirBeat team used Insight
IVR®, developed by Micro Delta Corporation, as the application generator to build an Interactive Voice
s-s                                                                                CHAPTER 6

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r
             Response application. The Insight IVR® Package software was used in conjunction with the Dialogic
             voice processing board to  create and maintain the AirBeat hotline. To foster community involvement in
             the hotline, high school students in the Roxbury area pre-recorded air quality messages so that the hotline-
             supporting hardware and software could select the appropriate pre-recorded segments to describe air quality
             on an hourly basis.

             Microsoft Access 97 (http://www.microsoft.com/ojfice/access) is used as the database to support the hotline.
             The only purpose  of the Access database is to replicate some of the data in the SQL database for the hotline
             to use. The Access database is required to solve a deficiency in the hotline software; replacement of the
             hotline software would result in a cost savings by making use of the Access database unnecessary.

             AirBeat has had some problems with the hotline system (for example, there were problems in  getting the
             system to use two  telephone lines when it  should be capable of using four). However, the system was
             operational for much of the EMPACT grant period,  and continues to  operate in automated fashion.
                                     Lessons Learned: Tracking Usage of the Hotline
               The AirBeat team considers the hotline a key venue for communicating air quality data to the public. It is espe-
               cially important given that few Roxbury residents have the ability to connect to the Internet and thus access the
               AirBeat Web site.
               A point of frustration for the AirBeat team has been their inability to track usage of the hotline. The creation of
               the hotline  was a fairly costly and challenging process, and the team would like to be able to monitor its use in
               order to assess the return on their investment.
               Hotline systems can be purchased that include usage tracking features. New AirBeat-type programs should
               consider investing the extra resources from the start to buy a system that has these features.
              DATA  MANAGEMENT
s-9

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APPENDIX A:  THE  PASO  DEL  NDRTE  ENVIRONMENTAL
                         MONITORING  PROJECT
ABOUT THE  PROJECT
The Paso del Norte Environmental Monitoring Project addresses the critical issue of data processing and
dissemination for a border area between the United States and Mexico known as "El Paso del Norte".
This project provides the public with timely air quality, traffic, and weather information for the Paso del Norte
region. Because the region spans the  U.S.- Mexico border and is home to a rapidly growing and bilingual popu-
lation, the project was presented with unique challenges and serves as a prototype for international involvement
and cooperation.

Three types of environmental data are collected in the Paso del Norte region: air quality, traffic, and weather.
Air quality data for ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide (CO), and participate matter are used to inform the
public about increased air pollution and associated health risks. Traffic information obtained through roadway
monitoring is used to inform the public about volume delays, road construction delays, accidents, and other
impedances. In addition, traffic data are incorporated into air quality analyses. This synthesis is critical because
vehicles, particularly idling vehicles at border crossings, are a major contributor to air quality problems in the
region. Weather information is practical both as helpful day-to-day information and as an air pollution indicator.

The Paso del Norte Environmental Monitoring Project aims to improve the dissemination of information
through:

    • Coordination among various agencies, institutions, organizations, and broadcasters within the Paso del
     Norte region.

    • Development of standards for sharing information and displaying it to the public and decision-makers in
     the region.

    • Establishment of a communications infrastructure for timely environmental information.

    • Public outreach programs that improve local understanding of individual actions that can be done to
     improve the quality of the environment.

    • Education of future generations by developing opportunities for students to conduct research and become
     involved in the improvement of the environment.

PROJECT PARTNERS
The City of El Paso is the lead  agency for the Paso del Norte Environmental Monitoring Project. Project part-
ners include the University of Texas at El Paso  (UTEP), the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission,
the El Paso City County Health Management  District, the New Mexico Environment Department, and
Departamento de Ecologia en Cuidad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.

The support of these agencies and institutions  arose from the official support of the Joint Advisory Committee
(JAC), a bi-national organization that meets quarterly to review and make  recommendations related to projects
to improve air quality in the Paso del Norte region. Because the JAC includes  representatives from federal, state,
and local governments, educational institutions, industry, and others, its endorsement helps ensure cooperation
and on-going support from the many entities needed to implement the Paso del Norte project.

MONITORING
Air Quality
Twenty-five existing continuous air  monitoring stations (CAMS) are used to collect air quality data: 14 in
Texas, six in New Mexico, and five in Mexico. Data are collected every 5 minutes at the monitoring stations.
CAMS in the Paso del Norte region are operated by four separate government agencies, serving three states in
two countries. Monitoring station calibration occurs every 28 days during the colder months, and span checks
are performed once a week.

APPENDIX A                                                                               A-I

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Traffic
In the El Paso Metropolitan area, 600 existing traffic sensors collect speed and volume data and 34 existing
cameras provide video images. Traffic volume information and traffic video images are collected at 5-minute
intervals at fixed locations in El Paso and at fixed locations on some of the highways in the area. Volume
and speed measurements are summarized on an hourly basis, and data sets and displays are refreshed on the
project's Web site every 60 minutes. The project team updates the traffic video images on the Web site every
15 minutes using an automated modem system.
Weather
Wind speed, wind direction, and temperature data are collected at the CAMS in the region and are  then
transferred and processed with the air quality data. Other weather data from the National Weather Service
(NWS)  in Santa Teresa,  New Mexico, are retrieved at a server at UTEP by means of an ftp connection.
Visibility images from NWS satellite links and the UV index forecast from EPA's Sun Wise Program Web
site also are transferred to UTEP. These data are processed through a series of algorithms and redisplayed.
Current temperature, UV intensity, relative humidity, wind speed, and heat index readings appear in digital
form  on the Paso del Norte project Web site. Graphs showing  changes in various weather parameters also
are on the Web site.

DATA MANAGEMENT
Air quality data, traffic volume data, traffic video images, weather data, and static and live images from a
Webcam are transferred from monitoring locations, hubs, and Web  sites run by multiple agencies. As with
other aspects of the Paso del Norte project, communications between agencies is vital to processing the timely
environmental data. UTEP collects and processes the data from the different agencies to upload onto the
project Web site. Data storage for the Paso del Norte project includes an ftp server and access via interactive
searches and select features provided on the project's Internet server. Queries can be performed in the air and
traffic databases to identify data sets of interest and download them using anonymous ftp file transfer.

DUTREACH  AND EDUCATION
There are five major elements of the Paso del Norte project's outreach program: the project's Web site,
Ozone Action Days, the Community Scholars Program, television outreach, and digital information read-
outs. The project's Web  site (http://www.ozonemap.org), which contains all of the collected data and is
presented in both English and Spanish, is the primary vehicle for communicating timely information. This
Web site also includes a  link to Ozone Action Days, a Webpage that describes an ozone action day, provides
information on how to protect yourself on such days, and provides recommendations on what not to do
(e.g.,  avoid driving at lunchtime) on an ozone action day. The Community Scholars Program is a grant-
funded, non-profit summer internship program  designed to foster leadership skills in local high school
students by involving them in research on environmental issues. The regional broadcast affiliate, KFOX,
broadcasts air quality information and announces ozone action days during their evening broadcasts, and a
local television station (Channel 56) and Universidad Autonoma de Cd. Juarez  provide daily visualizations
of carbon monoxide and ozone levels in Cd. Juarez during the evening news. In addition, digital readouts
located in strategic areas are used to provide information on environmental and traffic conditions.
In order to make the data provided in these outreach activities as accessible as possible, the Paso del  Norte
project uses data visualization tools to graphically depict information. Examples include 3D maps, color-
coding, tables and charts, CIS, and live and static images.  Graphic  representations of environmental data
are used on Web sites, in reports and educational materials, and in  other outreach and communication ini-
tiatives.  All of these materials can be viewed in English or in Spanish, and certain formats are downloadable
by the public or by local television stations for rebroadcast.
A-2
APPENDIX A

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APPENDIX  B:  THE  ST.  LOUIS  COMMUNITY AIR
                         PROJECT
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The St. Louis Community Air Project (CAP) is a multi-year commitment to better understand the presence
of air pollutants in St. Louis and take the necessary steps to improve the air quality. CAP seeks to achieve
this goal by involving the community in the development and implementation of the project from start to
finish. Through risk education, CAP will enable the public to understand:  1) what pollutants are being
monitored, 2) the concept of risk, and 3) how to compare ambient monitoring data to health benchmarks.
As a result of CAP, the community will be able to identify pollutants of concern  and their sources, as well as
develop and implement community-based risk-reduction projects. By identifying the pollutants that repre-
sent the greatest health risk, continually monitoring them, and communicating monitoring results directly
to the community, CAP seeks to effectively address the air quality issues that are most vital to the public.

There are two key elements of the CAP program: flexible research and community outreach. Unlike many
other programs, CAP did not set out to monitor a predetermined set of pollutants. Instead, it began by
monitoring a range of 93 different pollutants in  order to identify the set of pollutants that posed the most
health risk to the local community. It then tailored an ongoing monitoring and research program to address
those key pollutants.  This  flexibility has allowed the program to evolve over time to fit the needs of the
community. In  addition, the local community has been involved in developing and implementing the CAP
program through  monthly community partnership meetings. These meetings give community representa-
tives an opportunity to help direct the CAP project, communicate to the project coordinators what
resources the community would find most useful, and learn about the most recent findings  of the ongoing
program research.

Although several project monitoring stations will continue operating indefinitely, the final St. Louis CAP
report is expected in  October 2003.

PROJECT  PARTNERS
CAP is a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Missouri Department of Natural
Resources (DNR), and the City of Saint Louis, which includes the Saint Louis Association of Community
Organizations (SLACO), Washington University in St. Louis, and St. Louis University's School of Public
Health, as well  as various industry representatives,  and health and environmental organizations.

MONITORING
CAP began monitoring air pollutants including carbonyls, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), metals, and
semi-volatiles in May 2001. The project utilizes three monitoring stations—one  core station and two satel-
lite VOC stations. Multiple monitoring locations allow CAP to  monitor VOC pollutants both spatially and
temporally to better characterize mobile, industrial, and area source influences. When choosing locations for
the project  monitoring stations, researchers used the following criteria: vertical placement at either ground
level or on the roof of a 1- or 2-story building; enough distance from obstructions to have adequate airflow
(using the rule that the distance from an obstruction must be twice the distance  between their heights); and
a distance of at  least 45 feet from smaller residential streets, 100 feet from major roads, and a quarter mile
from any freeways.
The data collected at the core monitor indicate that formaldehyde, an EPA-identified health risk, is present
in amounts that exceed long-term health benchmarks for both cancer and non-cancer risks. A review of the
data also indicates a possibility that peak ambient levels may periodically exceed  short-term  health bench-
marks. Other pollutants  of concern include benzene and arsenic.
APPENDIX  B                                                                              B-I

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As a result of the high formaldehyde levels identified by the core monitor, CAP plans to operate two
additional formaldehyde stations in the St. Louis area during the summers of 2002 and 2003 to assess both
spatial and temporal variations. At a one-time cost of $148,000, Missouri DNR and EPA purchased an
optical absorption spectrometer that is capable of monitoring 10 different pollutants, including formal-
dehyde and benzene in real time (5-minute intervals,  rather than the standard 24-hour intervals).
This enhanced monitor will be installed and operated by Washington University, and will allow CAP to
better characterize short-term exposure risks of formaldehyde. In addition, CAP is sponsoring supplemental
formaldehyde research at an existing Missouri DNR station in the rural area outside  of St. Louis to
determine if the elevated formaldehyde levels are due  in part to isoprene emissions given off by oak trees.

DATA  MANAGEMENT
CAP does not have a complex data management system because it does not currently provide real-time
data and therefore does not have the same volume of data to handle as other research projects.  Currently,
24-hour samples from all of the monitoring sites are analyzed, approved by the Missouri DNR, and
eventually posted on a public Web page. Data management needs are likely to increase when the new
CAP program Web site and real-time monitoring station come online.

DUTREACH AND EDUCATION
From its inception, CAP has involved the local community in the project planning and development
process, and has informed the public of air  quality measurement results through outreach and education.
CAP's outreach and education plan is  defined in an official CAP document  called the Community
Involvement Plan (CIP), which consists of four elements: outreach and education, engagement, results,
and resources.
As part of the outreach portion of the CIP,  CAP holds monthly partnership meetings with stakeholder
organizations, community members, and other interested parties. These meetings, begun in late 2000, have
been very successful and draw 30 to 40 participants each month. The meetings provide a forum for partici-
pants to help establish air quality health benchmarks, set the CAP agenda, and learn  about the latest project
findings. Community input gathered during these meetings is a driving force in the ongoing evolution of
CAP.

CAP also developed a project Web site to provide the community with access to information and the
opportunity to become engaged in local efforts to improve air quality. In 2002, CAP planned to update
the Web site to provide sample results from the ambient air (24-hour)  monitoring, as well as other relevant
health and air quality information. To learn more about the CAP project, please refer to their current
Web site at http://stlouis. missouri. orghtlcaplindex. htm.
B-2
APPENDIX  B

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APPENDIX C:  THE  ST.  LOUIS  REGIONAL  CLEAN  AIR
                         PARTNERSHIP
ABOUT THE  PROJECT
The St. Louis Regional Clean Air Partnership is a public-private partnership formed to raise awareness of
regional air quality issues and to encourage activities to reduce emissions of air pollutants. The Partnership
promotes a variety of programs to:

    • Increase public awareness of air quality issues.
    • Increase public participation in emission reduction activities.

    • Increase participation of regional institutions in emissions reduction activities.
    • Increase responsible decision-making that incorporates air quality considerations.
The Partnership is particularly noteworthy because of its innovative outreach and education campaign.
Unlike the other programs described in this document, the Partnership does not perform any pollutant
monitoring or data analysis.  It simply gathers data published by outside sources and disseminates it to the
local community using a program Web site  (www.cleanair-stlouis.com), e-mails and broadcast faxes, the local
television news, and other outlets.

PROJECT  PARTNERS
The St. Louis Regional Clean Air Partnership was created in 1995 by the American Lung Association, the
St. Louis Regional Commerce  and Growth Association, Washington University, and other partners. The
Partnership has since grown  and now includes the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency, East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, RideFinders, the Missouri
and Illinois Departments of Transportation, the Bi-State Development Agency, KMOV-TV, several cultural
organizations, and a variety of other local stakeholders.

MONITORING
The Partnership does not independently monitor air quality. It uses ozone data from 16 monitors operated
by the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency.

DATA MANAGEMENT
The Partnership has practically no data management needs because it does not operate monitoring stations
or process its own data. Ozone data gathered at the city, county, and state monitors are posted on the
Internet by the individual agencies, and the Partnership simply downloads this publicly available  data.

OUTREACH  AND EDUCATION
There are four main components of the Partnership's outreach and education campaign: the program Web
site, televised ozone forecasts, an ozone warning listserv, and the Clean Air Pass.

The Partnership Web site (www.cleanair-stlouis.com) provides an air quality forecast, links to information on
Partnership initiatives, FAQs, archived ozone data, and links to relevant articles and press releases. Through
the Web site, air quality information is available to the public 24 hours a day.
The Partnership works with  KMOV-TV,  the local CBS affiliate, to produce and publicize a daily air quality
forecast. During its initial stages, the Partnership used grant money to purchase a computer model that
produces an air quality forecast using data drawn from the local monitoring stations. The Partnership gave
the software to KMOV on the condition  that it publicize the daily air quality forecast during  its local news
broadcast. The Partnership trained the station's staff to use the software and input the necessary data, and
APPENDIX C                                                                               c-i

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worked closely with meteorologists at the station to perfect the model. KMOV now produces the daily
forecast with no aid from the Partnership at an estimated annual cost of about $350,000 and broadcasts the
forecast on all of its local news shows. The Partnership in turn features the forecast in a central location on
its Web site.
The daily air quality forecast is designed to be as easy to understand as possible. Air quality is reported using
the colors of EPA's Air Quality Index—red for unhealthy, orange for unhealthy for sensitive groups, yellow
for moderate, and green for good. Interested persons can sign up for an e-mail alert if the forecast is red or
orange. The e-mail alerts are distributed via a listserv, which the Partnership contracts out to a local consult-
ant for a minor fee. Free listserv services are also available through companies  such as Topica
(www.topica.com). The "e-alert" program has received positive feedback from the community, and is an
extremely cost-efficient program for the Partnership to run.

The Partnership also works with the Bi-State Development Agency,  KMOV-TV, and Schnucks Markets to
provide the "Clean Air Pass" program. In order to help control air pollution, the Clean Air Pass allows resi-
dents to ride public transportation at a discounted rate during summer months when ground-level ozone
levels are at their highest. The 3-month pass (June through August)  is available on the Partnership's Web
site, at the MetroRide Store, and at most Schnucks Markets.
C-2
APPENDIX C

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r
              GLOSSARY
             Air Quality Index
             Black carbon
             Clean Air Act
             Criteria pollutants
             Data Quality Objectives
             NAAQS
             Ozone
A tool developed by EPA to provide people with timely and easy-to-under-
stand information on local air quality and whether it poses a health concern.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) provides a simple, uniform system that can be
used throughout the country  for reporting levels of major pollutants regu-
lated under the Clean Air Act, including ground-level ozone and particulate
matter. The AQI converts a measured pollutant concentration to a number
on a scale of 0 to 500. The AQI  scale is divided into six categories, each
corresponding to a different level of health concern. Each category is also
associated with a color.
One of the many components of fine particulate matter. Black carbon (BC)
is similar to soot and is emitted directly into the air from virtually all
combustion activities. It is especially prevalent in diesel exhaust,  which tends
to be the primary source of black carbon in urban areas.

The comprehensive federal law that regulates emissions of air pollutants in
the United States. The original Clean Air Act was passed in 1963, but our
national air pollution control program is actually based on the 1970 version
of the law. The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments are the most far-reaching
revisions of the 1970 law.
A group of very common air pollutants regulated by EPA on the basis of
criteria (information on health and/or environmental effects of pollution).
Criteria air pollutants are widely distributed all over the country. They
include ozone (O3), particulate matter (PM10), fine particulate matter
(PM25), carbon monoxide (CO), lead (Pb), nitrogen dioxide (NO2),
and sulfur dioxide (SO2).
Qualitative and quantitative statements, developed using the EPA Dative
Quality Objective (DQO) Process, that clarify the objectives of an environ-
mental data collection effort and specify tolerable levels  of potential errors.
DQOs establish the quality and quantity of data needed to support program
decisions.

NAAQS stands for "National Ambient Air Quality Standards." The Clean
Air Act requires EPA to set a primary and secondary NAAQS  for each crite-
ria pollutant. Primary standards set limits to protect public health, including
the health of "sensitive" populations such as asthmatics, children, and the
elderly. Secondary standards set limits to protect public welfare, including pro-
tection against decreased visibility and damage to animals, crops, vegetation,
and buildings.
A odorless, colorless gas composed of three  atoms of oxygen. Ozone occurs
both in the Earth's upper atmosphere, where it forms a protective barrier that
shields people from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays, and at ground level.
Ground-level ozone is a major ingredient of smog, and it can harm people's
health by damaging their lungs.
             GLOSSARY
                                                                                                             G-l

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Particulate matter
Quality assurance
Quality control
Real time
SLAMS
SOPs
A type of air pollution made up of a mixture of solid particles and liquid
droplets found in the air. Particulate matter includes dust, soot, and other
tiny particles that are released into and move around in the air. Particulates
are produced by many sources, including fuel combustion, power plants,
industrial processes, construction, operation of fireplaces and wood stoves,
and forest fires. The term "fine particulate matter" (known as PM2 5) refers
to particles less than  2.5 micrometers in diameter. PM10 contains particles
that are less than 10  micrometers  in diameter.
An integrated  system of management activities involving planning, imple-
mentation, documentation, assessment, reporting, and quality improvement
to ensure that  a process, item, or service is of the type and quality needed
and expected by the client.
The overall system of technical activities that measures the attributes and
performance of a process, item, or service against defined standards to verify
that they meet the stated requirements established by the customer; opera-
tional techniques and activities that are used to fulfill requirements for
quality.

In this handbook, the term "real time" is used to indicate that data are
presented to the public almost as soon as they are collected, with only a
slight delay for data processing and quality assurance. AirBeat reports pollu-
tant concentrations as hourly averages, with results generally made available
to the public within  15 minutes of the end of the averaging period.
SLAMS stands for "State and Local Air Monitoring Stations." A  SLAMS
system consists of a carefully planned network of fixed monitoring stations
which carry out ambient air monitoring for criteria pollutants under the
Clean Air Act. EPA uses SLAMS data to determine if an area is meeting the
National Ambient Air Quality Standards for criteria pollutants.
SOP stands for "Standard Operating Procedure." An SOP is a set of written
instructions that document a routine or repetitive activity followed by an
organization. In an environmental data collection effort, the development
and use of SOPs are  an integral part of a successful quality system as it
provides individuals with the information to perform a job properly, and
facilitates consistency in the quality and integrity of the product or end
result.
B-2
                                                         GLOSSARY

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