Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Paso del Norte Environmental Monitor
EPA Grant Number: R827964Title: Paso del Norte Environmental Monitor
Investigators: Kooshian, Charles , Gray, Robert W , Gonzalez-Ayala, Salvador
Institution: City of El Paso, TX , Instituto Municipal de Investigación y Planeación , The University of Texas at El Paso
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period:
Project Amount: $494,935
RFA: Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) (1999) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Statistics , Water , Aquatic Ecosystems , Air , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration
Objective:
The objectives of this research project were to: (1) coordinate among the many agencies, institutions, organizations, and broadcasters within the Paso del Norte region that are working to improve air quality; (2) develop standards for sharing and displaying information to ensure it is understandable by the general public and decisionmakers of the region; (3) establish a communications infrastructure to provide relevant-time exchange of and access to information; (4) develop and implement public outreach programs to improve local understanding of individual actions that can be taken to improve the quality of the environment; (5) broaden the choices of travel modes; (6) promote the education of future generations by developing opportunities for elementary and high school students to conduct research and become involved in activities that improve our environment; and (7) ensure the transferability of the final products to other regions and applications.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The Paso del Norte air basin is a binational, tristate airshed affected by complex terrain, varying emission standards, and multijurisdictional control. The Paso del Norte Environmental Monitor (PdN EM) is a regional collaborative effort among federal, state, and local agencies, organizations, and educational institutions to improve air quality through public education, research, and improved decision support. This U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-funded project through the Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) Program resulted in an automated real-time collection and standardization of air quality and meteorological information from El Paso, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and Cuidad Juárez, Chihuahua, and is available via the Internet at http://www.ozonemap.org. The system provides the current Air Quality Index along with near real-time animated ozone and carbon monoxide maps and particulate levels. The information is supplemented with images of live freeway traffic and international border crossings. Remote cameras also record visibility and document the effects of temperature inversion and area pollution sources.
Applications for collecting, processing, and displaying information were developed in conformance with industry standard relational database technologies and geographic information systems. Coupled with the use of growing Internet technologies, this research project incorporated interactive technologies to allow for ongoing coordination among thecollaborating agencies and institutions. This approach also provided for flexibility in designing more meaningful graphic products such as a dynamic Air Quality Information Index automatically generated from database updates.
This research project also included extensive student research and participation. The El Paso Community Scholars, selected high school students from area schools, participated in investigating international sources of air pollution and potential solutions to critical emissions resulting from international travel within the region. As a result, formal recommendations were made to the cities of El Paso and Cuidad Juárez governments and transportation planning institutions to initiate binational transportation alternatives to reduce excessive emissions at the international ports of entry. In addition, university students were involved in the development of interactive Internet tools to assist print and broadcast media in providing daily air quality and forecast updates.
The data collection and communication infrastructure now supports the Ozone Action Day program and is integral to local terrorism preparedness and emergency response systems.
Project Description and Objectives of Monitoring Research
The PdN EM is an EPA-funded project developed under the EMPACT Program. This initiative developed and implemented a Web site (http://www.ozonemap.org) and associated community linkages to provide real-time air quality information, in English and Spanish, to the international communities of El Paso, Texas; Sunland Park, New Mexico; and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The project included access to current air quality and major emission sources related to transportation. It involved a wide variety of participants and collaborators, ranging from high school students to elected officials, and was overseen by the Joint Advisory Committee, a binational organization established to manage this unique airshed.
This research project provided current information related to criteria air pollutants, including ozone, carbon monoxide, and particulates. For this specific region, this included access to current traffic conditions on the freeways and major arterials and wait times at the international ports of entry. Current air quality from continuous air monitors was collected and processed to provide dynamic maps showing the current levels of ozone and carbon monoxide. Current images from remote cameras provided access and documentation of visibility, particulate levels, and inversion conditions. Visibility cameras also documented frequent dust storms.
Broadcast and print media were supported to enhance public access to critical information and promotion of an Ozone Action Day program. Health messages and recommendations for reducing both exposure and overall emissions were available via electronic billboards along the freeway, the Web, and through electronic communications and the local media.
Interactive Web-based tools provide improved communication and information access and promote increased collaboration toward more comprehensive solutions. Resulting data sets are available for researchers and important documentation is available to download or view online. Interactive tools include listserv applications, project management, threaded discussions, online chats, and other features. In combination, these features are designed to encourage research and provide access to important special studies, improving overall decision support related to regional air quality issues and activities.
Throughout this research project, air quality, meteorology, and other information was collected successfully from three continuous air monitors sites in Juárez, Mexico; seven sites in New Mexico; and five within El Paso. Live images of the cars waiting to cross the international bridges and subsequent estimated wait times at each bridge were collected and made available to the public. Throughout this research project, communications infrastructure and partnerships for sharing environmental and transportation information within the international tristate community was enhanced successfully.
This research project resulted in many lessons learned from the implementation of this international initiative, resulting from the challenges faced in coordinating activities within the Paso del Norte region. The success of this research project is attributed mostly to the guidance and support of regional binational organizations working to improve regional air quality, including the Paso del Norte Air Quality Task Force and the Joint Advisory Committee. This research project emerged from the components of the strategic plan developed by the Joint Advisory Committee, a formal binational organization created through Annex VI of the La Paz Agreement between the governments of the United States and Mexico. Without the direct support from these binational organizations and its members, the collaboration from the numerous partners would have been difficult.
This research project was the subject of a video produced by GreenWorks TV, and EPA documented this project as the subject of an EPA handbook on how to integrate traffic, meteorology, and air quality information for communities. This research project was selected for publication in the Air and Waste Management Association 2004 conference proceedings. This research project has supported three Master’s degree theses and numerous health research projects, furthering the understanding of the effects of air quality on local health and unique aspects of emissions within this international region.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 5 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
ozone, particulates, air pollution, relevant-time, carbon monoxide, vehicular emissions, PM2.5, three-dimensional visualization, air quality, traffic volumes, international border crossings, wait times, ozone map, binational, Paso del Norte Joint Advisory Committee, clean air partnership, Paso Del Norte Air Quality Task Force, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, New Mexico Environment Department, Instituto Municipal de Investigación y Planeación, geographic information systems, transportation modeling, Secretaria de Medio Ambiente, Instituto Nacional de Ecología,, RFA, Scientific Discipline, Air, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, particulate matter, air toxics, Monitoring/Modeling, Environmental Monitoring, tropospheric ozone, Ecological Risk Assessment, Ecology and Ecosystems, EMPACT, monitoring, vehicle emissions, air pollutants, stratospheric ozone, PM 2.5, monitoring stations, public information, ambient air, web site development, carbon monoxide, community outreach, community tracking, PM, atmospheric monitoring, outreach and education, public health alerts, public outreach, real time monitoring, air quality, atmospheric chemistry, multi-language outreach materialsRelevant Websites:
http://www.ozonemap.org
http://www.greenworks.tv/empact/pasodelnorte.htm Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.