Grantee Research Project Results
1999 Progress Report: Time-Relevant Communication of Ozone and Particulate AirPollution Data: A Pilot Project to Raise Public Awareness and Promote ExposureReduction
EPA Grant Number: R827058Title: Time-Relevant Communication of Ozone and Particulate AirPollution Data: A Pilot Project to Raise Public Awareness and Promote ExposureReduction
Investigators: Goode, Matthew E. , Alter, Lee , Loh, Penn , Allen, George , Sheehan, Jerry
Current Investigators: Goode, Matthew E. , Allen, George , Sheehan, Jerry , Alter, Lee , Loh, Penn
Institution: Suffolk County Conservation District
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: November 1, 1998 through October 31, 2000
Project Period Covered by this Report: November 1, 1998 through October 31,1999
Project Amount: $527,000
RFA: Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) (1998) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Statistics , Water , Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Air , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration
Objective:
The Roxbury Air Monitoring Project, now known as AIRBEAT, is a collaborative effort to pilot real-time ambient air pollution monitoring and data management techniques for ozone, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and black carbon soot (BC), and to provide these data to the public in ways that increase accessibility, availability, and usability of the data. The first year of the pilot project has been completed with a number of accomplishments. Progress has been made, project component costs are either at or slightly below budget, and no major technical or administrative issues have arisen that would harm the project.
Progress Summary:
The 2-year project consists of the following four tasks:
Task | Status as of January 1, 2000 | |
1. | Time-relevant environmental monitoring | Equipment installation is complete. Routine monitoring continues on an hourly basis. |
2. | Time-relevant information management, processing, and delivery | Data management system has been purchased and installed. Software applications have been developed and tested; the delivery system is not complete and is a few months behind schedule. |
3. | Time-relevant communication and outreach | Ongoing. Data dissemination pending delivery system above. |
4. | Evaluation | Baseline public survey and on-street interviews completed. Other tasks scheduled to begin in 2000. |
Preliminary Results, Findings, and Their Significance to the Field. It is too early to interpret the data being collected at the Roxbury site. Preliminarily, we have had a 90 percent data capture rate improving to 95 percent. Air data can be assessed as follows: expected results (more than 99 percent of data) and a discrete number of unusual events. The latter data are primarily of interest for teaching purposes because they do not reflect typical data collected. These are available by contacting us at http://www.airbeat.org.
Other data collection, such as particulate speciation sampling, is being done at the site and although not a direct part of the EMPACT project, it helps to validate and improve the usefulness of the EMPACT data and also will prove useful to leverage further research and policy-based activities.
Relationship of Findings to Goals of Project, Relevance to Protection of Environment and Human Health. Interpretations of data being collected at the Roxbury site have tremendous potential for teaching and community engagement. The deductive analysis involved with data interpretation raises community awareness, and ownership of the information empowers residents to act responsibly to safeguard their own health and to demand environmentally responsible activities by commercial industries doing business in their neighborhoods.
Potential Applications of Project Results. The EMPACT project has spawned several initiatives that will use the AIRBEAT data. One is an Alternative for Community & Environment (ACE) collaboration with the John Snow Institute for Environmental Health Studies in a 3-year grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council Science in the Community Program to develop new curriculum. The second is an ACE project funded by the Northeast Educational Services to establish an "Environmental Leadership Track" for high school and college students at Roxbury Community College. The third is a collaboration between the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and ACE to involve local community health centers, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and the Boston Transportation Department on a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) funded project to use mobile monitors for capturing PM2.5 and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) data in the Dudley area of Boston.
Future Activities:
The following activities are anticipated:
Task 1: Time-Relevant Environmental Monitoring
Data Collection To Be Expanded. A second EKTO shelter is scheduled to be installed at this site in February. Particulate PM2.5 speciation sampling at this location will begin on February 3 as part of the U.S. EPA Minitrends study. Once the second shelter is installed and utilities are connected, SO2, NO, NO2, and NOx, monitoring will begin. The possibility of installing a Carbon Monoxide analyzer at this location sometime in the future also is being considered.
Ongoing Expertise and Support To Be Provided. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MA-DEP) and HSPH will continue to operate and maintain data collection of continuous black carbon soot (Aethalometer), TEOM (Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance continuous PM2.5), and Andersen integrated PM2.5 federal reference method monitors at Dudley Square. In addition, HSPH will review processing and validation of hourly black carbon and TEOM PM2.5 data from the Dudley Square monitoring site. HSPH and the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) will continue to operate the Camnet camera site, and support technical operations including debugging of system software, hardware, and network interface issues with ARS.
Task 2: Time-Relevant Information Management, Processing, and Delivery
Data Management and Processing. NESCAUM has drafted documentation of the database structure and functionality. It is being finalized, and the rest of the system needs are to be documented. When MA-DEP installs a second shelter at the monitoring site, the ozone monitor will be moved to this shelter; then, it will be necessary to revise the data collection system to accommodate two phone calls per hour instead of one. The major element of a proposed third subcontract is the addition of a second phone call to the data collection routine, refinement of real-time graphics, hosting and maintenance of the Web site, installation and maintenance of the telephone hotline, system documentation, and possibly the implementation of an HTML-based administrative interface for the data management system.
Web Site and Hotline. Implementation is slated to occur as early as March 1, 2000.
Task 3: Time-Relevant Communication
Education and Outreach. Ongoing efforts to develop new curriculum with local high schools to include AIRBEAT data will continue. Students presently are learning how to collect the data from this project, understand what they mean, and communicate them to the community in a way that is usable. As part of the curriculum, students are developing a flag warning program through which local residents can learn the air quality by looking at the color of the flags hanging from their school.
We will continue one-time workshops and tours. At least four to five workshops will be conducted throughout the year.
In addition, we plan to train three to four more youth interns in Summer 2000.
Assist With Data Venue Development. We will record the hotline message, develop relationships with weather channels, and conduct a pilot. We also will help implement additional potential data communication methods (e.g., faxing and paging). We will work with Dudley Library to set up AIRBEAT as an I-KIOSK Web resource.
Expand Community Outreach. In Year 2, we will increase direct outreach to Dudley area residents and businesses and provide two community workshops?one scheduled for Summer 2000 on management of asthma. We also will continue to distribute flyers and announcements about availability of data. In addition, we will continue outreach subcommittee meetings and to implement input ideas from the health sector.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 4 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
ecological democracy, urban upper respiratory diseases, halocarbons, community-based research, disproportionate air pollution, African-American low-income populations., RFA, Health, Scientific Discipline, Air, Geographic Area, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, particulate matter, air toxics, Environmental Chemistry, State, Monitoring/Modeling, Susceptibility/Sensitive Population/Genetic Susceptibility, Environmental Monitoring, Ecological Risk Assessment, genetic susceptability, tropospheric ozone, health effects, sensitive populations, EMPACT, particulates, air pollutants, exposure and effects, stratospheric ozone, community-based approach, fine particles, particulate, ozone , chemical characteristics, health risks, PM 2.5, ozone, public information, exposure, fine particulates, modeling, air pollution, carbon black, diesel exhaust, human exposue, Massachusetts (MA), children, human exposure, mobile sources, web site development, community-based, community outreach, ecosystem health, public access, PM2.5, environmental effects, fine particle levels, public outreach, outreach and education, atmospheric chemistry, real-time monitoring, soot, air quality, environmental hazard exposures, toxicsRelevant Websites:
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.