Citizen Air Monitoring in the Houston Area Jane Laping, Executive Director Mothers for Clean Air

Commonly Used Sampling Equipment  Active monitors –Citizen made bucket –Vac-U-Chamber suitcase  Passive Monitors –6-liter stainless steel canister –Organic Vapor Monitor

Citizen-made Bucket

Vac-U-Tainer

Tedlar® Bag

Canister

Opening the valve on a canister

Organic Vapor Monitor

Citizen Air Monitoring Projects  Texas Bucket Brigade  Houston-Galveston Citizen Air Monitoring Project (H-GCAMP)  Seabrook Citizens Health Induced Air Monitoring Project (SCHIAMP)  Improving Environmental Quality through Cooperation (IEQC)

Houston/Galveston Citizen Air Monitoring Project (HGCAMP) Tools for Citizen Air Sampling Tools for Citizen Air Sampling

Co-located synchronous sampling

Unique partnership Agencies and citizens worked together to develop a  Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP)  Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)  Chain of custody form  Training manual  Network of sample drop-off locations

HGCAMP Sampling March 2002 – March sample pairs collected  Over a large geographical area  Under a variety of sampling conditions  With variability of sampler expertise 16 pairs excluded from analysis mostly due to insufficient sample volume

HGCAMP Sampling Sites

Data Set Used for Statistical Evaluation  67 data pairs evaluated  64 target compounds  25 compounds detected  21 compounds detected with > 1 pair of samples  2 compounds in all valid sample sets  7 compounds detected in at least 20 samples  5 gas standards analyzed by EPA and TCEQ  5 split canister samples analyzed by EPA and TCEQ

Dichlorodifluoromethane Shows good correlation

Acrylonitrile Shows poor correlation

Tedlar® bag Media Blank Contaminants Consistent contaminants   Phenol   N,N-dimethylacetamide   Unknown alkanes   TIC identified as isothiocyanatocyclohexane Sporadic contaminants   Methylene chloride   Benzene   Toluene   m/p-Xylene   Numerous TICs including organic sulfides, alcohols, alkanes and acetates

6 Compounds Detected at Statistically Significant Different Concentrations in Tedlar ® Bags and Canisters (p<0.1)  Vinyl Acetate (p=0.0903)  N-hexane (p=0.0662)  Methylene chloride (p=0.0861)  Acrylonitrile (p=0.0044)  1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (p=0.0174)  1,3-butadiene (p=0.0225)

8 Compounds Not Significantly Different and Correlated (r>0.8)  Styrene (r=0.9820)  MTBE (r=0.9795)  Dichlorodifluoromethane (r=0.9655)  Chloromethane (r=0.8112)  Benzene (r=0.8010)  4-methyl-2-pentanone (r=0.9621)  2,2,4-trimethylpentane (r=0.9671)  1,2,4-trimethylbenzene (r=0.9146)  m/p-Xylene (corr degraded by outlier)

HGCAMP Outcome Agencies  Gained equipment comparison information  Provided scientific integrity  Received benefit of working with citizens Citizens  Learned sampling procedures  Received air data for their communities  Understood agency limitations Partners  Opportunities for future funding

Seabrook Citizens Health Induced Air Monitoring Project (SCHIAMP)

SCHIAMP Method  Perimeter sampling of Seabrook area –5 locations on perimeter  15 l and 6 l canisters used for a month –15 liter canisters changed out after 1 week –6 liter canisters changed out after 3 days

SCHIAMP Conclusions  VOCs with highest concentrations: –methylene chloride –benzene –toluene –styrene  Individual levels of all VOCs found were within permissible regulated levels  72 and 168 hour time-weighted averaged samples are not optimal in determining acute short term exposures

Improving Environmental Quality through Cooperation (IEQC)

Organic Vapor Monitor (OVM)  Advantages of OVM –Low level concentrations –Multiple VOCs –Relatively short sample time  Method –25 zip code sections –72 hour samples –4 times/year x 2 years

Expected IEQC Outcomes  Air toxics inventory  GIS mapping of concentrations –Source identification  Enhanced communication with regulatory authorities  Enhanced communication with industry

Advantages of Citizen Air Monitoring  Citizens can be watch dogs for agencies  Identify hot spots that require further investigation  Understand exposure patterns in communities  Alert industry to interests of neighbors