DEP: I-95 industrial corridor air quality wasn’t bad from January to May
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Delaware County Planning Department representatives reported that air particulate matter pollution was fairly low along the I-95 industrial corridor from January to May of this year.
The good news is that particulate matter count, measured according to the Air Quality Index, for the test area was in the “green” or in the “good” range for nearly the entire period, with the index straying into the “yellow” or “moderate range for only seven days in January and February.
The bad news is coming: The project managers warned, the next report – due in September – will likely show results falling to the bottom of the index scale – unhealthy, very unhealthy or even hazardous – for those several days in July when the entire Northeast was blanketed in smoke from Canadian wildfires.
Air quality is measured by how many particles are detected over 24 hours. Zero to 50 particles is good; 51 to 100 particles is moderate; 101 to 150 particles is unhealthy for sensitive groups, and so on.
The DEP and county planning department are running a two-year project that started last summer to monitor particulate matter and other pollutants in an area encompassing Chester City, Trainer, Marcus Hook, Lower Chichester, and parts of Upper Chichester, Chester Township and Upland.
The project is intended to determine just how much particulate matter is being emitted into the air by polluting industries, such as the Reworld trash-to-steam incinerator and the DELCORA sludge burning incinerator along the riverfront, as well as heavy auto and truck traffic along I-95.
At an online presentation July 30, DEP Air Quality Control Specialist Matt Hackenberg explained that most of the project’s monitors are calibrated to examine particulate matter.
The DEP is looking at particulate matter measuring 10 micrometers or less, a size that the nose and throat can stop from getting into the lungs; PM of 2.5 micrometers or less, smaller than the width of a human hair, that can get into the lungs and cause many illnesses like asthma and cardiovascular disease, and PM of 1 micrometer or less that can get into the blood stream.
He said the January to May results showed that none of the monitors recorded particulate matter 2.5 exceeding the EPA limit of 9.0 micrograms over a year’s time and that only three monitors, out of more than 30, recorded excessive levels of PM 2.5 over a 24-hour period on seven days – four in January and three in February. Those were the “yellow” days on the Air Quality Index color chart.
The excessive amounts recorded by the monitors in January and February are likely to be due to the meteorological phenomenon called temperature inversion that is commonly observed in the autumn and winter seasons in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
Higher particulate matter rates on temperature inversion days does not necessarily mean there’s more pollution being emitted, just that the inversion is causing the pollutants to be trapped near the ground and not diffused by the wind, Hackenberg explained.
The three monitors are at the Redwood Community Center in Upland, the Welcome Center on I-95 and 12th and Chestnut Streets. You can see the report HERE.
“Overall, for the most part, generally speaking, the air quality is not bad, but for a few days, here and there it is more concerning, Hackenberg said, hedging his assessment with qualifiers.
Dr. Marilyn Howarth, a University of Pennsylvania professor with the UPenn Center for Excellence in Environmental Toxicology, also warned that the results only cover particulate matter and do not measure ozone and other pollutants that are very harmful to human health.
The project has seven sites that are also measuring ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Oxide (NO), and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2). Data has been collected but has not yet been processed to analyze those results.
An initial evaluation of the results from those seven sites will be included in the next Quarterly Report of the project, according to the current report.
Jodine Mayberry for the Clearinghouse
PHOTO/Claringhouse, a Clear Day in Marcus Hook
