Consider This 1.6 (CT 1.6) - Air Pollutant Levels Across the Country --
As
we begin to consider the question of what is in the air we breathe, we want to
consider some of the minor components which fall under the category of air
pollution. On Friday, September 52, we'll look at the the
levels for the Air Quality Index (AQI) shown in Table 1.3 in
class and the AQI
values for Houston (1997 – 2006) in Table 1.4. What about the AQI where you live in the past year? What about individual pollutants? You can use the EPA Web site’s AirData section to construct an Air Quality Index Summary
Report and also a Monitor Values Report for Criteria Pollutants for a city of
your choice. The EPA monitors seven criteria pollutants (carbon monoxide, CO,
ozone,O3, sulfur oxides, SOx, nitrogen oxides,
NOx, particulate matter of two different sizes, PM2.5 and PM10, and
lead). How does this data compare to the data for Houston (T 1.4)? The web has
more recent data that will be useful.
This is a group activity. As a whole, you will collect data for each
of the criteria pollutants (carbon
monoxide, ozone, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter -- PM2.5
and PM10 -- and lead) and generate and AQI for a specific city for the following years, 1999, 2003 and 2008. Decide upon a city you want to research. Divide the work so that no one group member has to research more than three things.
- One group member will generate the AQI for for that city for the three
years in question and collect information about one criteria pollutant
- The other group members will collect data for two (or three) Criteria
Pollutants.
- For each Criteria Pollutant
your research should include:
- Some information about the pollutant you chose.
- The EPA standard value for that pollutant
- The concentration (value) for one of the Criteria Pollutants measured for 1999, 2003 and 2008 for the city you have chosen
- For the AQI you will want to include
- A brief explanation of the information that the AQI provides
- AQI data for the city of choice (as in T 1.4) for 1999, 2003 and 2008.
- Follow the recommendations on Chemistry in Context Web for searching
and evaluating
sites.
- Some suggestions on how to find information:
- Start with the EPA Office of Air Quality & Standards.
- The EPA, OAQS Aerometric Information Retrieval System is one of the
largest pollution databases.
- The best resource is to use the EPA AIRS which allows you to generate a map
for the specific area you selected; this will give you data over a
period of time. The map will allow you to choose an area and then
generate a report that will give you the kind of data you need to complete
the assignment. So, for example if you pick Detroit, Michigan, go to http://www.epa.gov/air/data/geosel.html and click on the
state of Michigan. In the bottom of the box to the right of the map,
click on the button that says "Go!". This will take you to a
page that will allow you to generate an assortment of reports. Play
around on this page till you get the kind of information you want.
- CT 1.30 (page 41) will help you find ozone data. The
AIRNOW site is the place with the
information.
- Now what? Once everyone in the group has collected the
information, get back together. Review the information you collected and
organize it. Decide what is the most interesting (and important)
information that you found. Prepare a brief summary. Write
several well organized paragraphs (2 to 4 as needed -- no more than one
paragraph per pollutant) that include the points your group determined
represent the most interesting (and important) information about each
Criteria Pollutant. (NOTE: everyone must agree on what to
say!). Be sure to document all
of the URLs.
- Finally ... most important ... the Details!
- We will discuss some of the results which you collected in class on Friday, September 5, 2008.
- The finished product -- i.e. your summary of the information about the
different air pollutants -- is due in class on Monday, September 8.
- Complete peer and individual evaluations of the group exercise
(evaluations are on BlackBoard).
- This exercise is worth 20 points.
- 5 Points for being present and participating in the discussion.
- 15 Points for the information about the air pollutants.