1998 Annual Air Quality Report

Contents

 


Introduction

This annual report provides information on the air quality in Santa Barbara County for 1998.

In 1998, Santa Barbara county met state and federal standards for all pollutants except for ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM10). The Federal 1-hour ozone standard was exceeded on two separate days in April, once at Paradise Road and once at Las Flores Canyon.

The California standards for one-hour ozone (0.09 ppm) and 24-hour suspended particulate matter standard (50 ug/m3) were exceeded in 1998. The state ozone standard was exceeded on 15 days and the PM-10 standard was exceeded on three days during the year.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the process of establishing an averaged 8-hour ozone standard that provides a better guide to longer-term exposure and health risk than the one-hour standard. The standard is currently under review and has not been published as a law.


National Ambient Air Quality Standards

The Federal Clean Air Act (CAA) (Title 1, Section 109) requires the EPA to prescribe national primary ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for certain air pollutants where public health criteria (protecting sensitive populations such as asthmatics) have been established. These pollutant levels were chosen to protect the health of the most susceptible individuals in a population, including children, the elderly and those with chronic respiratory ailments. A secondary standard is also prescribed to protect human welfare (visibility, crop damage, building damage). These pollutants are known as criteria pollutants.

The EPA currently has NAAQS standards for six criteria pollutants. Ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), lead (Pb), and particulate matter (PM10). Table 1 lists the current NAAQS, along with the California standards. In addition to the EPA standards, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has set air quality standards for sulfates, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), vinyl chloride (chloroethene, C2H3Cl), and visibility reducing particles.


Air Quality Monitoring Station Status for 1998

In 1998, there were 27 monitoring stations operating in Santa Barbara County. (Figure 1) Four stations were operated by the Air Pollution Control District, two were operated by the California Air Resources Board, 20 were operated by private industry and one station was operated by the National Park Service.

Of these 27 stations, 21 stations were operated for the entire year. Four stations were operated for less than 3 months during the year. The Exxon 10 station was decommissioned in July 1998 for one project and started operating for another project in August 1998. The station location did not change, but was renamed West Campus to better identify the location near the University of California at Santa Barbara campus.

Table 2 lists the monitoring stations operating in Santa Barbara County in 1998 and the pollutants measured at each station. A date in parenthesis indicates when the station was decommissioned.


Criteria Pollutant Summary

Table 3 lists the four highest 1-hour ozone concentrations measured during 1998. The highest hourly ozone concentration recorded in Santa Barbara County was 130 ppb at the Exxon 1 station. This is the lowest maximum hourly ozone value recorded in Santa Barbara County for any year since the intensive monitoring program began in 1986.

Table 4 lists the four highest 8-hour ozone concentrations measured during 1998. The highest 8-hour hour ozone concentration recorded in Santa Barbara County was 120 ppb at the Exxon 1 station.

Table 5 lists the three highest 1-hour concentrations for NO2, SO2, and CO for 1998. The highest concentrations for these three pollutants were 89 ppb, 22 ppb, and 8.5 ppm respectively. No state or federal standards were exceeded for these pollutants in 1998.

Table 6 provides the 1998 Particulate summary for PM10. There were no samples over the federal 24-hour standard of 150 µg/m3. There were 2 stations that measured particulate levels over the state 24-hour standard of 50 µg/m3 on 3 separate days during the year. The highest recorded value (73.0 µg/m3) was recorded at the Santa Maria Library station.

Figure 1 is a Map showing the locations of all monitoring stations in Santa Barbara county during 1998.

Figure 2 shows Ozone Exceedance Days above the California State and Federal Standards for 1988 through 1998.


New in 1998

Regulatory changes: There were no changes in 1998.

Monitoring station changes in 1998:

The following changes were made to the SBCAPCD monitoring station network in 1998:

Gaviota East The station was decommissioned on March 31, 1998  Gaviota West The station was decommissioned on March 31, 1998 Point Conception The station was decommissioned on March 31, 1998 GTC C The station was decommissioned on April 30, 1998  Exxon 10 The station decommissioned on July 15, 1998. On August 16, 1998, this station was back on line and renamed “West Campus.” The station now monitors H2S, TRS, SO2, THC, and PM10.

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