2001 Annual Air Quality Report

Contents

 


Introduction

This annual report provides information on the air quality in Santa Barbara County for 2001.

In 2001, Santa Barbara County met the federal standards for all pollutants.

Santa Barbara County also met state the standards for all pollutants except for ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM10).

The California standards for one-hour ozone (0.09 ppm) and 24-hour suspended particulate matter standard (50 ug/m3) were exceeded in 2001. The state ozone standard was exceeded on 5 days and the PM-10 standard was exceeded on two days at one station 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. These pollutants are 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 2001

In 2001, there were 19 monitoring stations operating in Santa Barbara County (Table 2) during the year. Seven stations were operated by the Air Pollution Control District, two were operated by the California Air Resources Board, nine were operated by private industry and one station was operated by the National Park Service. Additionally, during the year, the APCD took over the operation of 2 sites (GTC B and Las Flores Canyon 1) from private industry. Of these 19 stations, 16 stations were operated for the entire year. Three stations were only in operation for a part of the year. The two Gaviota Odor monitoring stations (east and west) both ended operation in December. The Santa Barbara Carrillo station, operated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), was relocated one block from the old location and resumed operation on May 1, 2001. The station had been closed since October 2000 and now only monitors ozone, wind speed and wind direction.

Table 2 lists the monitoring stations operating in Santa Barbara County in 2001 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 2001. The highest hourly ozone concentration recorded in Santa Barbara County was 117 ppb at the Paradise Road station. This maximum hourly ozone value was below the 128 ppb federal standard exceedance recorded last year in Santa Barbara County.

Table 4 lists the four highest 8-hour ozone concentrations measured during 2001. The highest 8-hour hour ozone concentration recorded in Santa Barbara County was 84 ppb at the Las Flores Canyon 1 station. The high value for 2000 was 110 ppb.

Table 5 lists the three highest 1-hour concentrations for NO2, SO2, and CO for 2001. The highest concentrations for these three pollutants were 113 ppb, 15 ppb, and 5.4 ppm respectively. No state or federal standards were exceeded for these pollutants in 2001.

Table 6 provides the 2001 particulate summary for PM10. There were no samples over the federal 24-hour standard of 150 µg/m3. There was one station that measured particulate levels over the state 24-hour California standard of 50 µg/m3 on two days during the year. The highest value for 2001 (66 µg/m3) was recorded at the Santa Maria station.

Figure 1 is a Map showing the locations of all monitoring stations in Santa Barbara County during 2001.

Figure 2 shows Ozone Exceedance Days above the California State and Federal Standards for 1988 through 2001.


New in 2001

Regulatory changes: There were no changes in 2001.

Monitoring station changes in 2001:

The following changes were made to the SBCAPCD monitoring station network in 2001: The following station name changes were made to more accurately identify station location:

GTC B to Nojoqui
Lompoc HS&P to Lompoc North
Santa Maria Broadway/Library to Santa Maria
Vandenberg STS to Vandenberg South Base
Santa Barbara Carrillo to Santa Barbara

Gaviota Odor East Monitoring ended on December 20, 2001

Gaviota Odor West Monitoring ended on December 20, 2001

Santa Barbara Carrillo ended monitoring in October 2000. The station was moved one block and resumed monitoring for ozone on May 1, 2001. Monitoring for particulates, CO, oxides of nitrogen (NO2), and meteorological parameters was discontinued in October 2000.