2002 Annual Air Quality Report

Contents


Air Quality Summary

This annual report provides information on the air quality in Santa Barbara County for 2002.

In 2002, Santa Barbara County met the federal standards for all pollutants.

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

The California standard for one-hour ozone (0.09 ppm) was exceeded in 2002. The state ozone standard was exceeded on 3 days.

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 2002

In 2002, there were 17 monitoring stations operating in Santa Barbara County (Table 2) during the year. The Air Pollution Control District operated seven stations, the California Air Resources Board operated two, seven were operated by private industry, and the National Park Service operated one station. Of these 17 stations, 16 stations were operated for the entire year. One station was in operation for a part of the year. The Santa Barbara Carrillo station, operated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), was shut down on January 31, 2002 and relocated one mile North West from the previous location. The station was relocated to 700 East Canon Perdido Street and resumed operation on May 1, 2002. This station only monitored ozone in 2002. Table 2 lists the monitoring stations operating in Santa Barbara County in 2002 and the pollutants measured at each station. A date in parenthesis indicates if and when the station was decommissioned.


Criteria Pollutant Summary

Table 3 lists the four highest 1-hour ozone concentrations measured during 2002. The highest hourly ozone concentration recorded in Santa Barbara County was 113 ppb at the Paradise Road station. The high ozone value recorded in 2001 was 117 ppb, also at the Paradise road station. The last federal standard exceedance (128 ppb) recorded in Santa Barbara County was in 2000.

Table 4 lists the four highest 8-hour ozone concentrations measured during 2002. The highest 8-hour hour ozone concentration recorded in Santa Barbara County was 90 ppb at the Paradise Road station. The high value for 2001 was 88 ppb.

Table 5 lists the three highest 1-hour concentrations for NO2, SO2, and CO for 2002. The highest concentrations for these three pollutants were 63 ppb, 27 ppb, and 3.4 ppm respectively. No state or federal standards were exceeded for these pollutants in 2002.

Table 6 provides the 2002 particulate summary for PM10. There were no samples over the federal 24-hour standard of 150 µg/m3. There were no stations that measured particulate levels over the state 24-hour California standard of 50 µg/m3 during the year. The highest value for 2002 (49 µg/m3) was recorded at the Vandenberg Air Force Base station.

Figure 1 is a Map showing the locations of all monitoring stations in Santa Barbara County during 2002.

Figure 2 shows Ozone Exceedance Days above the California State and Federal Standards for 1988 through 2002.


New in 2002

Regulatory changes: There were no changes in 2002.

Monitoring station changes: The following changes were made to the SBCAPCD monitoring station network in 2002:

The Santa Barbara station located at 17 W. Carrillo Street was shut down on January 31, 2002 and moved one mile North West to 700 East Canon Perdido Street. The station resumed monitoring for ozone on May 1, 2002. Plans call for adding NO2, CO and wind parameters and PM 2.5 in 2003.