2005 Annual Air Quality Report

Contents


Air Quality Summary

This annual report provides information on the air quality in Santa Barbara County for 2005.

In 2005, Santa Barbara County met the federal standards for all measured pollutants.

Santa Barbara County also met the California state standards for all pollutants except for the 24-hour particulate matter less than 10 microns (PM10) standard. The California state PM10 standard of 50 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) was exceeded two times.

Specific information about the ozone exceedances in Santa Barbara County can be found at Summary of Days Exceeding Ozone Standards


National Ambient Air Quality Standards

The Federal Clean Air Act (CAA) (Title 1, Section 109) requires the Environmental Protection Agency (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 for seven criteria pollutants: ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), lead (Pb), particulate matter (PM10) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

In addition to the EPA standards, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has set air quality standards for the same criteria pollutants and four others: sulfates, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), vinyl chloride (chloroethene, C2H3Cl), and visibility reducing particles.

Table 1 lists the current Federal and California standards.

Figure 1 shows the locations of all monitoring stations in Santa Barbara county operating in 2005.


Air Quality Monitoring Station Status for 2005

In 2005, there were 17 monitoring stations operating in Santa Barbara County, of which eight were operated by the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (APCD.) The remaining stations were operated by the CARB, and private industry. Table 2 lists the monitoring stations operating in Santa Barbara County during 2005 and the pollutants and parameters measured at each station.


Criteria Pollutant Summary

Table 3 presents the four highest 1-hour ozone concentrations measured during 2005. The highest hourly ozone concentration recorded in Santa Barbara County in 2005 was 91 parts per billion (ppb). This concentration was recorded at the Santa Ynez station on the 30th of September.

In comparison, the highest ozone value recorded in 2004 was 109 ppb, at three monitoring stations.

The last federal standard one-hour ozone exceedance recorded in Santa Barbara County (128 ppb at Las Flores Canyon) was in 2000.

Table 4 lists the four highest 8-hour ozone concentrations measured during 2005. The highest 8-hour hour ozone concentration recorded in Santa Barbara County was 82 ppb at the Paradise Road station on September 30. The high value for 2004 was 102 ppb at the Las Flores Canyon 1 station.

Figure 2 shows ozone exceedance days above the California State and Federal Standards for 1988 through 2005.

Table 5 shows the four highest 1-hour concentrations for NO2 for 2005. The highest concentration for this pollutant was 61 ppb. No state or federal standards were exceeded for NO2 in 2005.

Table 6 shows the four highest 1-hour concentrations for SO2 for 2005. The highest concentration for this pollutant was 31 ppb. No state or federal standards were exceeded for SO2 in 2005.

Table 7 shows the four highest 1-hour concentrations for CO for 2005. The highest concentration for this pollutant was 2.2 ppm. No state or federal standards were exceeded for CO in 2005.

Table 8 provides the 2005 particulate summary for PM10. There were no samples over the federal 24-hour standard of 150 µg/m3. There were two stations that measured a particulate level over the state 24-hour California standard of 50 µg/m3 during the year. The highest value for 2005 (83 µg/m3) was recorded on June 15th at the Santa Maria station. There was also one station that measured a particulate level over the state California state annual arithmetic mean standard of 20 µg/m3 for the year. The Santa Maria station annual arithmetic mean value for 2005 was 24 µg/m3.

Table 9 provides the 2005 particulate summary for PM2.5. There were no samples over any California or federal standard.


New in 2005

  • A real time PM2.5 monitor was added to the Santa Maria monitoring station in January 2005.
  • On June 15, 2005 the EPA revoked the Federal 1-hour ozone standard.