News Release 033

DEPARTMENT RECEIVES FUNDING TO CONTINUE
FINE PARTICULATE MATTER AMBIENT AIR MONITORING

Volume 36-033

Contact: Renee Bungart

(For immediate release)

573-751-4465

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, JAN. 22, 2008 -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has been awarded a grant amendment to continue monitoring and tracking fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, in the St. Louis area. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 awarded the grant.

The department will use the $96,845 grant award to continue the collection of air samples at air monitoring stations in the St. Louis area. The award will fund the monitoring through March 31. These samples will be used to help judge whether the area is in compliance of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter. The amendment provides $70,490 to the department's Environmental Services Program for the laboratory analysis associated with the sampling, and $26,355 will be directed to the local agencies operating the monitoring network. The local agencies involved in this effort are the St. Louis County Department of Health -- Air Pollution Control Section and the City of St. Louis Department of Health -- Division of Air Pollution Control.

The PM 2.5 network provides high quality data to determine compliance with federal, health-based air quality standards, assist in air quality forecasting designed to inform the public of high pollution days and aid in determining the causes of fine particle pollution.

"The department and its local agency partners have operated the PM 2.5 network from 1999 to 2005," said Leanne Tippett Mosby, deputy director of the department's Division of Environmental Quality. "The information from this monitoring is very important in determining the effectiveness of air pollution control strategies that have been implemented to improve air quality."

Particles in the air are a mixture of solids and liquid droplets that vary in size and are often referred to as particulate matter. Fine particles, those less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, pose the greatest health concern because they can pass through the nose and throat and get deep into the lungs causing an increased risk of heart attack and other health problems.  These fine particles are just a fraction of the diameter of a single human hair. Particles larger than 2.5 micrometers are not usually inhaled deeply into the lungs, but they can also have adverse health effects, such as respiratory problems.  Particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter but more than 2.5 micrometers are known as coarse particles.  There are several federal air quality standards for fine particles, identified by the different averaging times associated with measuring fine particle pollution.  One standard is measured using an annual averaging time and another standard uses a 24-hour averaging time.

Currently, the St. Louis area has two sites over the annual PM 2.5 standard, both of which are in Illinois.  Kansas City, including Kansas sites, Springfield and all outstate areas are in compliance with the annual standard.

All sites in Missouri are also complying with a new 24-hour PM 2.5 standard promulgated by EPA in 2006.  In St. Louis, several sites in Illinois are in violation, but all sites on the Missouri side are in compliance.  Sites in Kansas City, Springfield and outstate areas are also in compliance.

For more information on the fine particulate matter air monitoring or other air quality issues, contact the department's Air Pollution Control Program at 800-361-4827 or 573-751-4817.

For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.

###