State Health Department Concludes Ozone Forecasting for
2008
Sept. 3, 2008 - DENVER - Air quality forecasting
for ground-level ozone has concluded for the year, according
to officials at the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment’s Air Pollution Control Division and the
Regional Air Quality Council. The ozone-forecasting season
began June 1. Air quality forecasters now will turn their
attention to wintertime air quality forecasting, beginning
Nov. 1 and extending through March 31. The first red or blue
advisory of the wintertime High Pollution Advisory Program
will be issued on Friday, Oct. 31, at 4 p.m., taking effect
at midnight. For 2008, 39 Ozone Action Alerts were issued.
Alerts are forecasts that indicate meteorological conditions
conducive to increased ground-level ozone concentrations
that will approach or exceed the federal health-based
standard. “This summer’s forecasting effort was a
successful one,” said Paul Tourangeau, director of the
department’s Air Pollution Control Division. “Every summer,
awareness of the ozone issue increases. We feel strongly
that we are on the right path, both in the planning effort
and the outreach that’s being done to educate everyone about
ozone.” This summer was the first in which the new federal
health-based standard for ozone, announced earlier this year
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was in
effect. The new standard is 0.075 parts per million, or 75
parts per billion averaged over eight hours. The
seven-county Denver-metropolitan area, along with portions
of Larimer and Weld counties to the north, already were out
of compliance with the previous standard of 80 parts per
billion. Because of a rounding convention, if the rolling
three-year average of the annual fourth maximum reading at a
monitor was equal to or greater than 85 parts per billion,
the region was considered out of compliance and designated
as a nonattainment area. One monitor, located in northern
Jefferson County, recorded values last summer that put the
Front Range region out of compliance. That monitor, when
2008 values are added into the average, remains out of
compliance with the 85 parts per billion standard. However,
using the new standard, nine of 14 Denver-metro and North
Front Range ozone monitors are projected to be out of
compliance, based on available preliminary data. “We
anticipated the broader noncompliance, ” said Tourangeau. “A
few monitors fell out of compliance as soon as the new
standard took effect based on previous readings.” Area monitors recorded values at or above 85 parts per
billion on two days during the three summer months in 2008 –
the fewest days since 2004. Area monitors recorded values
above the new 75 parts per billion standard on 20 days.
The department, the council and their partners already have
begun developing plans to further reduce ozone to attain the
old standard, and begin addressing the new standard. The
draft Ozone Action Plan for achieving compliance with the
old standard is being proposed this month and will be
considered by the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission at
a public hearing in December. If approved, it will be
forwarded to the Colorado General Assembly for consideration
during the 2009 session, then forwarded to Colorado Gov.
Bill Ritter for submittal to the EPA. The draft Ozone
Action Plan may be viewed at
http://www.ozoneaware.org/ozone-information.
Efforts to draft a similar plan for the new standard already
are underway. “While we have completed a plan to meet the
previous EPA standard, considerably more work needs to be
done to meet the new EPA standard,” said Ken Lloyd,
executive director of the Regional Air Quality Council. “The
Regional Air Quality Council and the Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment will continue to move forward
developing measures to meet the new 8-hour standard.”
Department-maintained monitors sample the air year round.
Real-time monitoring data is updated hourly on the
department’s website and available to all. Residents can
access air quality information conveniently via the web at
http://www.colorado.gov/airquality. Residents also may call
303-782-0211 for recorded air quality information. The
Regional Air Quality Council is the lead air quality
planning agency for the seven-county Denver-metropolitan
area. In existence since 1989, the council’s main purpose is
to develop plans and programs to keep the region in
compliance with federal air quality standards, with
significant input from area citizens, business, and local
governments. The council also oversees the development and
implementation of air quality outreach and education
programs throughout the region. |
