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A passive ozone monitoring project in the Four Corners

Mallery Downs, RN, Community Environmental Health Program/COEP, University of New Mexico/NMCEHS, 2701 Frontier Place NE, Surge Bldg, Rm 140, MSC 10 5550, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, 505-272-1374, mdowns@salud.unm.edu, Jake McDonald, PhD, NMCEHS/Facility Core 1, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, 2425 Ridgecrest SE, Albuquerque, NM 87108, Johnnye L. Lewis, PhD, DABT, Community Environmental Health Program, University of New Mexico, 2701 Frontier Place NE, Surge Bldg, Rm 140, MSC 10 5550, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, and Brooks Taylor, MD, San Juan Citizens Alliance, P.O. Box 2461, Durango, CO 81302.

Despite the rural nature of the area, the northwest corner of New Mexico has seen an increase in ozone levels over the past three years. San Juan county is home of the largest gas and oil field in the lower 48 with almost 15,000 producing wells, two refineries, and two coal-burning power plants. The New Mexico Center for Environmental Health Sciences’ (NMCEHS) Community and Outreach Program (COEP), was contacted by a community non-profit requesting that there be an increase in monitoring efforts, since there was concern that the state’s monitors were not monitoring breathing zone ozone concentrations, and the development of a brochure regarding ozone and associated health effects. With monies awarded to the COEP from the Tobacco Settlement Funds a brochure was developed and 3 Ogawa passive monitors were placed in San Juan county and two in Southern Colorado. The monitoring began in May 2003 and ended in October 2003 with a 168-hour exposure process and Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, a partner of the NMCEHS, coordinated the analyses, while community volunteers manned the monitors. EPA Region 6 conducted a similar passive monitoring process and the results correlate with COEP passive monitoring results. The COEP passive monitoring results are being incorporated into the EPA’s maps. While the air shed is shared by New Mexico and Colorado state and federal jurisdiction follows state borders. The community will use the monitoring results from both Region 6 and COEP to persuade the appropriate agencies to provide ozone monitoring in Southern Colorado.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the poster session, the participant will be able to

Keywords: Environmental Health, Data Collection

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Air Pollution: From Assessment to Intervention

The 132nd Annual Meeting (November 6-10, 2004) of APHA