Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

San Ysidro will check its own dang air quality

Community leaders not satisfied with monitoring by government agencies

On August 26th, a community steering committee and others cut the ribbon on their air-monitor project
On August 26th, a community steering committee and others cut the ribbon on their air-monitor project

San Ysidro has three freeways cutting through it. The approximately 29,000 residents also live next to the largest land port of entry in the world — an estimated 50,000 vehicles cross the border daily. It’s no surprise, therefore, that back in October 2014 the San Diego Association of Governments reported the South Bay had a 17.8 percent higher rate of asthma and a 20.1 percent higher rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than the rest of San Diego.

In February 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District placed an air-pollution monitor on a rooftop at the port of entry. The EPA provided $110,000 in funding to study the air quality.

Sponsored
Sponsored

After 14 months, the monitor had to be moved from the rooftop to a parking lot. In a phone interview with Bill Brick, chief of monitoring and technical services division at the air-pollution control district, he said the monitor went offline for a few months because it took time to get electricity at the new location. Last week, the agency was told by the General Services Administration that due to construction, the monitor would have to be moved again.

Brick did say some preliminary findings were available. The monitor located at the port of entry and the monitor they have at Donovan State Prison “tend to both kind of go up and down together, even though one is closer to traffic.... We’re getting quite a bit of impact on certain days from Tijuana.”

San Ysidro residents haven’t been satisfied with only one monitor and, with the help of scientists and several organizations — including the California Environmental Protection Agency and Casa Familiar — they created a community-based air-monitoring study.

Planned air-monitor-site locations

On Friday, August 26th, a community steering committee consisting of ten San Ysidro residents gathered at the San Ysidro Civic Center to unveil 13 strategic locations to place the monitors. They will be installed at four schools and two trolley stations, near the freeways and at the border.

Brick explained the monitors will be an experiment to see if communities can effectively assess their own pollution using low-cost monitors. The county uses EPA-certified monitors, which during manufacture go through an intensive process to test for accuracy and stability; these monitors cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

San Ysidro, on the other hand, will put up instruments that do not have these quality controls. As a consequence, 3 of the 13 monitors will co-locate with the county-monitored air-pollution equipment in order to compare results.

Vanessa Galaviz, associate public health scientist at the California Environmental Protection Agency, explained at the unveiling, “We are making efforts to co-locate at Downtown, Donovan, and San Ysidro. Co-location is important for validating the community monitors to ensure accuracy of the data.”

Imperial County is conducting a similar study using the same low-cost monitors and preliminary results show they are 80 to 90 percent accurate.

Once the study is complete, Galaviz says the air-monitoring data will help provide information needed to prioritize improvement in public health and potentially provide data for CalEnviroScreen. Accounting for cross-border pollution in CalEnviroScreen ensures accurate identification of disadvantaged communities, which are then eligible for Cap-and-Trade funds.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Fix it Clinic, Gaslamp Holiday Pet Parade

Events December 14-December 18, 2024
On August 26th, a community steering committee and others cut the ribbon on their air-monitor project
On August 26th, a community steering committee and others cut the ribbon on their air-monitor project

San Ysidro has three freeways cutting through it. The approximately 29,000 residents also live next to the largest land port of entry in the world — an estimated 50,000 vehicles cross the border daily. It’s no surprise, therefore, that back in October 2014 the San Diego Association of Governments reported the South Bay had a 17.8 percent higher rate of asthma and a 20.1 percent higher rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than the rest of San Diego.

In February 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District placed an air-pollution monitor on a rooftop at the port of entry. The EPA provided $110,000 in funding to study the air quality.

Sponsored
Sponsored

After 14 months, the monitor had to be moved from the rooftop to a parking lot. In a phone interview with Bill Brick, chief of monitoring and technical services division at the air-pollution control district, he said the monitor went offline for a few months because it took time to get electricity at the new location. Last week, the agency was told by the General Services Administration that due to construction, the monitor would have to be moved again.

Brick did say some preliminary findings were available. The monitor located at the port of entry and the monitor they have at Donovan State Prison “tend to both kind of go up and down together, even though one is closer to traffic.... We’re getting quite a bit of impact on certain days from Tijuana.”

San Ysidro residents haven’t been satisfied with only one monitor and, with the help of scientists and several organizations — including the California Environmental Protection Agency and Casa Familiar — they created a community-based air-monitoring study.

Planned air-monitor-site locations

On Friday, August 26th, a community steering committee consisting of ten San Ysidro residents gathered at the San Ysidro Civic Center to unveil 13 strategic locations to place the monitors. They will be installed at four schools and two trolley stations, near the freeways and at the border.

Brick explained the monitors will be an experiment to see if communities can effectively assess their own pollution using low-cost monitors. The county uses EPA-certified monitors, which during manufacture go through an intensive process to test for accuracy and stability; these monitors cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

San Ysidro, on the other hand, will put up instruments that do not have these quality controls. As a consequence, 3 of the 13 monitors will co-locate with the county-monitored air-pollution equipment in order to compare results.

Vanessa Galaviz, associate public health scientist at the California Environmental Protection Agency, explained at the unveiling, “We are making efforts to co-locate at Downtown, Donovan, and San Ysidro. Co-location is important for validating the community monitors to ensure accuracy of the data.”

Imperial County is conducting a similar study using the same low-cost monitors and preliminary results show they are 80 to 90 percent accurate.

Once the study is complete, Galaviz says the air-monitoring data will help provide information needed to prioritize improvement in public health and potentially provide data for CalEnviroScreen. Accounting for cross-border pollution in CalEnviroScreen ensures accurate identification of disadvantaged communities, which are then eligible for Cap-and-Trade funds.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

SD Symphony singer tells what it’s like behind the scenes

Conductor Payare even looks like Mahler
Next Article

The greatest symphonist of them all

Havergal Brian wrote over 30 of them
Comments
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
Dec. 25, 2018
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader