Air Pollution and GIS

GEOG 4650/5650

Spring 2009

ALOHA and Extension

• Area Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres – atmospheric dispersion model used for evaluating release of hazardous chemical vapors.

• Downloaded from http://www.epa.gov/ceppo/cameo/aloha.htm

• ArcGIS and ALOHA – download dll from • Google “Aloha for ArcGIS” then download the

extension and install it.• Ok, you may encounter tech difficulties now.. Let’s

figure out the solutions..

TRI• Toxic Release Inventory, http://www.epa.gov/tri/• EPA database containing information on toxic

chemical releases by industry• Click map “Search TRI Site” on the right.• On the map, click “TN”, the you will go to• 2006 State Fact Sheet, and the then move cursor

on top of Putnam County and you will find out Putnam County put out 42,300 lbs of toxic materials in 2006.

• Now, 3 drop-down list will appear– TRI Chemicals, TRI Facility and TRI Industries

• Click “TRI Chemicals” you will find – 13,300 lbs of Toluene released from Point Source Air

Emission was reported in 2006. and – 29,000 N-Butyl Alcohol in 2006.

Select TRI Chemicals -

Air Emission• Fugitive Air Emission -

are all releases to air that are not released through a confined air stream. Fugitive emissions include equipment leaks, evaporative losses from surface impoundments and spills, and releases from building ventilation systems.

• Point Source Air Emission –Stack or point source air emissions occur through confined air streams such as stack, vents, ducts, or pipes

TRI Facilities• Find out what chemical was released from

which facility and their addresses..

• Click “Adams USA” you will get address, phone number and even the lat/long information

Geocoding, not again

• Since we have addresses of these two locations, we need to create points to locate the factory.

• Copy “Streets.shp” to your own folder,• The “Streets.shp” is in StatePlane83.• You may want to create a personal geodatabase

“TRI.mdb” and store all your data layers in “TRI.mdb” -- so import “Streets.shp” to “TRI.mdb” (save as PutnamStreet)

• Start ArcMap and add “Streets.shp” to layers and start geocoding process.

Did you forget how to geocode?

• If yes, then follow the following instructions:– ArcCatalog | New Address Locator | US Street with

Zone | PutnamAddressLocator (name)– Reference data (select PutnamStreet)– Back to ArcMap and select Tools | Geocoding |

Geocode Address, then add the Address Locator you just created inside of ArcCatalog.

– Make sure you have Address Table ready, if not, please use Excel or Notepad to create one.

– Confirm the output location and file name.– Then, start the process of geocoding.

HazDat

• Hazardous Substance Release and Health Effects Database

• ATSDR – Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

• http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/Hazdat.html

• A-Z Index

• Toluene – Create Map, showing the presence of toluene in the U.S.

Select Tennessee from “All State” dropdown list. It may take a while to load the page.While reviewing the map of the US, you may find Putnam county doesn’t have dot on itHowever, you may look for it on County list (try Putnam and Davidson),

HazDat….

• On the lower half of the screen, you will find there are 4 sites in Tennessee identified containing toluene

• Click “Tennessee Products” and find out the detailed information about this location.

• This is a NPL site (see next slide), there is a publication about this site.

NPL

• National Priority List - The list prioritizes the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the United States and its territories. The NPL is intended primarily to guide the EPA in determining which sites warrant further investigation

Toluene- toxicity info

• Like many organic solvents, toluene is a respiratory tract irritant, particularly at high airborne concentrations. Persons with underlying respiratory tract disorders, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS), can experience bronchospasm on exposure to any irritant, including toluene. Because toluene accumulates in adipose tissues, persons who are obese tend to retain more toluene than persons of normal weight, but the clinical significance of this is unknown

ALOHA

• Start ALOHA from your computer.

• Select “Site Data | Location” and select “Cookeville” from the location list.

• If you don’t see the city name, you may “Add” to the list.

• Go to “Setup | Chemical” and click “Toluene” and select.

Toxicity Level• ERPG 1: The maximum airborne concentration below which it is

believed that nearly all individuals could be exposed for up to 1 hour without experiencing other than mild transient adverse health effects or perceiving a clearly defined, objectionable odor.

• ERPG 2: The maximum airborne concentration below which it is believed that nearly all individuals could be exposed for up to 1 hour without experiencing or developing irreversible or other serious health effects or symptoms which could impair an individual's ability to take protective action.

• ERPG 3: The maximum airborne concentration below which it is believed that nearly all individuals could be exposed for up to 1 hour without experiencing or developing life-threatening health effects.

• IDLH: The Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH)• The Lower Explosive Limit (LEL), also called the Lower Flammability

Limit, is the minimum concentration of fuel in the air needed for a fire or an explosion to occur if an ignition source is present.

Atmospheric Conditions

• Extreme condition?

Inversion/Stability

• Inversion – temperature of air increases with altitude.

Direct Source• Instantaneous Source vs. Continuous

Sources.

• Calculation of Rates:– Total of 13,300 lbs released in – 2 times, for 2 hours

Display

• Red – Orange – Yellow zones

Result

• Zone

• Try 13,300 lbs/hr

Footprint in ArcMap

• Click “ALOHA” icon on toolbar,

• Enter latitude and longitude of the “Adams USA” (36.148176, -85.500778). Then,

• Find ALOHA footprint file in c:\Program Files\ALOHA\ALO_CLP.pas and