Air Quality Management Department

Perhaps more than anything else, air interacts directly and constantly with us. All land creatures breathe gases and materials suspended in the air. Trees, grasses and other plant species sharing the earth are equally dependent on clean air.

Outdoor air quality is affected by many human and natural activities. Manufacturing companies, power plants, small businesses, automobiles, incinerators, and the unregulated burning of organic and inorganic refuse are all sources of air pollution. In fact, any activity that releases materials into the air affects air quality.

Indoor air is often as polluted as the air outside our homes and workplaces even in neighborhoods without heavy industrial pollution. In areas with uncontrolled zoning, this is especially true. Contaminants from gas stoves, cleaners, solvents, cigarette smoke, paints and improperly utilized and stored chemical products all effect indoor air quality.

The air quality management department will work with government, private sector and community groups to inventory and monitor indoor and outdoor air quality and perform health risk assessments.

Some activities to be undertaken on-site and in the laboratory include:

  • Indoor air quality control
  • Air quality monitoring and planning
  • Air toxic inventory and health risk assessment
  • Emissions source identification, engineering evaluation and emissions characterization
  • Baseline meteorological and air quality characterization