The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded $3.65 million to a consortium of universities, led by The University of Texas at Austin, to examine air quality in Houston.
Houston, which just surpassed Los Angeles as the U.S. city with the poorest air quality, is the focus of Dr. David Allen's Gulf Coast Aerosol Research and Characterization Program. The new 16-month EPA study will characterize Houston's particulate matter-- the visible part of air pollution--how it travels across large regions, and how it affects health. Dr. Allen is a chemical engineering professor and director of UT's Center for Energy and Environmental Research. Dr. Matthew Fraser, assistant professor of environmental science and engineering at Rice University, is the co-leader of the program.
The EPA-funded study becomes part of an overall $10 million, comprehensive air quality initiative called "Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS "ยข 2000)" that will identify particulate matter and ozone levels, determine air pollution sources and assess how the pollution travels.
Comprehensive air quality studies are necessary in Texas, Allen points out, because the state is in the process of defining new, regional approaches to air quality and is setting new regulations.
"These studies will provide a sound scientific basis for the state's air quality management decisions" Allen says. "In the Houston area it's estimated that approximately 2.5 million people live with potentially unhealthful concentrations of particulate matter," Allen noted. "The unique collection of emission sources and the complex coastal meteorology have made understanding what causes these exposures a challenge"
For the EPA study, the UT-led team will conduct an intensive 16-month sampling program in June at three core sites and 20 peripheral sites around Houston. Researchers will characterize the types, size, sources and spatial extent of particulate matter air pollution, how it changes from season to season, how it is affected by weather patterns, and how it is related to human health.
During the study, Fraser's research group at Rice will be measuring the concentration of individual organic molecules and determining the original source of ambient particulate matter. Each emission source emits different individual organic compounds. "This is important as any proposed plan to improve air quality must begin with identifying the relative contribution from different sources to the overall problem," Fraser said.
The team will include researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, Rice University, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, Clarkson University, the University of Delaware, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Aerosol Dynamics, Inc., of Berkeley, California. Additional collaborating institutions include the City of Houston, Office of the Mayor; the Houston Regional Monitoring Network; the Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center, and the UT Health Science Center at Houston. Government agencies involved in the study include the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Energy.
--30--
Note to editors: Photos may be found at www.engr.utexas.edu/comm/news.html.
For more information, contact Becky Rische at (512) 471-7272 or Dr. David Allen at (512) 475-7842.
RSS