Air Study Checks Pollution Locally

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced the launch of the New York City Community Air Survey, regarded as the first comprehensive effort to monitor street level air pollution in neighborhoods across the five boroughs.

Air pollution monitors mounted on 150 light posts throughout the city will be used to measure major air pollutants that contribute to health problems. The data collected will help the city better understand how pollution from traffic, buildings, and other sources affects air quality from one neighborhood to another.

The NYC Community Air Survey is an initiative of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's PlanNYC, which aims to make New York City's air quality the cleanest of any large U.S. city. Air quality has improved in the city overall, but there are no reliable data available on how air quality varies across neighborhoods.

"Air pollution aggravates asthma, other breathing problems and heart disease," said Dr. Thomas Matte, Director of Environmental Research at the Health Department. "Motor vehicles are major sources of dangerous pollution, and this study will allow us to track pollution for the first time at the street level, where New Yorkers breathe."

The Health Department, in partnership with Center for the Biology of Natural Systems at Queens College, will be collecting air samples over the next year.

In the course of the four seasons, each of the 150 locations will be monitored for two-week periods. Air samples will be analyzed for fine particles (PM2.5), nitrogen oxides (NOx), elemental carbon (EC), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ozone (O3).

The monitoring locations are in areas with high or low traffic and low building densities, various mixes of commercial, residential and industrial properties, and in areas with dense or sparse tree cover—a reflection of the variety of urban environments found in New York City.

The NYC Community Air Survey will not replace the routine rooftop air monitoring done by the Department of Environmental Conservation to track compliance with regulatory standards and issue alerts when necessary. The study is also not designed to examine pollution at any specific property. It is one of more than a dozen PlaNYC programs to improve air quality in New York City. The plan also includes efforts to:

• improve fuel efficiency of private cars.

• reduce emissions from taxis, black cars and for-hire vehicles.

• replace, retrofit and refuel diesel trucks.

• decrease school bus emissions.

• retrofit ferries and mandate use of cleaner fuels.

• work with the Port Authority to reduce emissions from port facilities.

• implement more efficient construction management practices.

• promote the use of cleanerburning heating fuels.

• reforest targeted areas of our parkland.

• increase tree-planting on lots.

Results from the air survey will be available in 2009. For more information on the survey, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/eode/ nyccas.shtml. To learn more about other New York City air-quality initiatives, visit www.nyc.gov/html/ planyc2030/html/plan/air.shtml.