Pima County's DEQ staff mounted this tower 30 feet in the air

Pima County, Ariz. (Dec. 22, 2011) – Pima County’s Department of Environmental Quality (PDEQ) has been singled out for praise by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS).

In its December 2011 issue, the OAQPS newsletter, The QA Eye, says Pima County found a creative solution to a problem at its ambient air monitoring station in Tucson.

It said this work “serves as a great example to other agencies around the nation.”

In response to a query from another air quality monitoring agency, Pima County sent its hand-crafted solution to setting up a nitrogen converter box to the publication.

Staff working in the county’s Ambient Air Monitoring Program sent the EPA its solution to mounting a remote “NOy converter box” some 30 feet (10 meters) in the air to help measure trace concentrations of reactive oxides of nitrogen, normally lost or destroyed by a standard NOx analyzer.

NOx is a generic name for various nitrogen oxides primarily produced by cars, trucks, buses and trains. These pollutants can cause breathing difficulty in people with asthma, lung or heart disease and the elderly.

DEQ staff determined that in order to preserve the reactive oxides for analysis, part of the ambient air analyzer must be installed 10 meters above ground level.

That is where a catalytic conversion of the reactive oxides converts them to nitric oxide, a more stable gas, which can then be drawn down through connecting tubing and into an analyzer housed within a shelter below it.

By using this method of collecting air samples 30 feet up, county staff is able to detect trace reactive oxides of nitrogen. They then can be compared to the measurements of a standard NOx analyzer to mathematically determine how much of the trace reactive oxides are present in the air.

The original and seemingly simple question posed in the EPA newsletter by a Primary Quality Assurance Organization was how to properly install a remote “NOy converter box.’’

Pima County’s DEQ staff did the job for less than $300 in materials.  The solution was “simple, effective and cheap,” PDEQ staff said.

The staff machined and assembled the parts themselves and then successfully installed the converter box at the county’s air monitoring station at Children’s Park, 400 W. River Road.

PDEQ staff explains in more detail:

“An NOy converter box is part of a complicated electronic analysis of oxides of nitrogen commonly found in the air we breathe.

 “The NOy analyzer is a modified form of a standard NOx analyzer, which has been in use for decades to determine concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency criteria pollutant.

 “The NOy analyzer is a fairly recent development that is intended to measure trace concentrations of reactive oxides of nitrogen that are normally lost or destroyed by a NOx analyzer.

 “It’s a complicated process, made more complicated by the necessity of mounting a 40-pound converter box and 50 pounds of interconnecting tubing and cables 10 meters (30 feet) in the air, with the means to lower it for servicing.

 “In lieu of an expensive telescopic winch-operated triangular tower, DEQ staff designed and fabricated a simple winch and pulley arrangement to raise a section of square steel tubing straight up and down through roller guides bolted to the shelter.

 “The converter is mounted to the top of the tube and is accessible when the tube is all the way down.”

Several PQAOs throughout the country also responded to the query in the EPA newsletter but The QA Eye reported that Pima County’s solution and recommendations led the pack.

Here’s what the EPA publication said about Pima County DEQ’s NOy converter installation:

“Pima’s (recommendation) was not just a recommendation but an example that made one pause and take notes on what is possible.”

Pima County’s work showed a “well-designed and crafted custom monitoring station” made from material that had been “creatively repurposed” and “re-crafted by very dedicated Pima AAMP personnel.”

“Like Pima AAMP staff, the NCORE station is first rate and serves (as) a great example to other agencies around the nation.”

A Region 9 Technical System Audit at the Tucson site in September 2011 found the AAMP Children’s Park NCORE station “impressive.”

The county is required by the federal government to measure air quality on an ongoing basis. The designated ambient air pollutants monitored and reported by PDEQ are carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter.

This data is submitted by Pima County to the EPA Air Quality System (AQS) database. The EPA determines compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

Pima County, Ariz. (Nov. 15, 2011) – Pima County’s efforts to “go beyond code” to provide guidelines for Green Building and sustainable projects are included in a new federal guide to “Creating Effective Green Building Programs for Energy Efficient and Sustainable Communities.”

The Going Beyond Code Guide is designed to help state and local governments design and implement successful “beyond code” programs for new commercial and residential buildings.

These guidelines, such as those developed by Pima County, encourage energy efficiency and other sustainable elements in the construction and operation of buildings, without having to mandate them by creating additional building codes.

Rich Franz-Ünder, Pima County’s Green Programs Manager in the county’s Department of Development Services, helped shape the Going Beyond Code policy options noted in the Guide to Green Building.

Pima County is included along with the cities of Scottsdale, Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Longmont, Colo., as an example of best practices to emulate.

The guide to “Creating Effective Green Building Programs for Energy Efficient and Sustainable Communities” describes model green building guidelines from around the United States.

The goal of Green Building, Franz-Ünder said, is to advance energy efficiency by reducing waste and by building water and energy efficiency into the construction of homes and businesses.

The new document is based on the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project’s (SWEEP) “Going Beyond Code” guide, which also includes Pima County. The new guide was prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Program in collaboration with SWEEP.

The guide, which is free, is available online and can be downloaded as a pdf  file at http://www.energycodes.gov/publications/resourceguides/packets/gbc_guide/GoingBeyondCode_LoRes.pdf.

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Pima County, Ariz. (June 27) – Try to barbecue without the lighter fluid over the July 4 holiday weekend and you’ll reduce the amount of volatile organic compounds released into the air.

Mixed with sunshine, those chemicals add to ground-level ozone.

If you plan to use charcoal, the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality recommends using a charcoal chimney and crumpled paper instead of lighter fluid – which costs about $4 a can – to light your barbecue fire.

A charcoal chimney costs about $15 and lasts for years. It’s a simple piece of pipe with a handle and a grate in the bottom that holds the charcoal.

Once you light the paper and start the fire, the coals will be ready for grilling in about 15 minutes.

Grilling with propane gas, natural gas or solar energy also reduces air pollution.

The Tucson area is close to exceeding the federal government’s standard for ground-level ozone. Once ozone measures above the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s ground-level ozone standard, it can cause health problems for some people.

Elevated levels of ground-level ozone can affect children, the elderly and people with lung or heart disease, including asthma and congestive heart failure.

Pima County also suggests using plates, napkins, and forks and knives that can be used again, to help save natural resources by reducing waste.

And, it’s cheaper to use a paste made of baking soda and water, and a wire brush, to clean your barbecue grill. It costs pennies and is completely non-toxic. Aerosol oven cleaners give off toxic fumes.