Advancing Air Quality Monitoring in Environmental Justice Communities of the South Coast Air Basin, CA: Overview of Approaches, Technologies, and Community Engagement

Abstract:

The regional air quality improvement in the South Coast Air Basin (SCAB) is well documented. However, disproportionate exposure to elevated levels of air pollution in Environmental Justice (EJ) communities of the SCAB continues to have serious public health consequences. In 1997, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) began its EJ initiatives to conduct enhanced air monitoring and to take a more systematic approach to reduce the disproportionate impact of air pollution in disadvantaged communities. Since then, South Coast AQMD has developed strong relationships with EJ communities to learn about their local air quality concerns and develop solutions jointly with community members. More recently, in 2017, the enactment of Assembly Bill (AB) 617 provided additional opportunities and resources to accelerate the efforts to address air pollution issues in EJ communities throughout the state of California.

Thus far, five EJ communities have been selected in the SCAB under the AB 617 program. Depending on the specific needs of each community, South Coast AQMD develops a tailored Community Air Monitoring Plan (CAMP) to identify and implement the most appropriate air monitoring strategies to support actions for emissions and exposure reduction. As part of these efforts, the South Coast AQMD has been developing and evaluating some of the most advanced air monitoring technologies to enhance its capability to measure community-scale criteria and toxic air pollutants. Considering that most of the EJ communities in the SCAB cover a vast geographical area and encompass a wide range of air pollution sources, an approach that integrates multiple air monitoring strategies and technologies seems appropriate. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the AB 617 air monitoring program in the SCAB and discuss the monitoring approaches, technologies, and the community engagement process. In two companion presentations, we will also present the preliminary results of the community-scale air monitoring projects that have been conducted so far as part of this new program.