AQMD to give residents 50 air-quality sensors
(Published June 15, 2018)
South Coast Air Quality Management District representatives visited Temescal Valley last month to explain a new program that measures air quality at the community level, instead of regionally, by using small, portable, low-cost sensors.
About 80 residents attended the meeting and heard how these small devices – about the size of a coffee mug, do a better job of measuring particulate matter than gases, and have about an 85 percent accuracy rate.
The AQMD was able to obtain the sensors through a highly competitive Environmental Protection Agency grant. There were 99 applicants for the grant nationwide – with only six recipients, the majority being universities.
The agency has purchased 550 sensors and identified nine communities within its four-county service area and will add Temescal Valley as the 10th community to receive sensors. Fifty Temescal Valley residents will be given the free sensors and at the end of the program, recipients can keep the devices.
Residents applying for a sensor must have a backyard source for electrical power (they are not battery-operated), access to wi-fi and make a commitment to participate in the program for 12 to 15 months. Additionally, residents must attend a mandatory meeting in Temescal Valley to be held at 6 p.m., Thursday, July 26, when the sensors will be distributed, and instructions given on how to install and monitor them. The data collected by the devices easily can be accessed via a dedicated website.
The sensors cannot determine from where the particulate originates, so if readings show high levels, it is the responsibility of the community to determine the source, not the AQMD.
About 30 people attending the meeting signed up for the sensors. Because the goal is to obtain valley-wide readings, additional residents are being sought in communities east of the 1-15.
If interested, send an email stating your name and the community in which you reside to: WeAreTV.org@gmail.com
AQMD to discuss air-quality sensors at meeting held here
(Published May 11, 2018)
The South Coast Air Quality Management District has a new program that measures air quality at the community level, instead of regionally, by using small, portable, low-cost sensors.
AQMD reps will present the program to Temescal Valley residents at a 6 p.m. meeting, Wednesday, May 16, in the Tahoe Room at the Trilogy Lake Center, 24477 Trilogy Parkway.
Temescal Valley came to the AQMD’s attention when six residents in March attended a public meeting in Riverside sponsored by the agency. The purpose of that meeting was to inform the public about AB 617, new legislation that encourages collaboration with and the identification of disadvantaged communities needing assistance in cleaning up the air.
Under the leadership of Jerry Sincich, chairman of the We Are Temescal Valley Development Committee, group members told the moderator Temescal Valley is an air-quality disadvantage community and needs its own an air-quality monitoring station.
Reasons cited was our valley location between two mountain ranges bisected by a usually-gridlocked freeway. Also noted were the aggregate mines and landfill, which burns methane and uses incinerator ash as ground cover, and the heavy truck traffic.
AB 617 gave residents the online ability to recommend their community as being air-quality disadvantage. Many Temescal Valley residents filled out and submitted the AQMD online form by the deadline earlier this week.
Residents seek air-quality monitoring station for Temescal Valley
(Published April 12, 2018)
A group of six Temescal Valley residents recently attended a South Coast Air Quality Management District meeting to learn more about an assembly bill geared to reducing air pollution in the region.
ACCESS AQMD ONLINE FORM HERE
DEADLINE TO SUBMIT FORM: MONDAY, MAY 7
Here are a few reasons why we are seeking an air-quality monitoring station in Temescal Valley. Use these in the nomination form and, if not listed here, add your own:
— We are located in a long narrow valley between two mountain ranges.
— The heavily traveled and often times gridlocked I-15 freeway runs through our valley.
— Nine aggregate mines are located here, as well as asphalt and cement batch plants.
— One of the largest landfills in the nation is located here. It burns methane and uses incinerator ash as ground cover.
— The largest mines and the landfill operate 24/7.
— Several hundred trucks a day exit the freeway, spewing exhaust emissions as they travel along our only north-south surface street to the mines and landfills.
— The trucks create fugitive dust.
— We have a sewage treatment plant located here.
AB 617 and companion bill, AB 134, provide new opportunities for communities impacted by air pollution. AB 617 encourages collaboration with and the identification of disadvantaged communities needing assistance in cleaning up the air. AB 134 provides funds through a voluntary grant program to replace older vehicles and equipment with cleaner technologies.
The purpose of the meeting was to bring people together to identify communities and how they can best be assisted. The “Temescal Valley Six” – Jerry Sincich (Sycamore Creek), Ruth Brissenden and Shannon Milliken (Butterfield Estates), and Tracy Davis, and John and Jannlee Watson (Wildrose Ranch) – attended the meeting with a “mission.”
Group members told the moderator Temescal Valley is an air-quality disadvantage community and needs its own an air-quality monitoring station. Among the reasons given was our location in a long, narrow valley between two mountain ranges bisected by a usually-gridlocked freeway. Located here also are nine aggregate mines and one of the largest landfills in the nation which burns methane and uses incinerator ash as ground cover.
AB 617 gives residents the online ability to nominate their community. The process is quick and easy, but the deadline for nominations is Monday, May 7.
Do you want to know what’s in the air our families breathe? Take a minute to fill out the nomination form. And remember, when filling out the form, We Are Temescal Valley (not Corona)!