Air quality forecasting for ground-level ozone has concluded for the year, according to officials at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's Air Pollution Control Division and the Regional Air Quality Council.
The ozone-forecasting season began June 1. Air quality forecasters now will turn their attention to wintertime air quality forecasting, beginning Nov. 1, 2008, and extending through March 31, 2009.
For 2008, 39 Ozone Action Alerts were issued. Alerts are forecasts that indicate meteorological conditions conducive to increased ground-level ozone concentrations that will approach or exceed the federal health-based standard.
"This summer's forecasting effort was a successful one," said Paul Tourangeau, director of the department's Air Pollution Control Division. "Every summer, awareness of the ozone issue increases. We feel strongly that we are on the right path, both in the planning effort and the outreach that's being done to educate everyone about ozone."
This summer was the first in which the new federal health-based standard for ozone, announced earlier this year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was in effect. The new standard is 0.075 parts per million, or 75 parts per billion averaged over eight hours.
The seven-county, Denver-metropolitan area, along with portions of Larimer and Weld counties to the north, already were out of compliance with the previous standard of 80 parts per billion. Because of a rounding convention, if the rolling three-year average of the annual fourth maximum reading at a monitor was equal to or greater than 85 parts per billion, the region was considered out of compliance and designated as a nonattainment area.
One monitor, located in northern Jefferson County, recorded values last summer that put the Front Range region out of compliance. That monitor, when 2008 values are added into the average, remains out of compliance with the 85 parts per billion standard. However, using the new standard, nine of 14 Denver-metro and North Front Range ozone monitors are projected to be out of compliance, based on available preliminary data.
"We anticipated the broader noncompliance, " Tourangeau said. "A few monitors fell out of compliance as soon as the new standard took effect based on previous readings." Area monitors recorded values at or above 85 parts per billion on two days during the three summer months in 2008 -- the fewest number of days since 2004. Area monitors recorded values above the new 75 parts per billion standard on 20 days.
The department, the council and their partners already have begun developing plans to further reduce ozone to attain the old standard, and begin addressing the new standard. The draft Ozone Action Plan for achieving compliance with the old standard is being proposed this month and will be considered by the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission at a public hearing in December. If approved, it will be forwarded to the Colorado General Assembly for consideration during the 2009 session, then forwarded to Gov. Bill Ritter for submittal to the EPA.
Efforts to draft a similar plan for the new standard already are under way.
"While we have completed a plan to meet the previous EPA standard, considerably more work needs to be done to meet the new EPA standard," said Ken Lloyd, executive director of the Regional Air Quality Council. "The Regional Air Quality Council and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will continue to move forward developing measures to meet the new 8-hour standard."
Department-maintained monitors sample the air year round. Real-time monitoring data is updated hourly on the department's Web site. Residents can access air quality information via the Web.
The Regional Air Quality Council is the lead air quality planning agency for the seven-county Denver-metropolitan area. In existence since 1989, the council's main purpose is to develop plans and programs to keep the region in compliance with federal air quality standards, with significant input from area citizens, business, and local governments. The council also oversees the development and implementation of air quality outreach and education programs throughout the region.
