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| The gunk remains on New Years Day |
Last night the shows went on as planned with fireworks displays in downtown Salt Lake City, Provo, and Ogden and perhaps elsewhere. I love fireworks, but last night it was totally inappropriate to have these displays. It is well known that fireworks produce large quantities of particulate matter. There is a view that this is only a "temporary problem," and that might be the case on the 4th of July when the atmosphere is more conducive to mixing. Currently, however, we are in an inversion and the particulates from those fireworks are going to contribute to our long term pollution problem, like it or not.
Overnight PM2.5 concentrations show possible evidence of a fireworks pollution spike right after midnight in both Utah and Weber counties. Hourly PM2.5 concentrations in Utah County spiked from about 30 to 50 ug/m3 after midnight. They have settled down a bit, but remain higher than they were yesterday and are now in the unhealthy for sensitive groups category.
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| Source: Utah Division of Air Quality |
A similar spike was observed in Weber County, which is now well into the unhealthy for all groups category.
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| Source: Utah Division of Air Quality |
The evidence for a spike in Salt Lake County is less clear, but it needs to be noted that the sensor is at Hawthorne Elementary, which is typically upstream of downtown at night. I suspect most of the fireworks pollution was swept over the Great Salt Lake where it will slowly mix with all the other gunk and contribute to our long term pollution woes.
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| Source: Utah Division of Air Quality |
Once again, we have met the enemy and it is us. How we can allow for the use of fireworks during such conditions is beyond me. A Salt Lake Tribune article from last 4th of July suggests that
a federal regulations loophole allows it, but I suspect the spirit of that loophole is to allow for a temporary increase in pollution during periods of otherwise good air quality.
In this instance, we are mired in terrible pollution and there is no justification for letting the show go on.
I just noticed in the Trib that at least one Chinese city cancelled their fireworks display to avoid worsening their air quality further. "The city of Wuhan in central Hubei province called off its fireworks show and banned fireworks downtown to avoid worsening its smog." http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/57337768-68/fireworks-display-dubai-record.html.csp.
ReplyDeleteThat should make for a good headline:
ReplyDelete"Wuhan, China more environmentally progressive than Utah"
The air quality has been in the unhealthy level much of the day, the air tastes like dirt. The 900 pound gorilla in the room is snow pack, been pretty dry out there and little in the future.
ReplyDeleteStill couldn't believe my eyes last night as everyone was blowing off mortar shells all over the place, in this inversion. Just terrible, winter time in the valley sucks, wish I was in Seattle dealing with the rain, at least the air is almost always clean.
ReplyDelete