EPA Provides New Data from Schools Air Toxics Monitoring Initiative
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

An updated round of results from air toxics monitoring at two New Jersey schools and one New York school are now available on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Web site. A total of four schools in EPA’s Region 2 were selected as part of the EPA’s national Schools Air Toxics Initiative. The initiative, which is monitoring 63 schools in 22 states, will help EPA and state governments learn if long-term exposure to toxics in the outdoor air poses health concerns for school children and staff. Early sampling at all four schools in EPA Region 2 show that levels of air toxics are below levels of short-term concern.

The study design calls for outdoor air monitoring at the schools for 60 days and for air quality monitors to collect at least 10 daily samples during the sampling period. EPA will use this information to help determine next steps, which could include more monitoring, if needed. Results are posted at http://www.epa.gov/schoolair.

The four schools being monitored in EPA Region 2 are IS 143 in Manhattan, New York, Olean Middle School in Olean, New York, Mabel Homes Middle School in Elizabeth, N.J. and Paulsboro High School in Paulsboro, N.J. EPA is monitoring the air around these schools for several contaminants associated with industrial and mobile sources such as cars, trucks and airplanes.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 2:44 am and is filed under Education, Environment, Health and healthcare, K-12. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.