Air Quality in P.G. Under the Microscope

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 04:00 PM

The B.C. Lung Association has published its "State of the Air B.C. 2005" report, and Prince George gets a mixed review.

PM 2.5 is fine particulate matter that can be inhaled deep into the lungs. It  comes from transportation exhaust, industry, wood burning and forest fires. PM2.5 can also be a secondary pollutant formed by the reaction of other gases such as nitrogen, sulphur, ammonia and "volatile organic gases" (exhaust fumes from fossil fuels, wood smoke).

Whatever the source, for the third straight year, P.G. has recorded the highest level. The Canada Wide Standard is 30ug/m3 for a 24 hour period averaged over three years.

In P.G. the reading was approximately 35.

Quesnel is next with 27 followed by Kamloops with approximately 25.

The best average reading in the province is from Powell River which is just one third of the Canada Wide Standard with a reading of 10.

The news is a little better on other pollutants. When it comes to ozone, (which can cause inflammation in the lungs) the Canada Wide Standard is 130 ug/m3

Hope is the worst, with 135
P.G. registered 109 ( pretty much tied with Whistler)
Burnaby was the best with 92

In Prince George, the Lung Association cites industry, transportation, and wood burning as the main culprits, but those activities are magnified by topography and weather which trap the pollutants in the region.
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Posted on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 04:00 PM in News by Elaine Macdonald

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Comments

Posted by: pgweb on August 30 2005 5:04 PM

As usual, the powers that be in Vancouver are reporting only part of the story. If the PM/25 is heavily affected by vehicular traffic, then why would Prince George have more than Say... VANCOUVER. Funny thing, Vancouver was missing from the little PM/25 graph. Another thing that was unfortunate is that the news report in the Vancouver Sun and other large papers only mentioned the one type of pollution reading when the actual report has 2 other pollution level graphs for other contaminants where PG is definitely not the highest polluter. Typical that the South wants only to report that which is negative in the NORTH. The actual report can be found at this site: http://www.bc.lung.ca/soarbc.pdf for anyone who is interested. Another note of interest is the fact that the report mentions smoke from beehive burners as contributing to the PM/25 particulates but there has been no beehive burners operating in the bowl area for many, many years.

Posted by: gypsy on August 30 2005 6:10 PM

I do not know about the rest of the residents, but I, for one, find it very uncomfortable trying to breathe properly on a bad day for pollution in this city. Constantly coughing becomes a bit tiring. It is almost like one becomes short winded, and wheezing can even occur. I can understand why people feel justified in leaving this city, as there are just too many days when the air quality is very poor.
We place our health at risk in so many ways, it would be nice to at least know the air we breathed was not going to directly damage our lungs.
Guess the only answer is to move out of the bowl, but look how College Heights is expanding. Poor air quality seems to have no adverse effects on that expansion.
Guess we all have to die from something-but gasping for a breath of the fresh is not my idea of a peaceful exit!!!!
Probably won't even think of it when our time comes!!!
People don't really think of it even now.
Guess it can't be that important to many.

Posted by: duffer on August 31 2005 8:45 AM

I travelled to Vancouver on August 12th and right from Hope to Burnaby the pollution got increasingly worse. It was a beautiful, clear day, but by the time I got to Burnaby you could barely make out the mountains to the north. I will take our air quality any day over that. And by the way, by the time the "Clean air coalition" gets done with us we will probably have the best air in Canada. What a joke they are.

Posted by: Opatcho on August 31 2005 10:06 AM

Why is Vancouver not mentioned in the air quality survey. Vancouver unlike Prince George that sits in a bowl has the benefit of a westerly air flow that blows all the bad air quality against the moutains at Hope and Chilliwack.
The air quality in the residential part of Prince George is good most of the time. There are two air monitors, one on Plaza 400 and the other in the BCR industrial site. These are the areas where the bad air qulity is. Another monitor at Gladstone elementary also shows poor air quality when the BCR Industrial site reading goes up.
I dont understand why one would cough and weeze from poor air quality. I have asthma from smoking to long but have not smoked for over 20 years. Today it is under control and I don,t cough or weeze and I also spend a consideral amount of time out doors. Air quality has been a major concern of mine and I think Prince George gets bum rap.
BC Enviroment monitors the aire quality across the Province except the lower mainland where its done by the Regional District. Both sites are on the internet so check it out. I do every day.