Houston Air Quality Trends Where do we stand

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Houston Air Quality TrendsWhere do we stand?

• Breakfast Briefing
• House Environmental Regulation Committee
• Senate Natural Resource Committee
• December 11, 2006
• Steve Smith
• Chairman, Technical Advisory Committee
• Houston Regional Monitoring

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Houston Regional Monitoring Network

• A voluntary industry consortium
• Operates an ambient air quality-monitoring
  network in the Houston Ship Channel area
• Continuous criteria pollutant data collected for
  past 24 years, 7 sites
• Periodic (24 hour composite samples, every 6th
  day) VOC data (150 compounds) collected for past
  18 years, 7 sites
• Continuous VOC data (50 compounds) collected for
  past 3 years, 3 sites
• Special Studies program

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Measurement Methods

• Canister Sampling
• HRM operates seven sites with canister samplers
• Collect 24-hr composite samples once every 6th
  day
• Samples are analyzed by gas chromatograph/mass
  spectroscopy
• Minimum Detection Limit less than 1 ppb-V
• Analyzes for approximately 150 compounds
• To date over 9,000 samples have been collected
  and reported
• Automated PAMS GC
• HRM operates three sites with PAMS GCs
• Collect and analyze VOC samples hourly
• Analyzes for approximately 50 compounds
• Minimum Detection Limit less than 1 ppb-V

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What does the historical data show for Houston
air quality?

• Is Houston really the most polluted city in
  America?

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Houstons Air Meets 5 of 6 NAAQS
(All data except annual averages are the second
highest values per site, except that 8-hr ozone
values are the fourth highest. PM 2.5 was
determined using FRM.)
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What does the historical data show for Houston
air quality?

• Is air quality improving?
• Are ozone exceedence days going down?

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2006 data as of November 7, 2006
YTD, 22 One-Hour Ozone Exceedance Days in HGB
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No. of 8-Hour Ozone Exceedance Days
Katy Park
Atascocita
Tom Bass
Park Place
Meyer Park
Houston East
West Houston
Wallisville Road
Houston Monroe
Mercer Arboretum
Bunker Hill Village
Conroe Relocated
Manvel Croix Park
HRM/7 W Baytown
HRM/11 E Baytown
HRM/4 Sheldon Rd
Houston Deer Park 2
HRM/3 Haden Road
Houston Westhollow
Northwest Harris Co.
HRM/1 Central Street
Houston Bayland Park
Clear Brook High School
Houston Regional Office
Baytown Wetlands Center
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What does the historical data show for Houston
air quality?

• Is the monitored concentration of ozone
  precursors going down?

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On average, there has been a 27 reduction in NOx
since 1985.
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Total HRVOC Network Average Concentration at
Houston Ship Channel PAMS-GC Sites (June-November)
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What does the historical data show for Houston
air quality?

• Are monitored concentrations of air toxics going
  down?

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What are air toxics?

• Air toxics - media term
• Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) EPA term
• pollutants that are known or suspected to cause
  cancer or other serious health effects or adverse
  environmental effects
• EPA classified 188 compounds as HAPs in the Clean
  Air Act Amendment in 1990.
• HAPs are not Criteria Pollutants
• Criteria pollutants include ozone, carbon
  monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide,
  particulate matter, and lead

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Where do we find hazardous air pollutants?

• Mobile sources, on-road and off-road
• Stationary point sources, refineries,
  petrochemical plants, cement kilns, and power
  plants
• Indoor sources such as building materials and
  smoking
• Area sources such as lawn mowing, heavy
  machinery, dry cleaners, and printing operations

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TCEQ Canister, PAMS and HRM Monitors in Houston
Area
36 Benzene monitors at 29 sites in HGB
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TCEQ Canister, PAMS and HRM Monitors in Houston
Ship Channel Area
There are 24 monitors at 17 Sites in the Ship
Channel
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HGB HAP Monitors
Legend TCEQ EISM sites HRM sites
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Texas Ranks No. 1 among 39 states in the number
of benzene monitoring sites. Texas operates 22
of the sites in the United States as of 2004.
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TCEQ Canister Monitors and 2005 Annual Average
Benzene Concentrations (ppb) in Houston Area
Details of Ship Channel Area, See Next Slide
C8
0.52
C26
0.61
C53
0.38
C100
0.57
C1022
1.06
C34
0.23
C11
0.36
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Annual Average Benzene Trends in Houston Ship
Channel Area for 2004 (ppb), West Ship Channel
0.70
C114
0.60
Haden Rd.
0.67
Clinton Dr.
0.75
0.75
C167
1.63
0.71
C403
1.15
0.74
C169
Cesar Chavez
0.66
West Ship Channel
0.67
C1020
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Annual Average Benzene Trends in Houston Ship
Channel Area for 2005 (ppb), West Ship Channel
0.71
C114
0.64
Haden Rd.
0.68
Clinton Dr.
0.75
0.60
C167
1.97
0.60
C403
0.63
0.50
C169
Cesar Chavez
0.59
West Ship Channel
0.59
C1020
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Annual Average Benzene Trends in Houston Ship
Channel Area for 2004 (ppb), East Ship Channel
0.16
0.73
Wallisville Rd.
0.25
0.64
C15
Channelview
0.60
0.51
C148
0.5
Lynchburg Ferry
0.22
2.37
1.73
C1015
Deer park
0.47
0.60
C35
0.7
East Ship Channel
0.66
C145
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Annual Average Benzene Trends in Houston Ship
Channel Area for 2005 (ppb), East Ship Channel
0.17
0.62
Wallisville Rd.
0.25
0.75
C15
Channelview
0.75
0.56
C148
0.51
Lynchburg Ferry
0.24
3.15
C1015
9.17
Deer park
0.58
0.58
C35
0.75
East Ship Channel
1.18
C145
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Annual Average Benzene Trends in North and West
Houston Area for 2005 (ppb)
C26
0.61
0.52
C8
0.38
C53
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Annual Average Benzene Trends in Galveston and
Brazoria Area for 2005 (ppb)
0.87
Tx City
C1022
1.06
C100
0.57
0.35
Mustang Bayou
C34
0.18
Danciger
0.23
0.19
Lake Jackson
C11
0.36
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Annual Mean Benzene Concentrations
TX Annual ESL 1ppb
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Annual Mean Toluene Concentrations
TX Annual ESL 50ppb
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Annual Mean Ethyl benzene Concentrations
TX Annual ESL 46ppb
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Annual Mean 1,3-butadiene Concentrations
TX Annual ESL 5ppb
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Annual Mean O-Xylene Concentrations
TX Annual ESL 85ppb
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Annual Mean m/p - Xylene Concentrations (in Log
Scale)
TX Annual ESL 85ppb
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Harris County Benzene TRI Data vs. Ambient
Benzene Concentration
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Harris County Toluene TRI Data vs. Ambient
Toluene Concentration
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Harris County 1,3-Butadiene TRI Data vs. Ambient
1,3-Butadiene Concentrations
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How does Houstons air compare to that of other
cities for selected compounds?
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Observations and Conclusions

• Houston industry working in concert with the TCEQ
  has been active in collecting long-term (high
  quality) measurements to assess community
  exposure
• The Houston Galveston Brazoria hosts the nations
  most comprehensive network of monitoring sites
• Monitoring sites operated by TCEQ, City of
  Houston, Harris County, HRM, independent sources
• 48 ozone monitoring sites
• 32 hazardous air pollutants monitors
• Data from this network show that
• Average ambient benzene concentrations have
  declined by 80 since 1989
• Those sources that impact ambient benzene
  concentration in Harris Co. are
• On-road mobile sources 55
• Non-road mobile sources 24
• Industrial sources 14
• Other area sources 7

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Observations and Conclusions

• Houstons air quality has dramatically improved
  and will continue to improve
• Emissions of HRVOC and associated hazardous air
  pollutants will continue to decline as rules
  associated with the 8-hour ozone standard are
  phased in
• Long-term measurements of air toxics are expected
  to continue in order to address questions with
  regard to community health

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