ASSESSMENT OF THE AIR QUALITY MONITORING NETWORK OF BAJA CALIFORNIA, MÉXICO

1. ASSESSMENT OF THE AIR QUALITY MONITORING NETWORK OF BAJA CALIFORNIA, MÉXICO February 18th, 2010

2. Working Plan

3. Objectives • To evaluate and categorize the Baja California monitoring network in order to know the current coverage and operation conditions. • To identify possible points of pollutants accumulation (concentration islands) in order to evaluate the network coverage and define the restructuring and/or possible growth of the air quality monitoring network.

4. Location of the monitoring network

5. Playas de Rosarito

6. Playas de Rosarito Condition of the equipment • Analyzers for O3, NO2 and CO show a difference lower than 1% between the value of the analyzer reading and the datalogger, SO2 analyzer reading lamp intensity is unstable. • The analyzer PM10 manual. Perform cleaning and maintenance of the nozzle and the sampling head. It is noted that the graph has not been replaced in some samples. Environment • In this station it is important the combustion sources from restaurants, and in lower number mechanical workshops. • Land type. It has bare soil (vacant lots and sports courts) and the beach is about one kilometer away.

7. Tijuana

8. Tijuana Playas • Condition of the equipment • Analyzers for O3, NO2 and CO show a difference lower than 1% between the value of the analyzer reading and the datalogger for O3 and CO, for NOx the difference is higher than 1%. • PM10 analyzer requires cleaning and maintenance more frequently of the nozzle and sample head. There was placed the filter for sampling, but it had not collected the sample and had no flow chart. Environment • Predominance of mechanic workshops, dry cleaners and a gas station. The station is near the sea, so that due to wind flow, the measurement can be affected. Eucalyptus woodlands.

9. Tijuana La Mesa • Condition of the equipment • Analyzers for O3, NO2 and CO show a difference lower than 1% between the value of the analyzer reading and the datalogger. • In the analyzer of SO2, the value of the intensity of the lamp is unstable and none of the registered values is valid. • Automatic analyzer of PM10. The reading of the device doesn’t correspond with the one registered in the datalogger. Manual analyzer of PM10 was not working, so the flow chart had no values. • Environment • It is located in a densely populated area where there are no bare soil or vegetation areas. There are services establishments, mechanic workshops, restaurants, dry cleaners and gas stations.Roadways with high traffic flow.

10. Tijuana COLEF • Condition of the equipment • In this station both measurement devices of PM10 high volume and PST require cleaning. Environment • Area where commercial activity predominates. Important number of services establishments, mostly restaurants. Also there is a gas station and hotels. • Mobile sources, The station is located in a commercial area dominated by motor vehicles and traffic lights. Regarding landscaping, 30 meters west of the station there is a park with laurel trees with heights of 15 meters on average.

11. ITT Tijuana • Condition of the equipment • Analyzers for O3 and NOx show a difference lower than 1% between the value of the analyzer reading and the datalogger. • CO analyzer, the difference between the value of the analyzer and the datalogger reading is too big (500% in average). • In PM10, sampling filter was not found, flow chart was not found either. • Environment • ITT station is located in the “InstitutoTecnológico de Tijuana” facilities, in the environment there is variety of vegetation: Eucalyptus (10 m height), laurels (8 m height), pine (15 m height) and scrubs (2 m height). North of this station there is a gully that is used as a garbage dump. • Establishments: mechanical workshops, restaurants, lumberyard and bakery.

12. Surveys applied to establishments in Tijuana and Playas de Rosarito

13. Tecate

14. Tecate • Condition of the equipment • Analyzers for O3 ,NOx and CO show a difference lower than 1% between the value of the analyzer reading and the datalogger for NOx and CO, 1% higher for O3. • For the PM10, the sampling filter was found, but with no samples and without flow chart. Its is recommended to do a cleaning and maintenance more frequently of the nozzle and sample head. • Environment • Establishments of the services type: hospital, gas station and food business. Referring mobile sources, the site is located at the police department and there are idling vehicles. The station is 250 m away of the border line Mexico-USA. • Vegetation, in the northwest of the station there is a bare soil with bushes and some eucalyptus (5 m height) and pines to the south (15 m height).

15. Mexicali

16. Mexicali Progreso • Condition of the equipment • The manual equipment for PM10 has flow charter, but the mechanical timer was not in the box. Its is recommended to do a cleaning and maintenance more frequently of the nozzle and sample head. Environment • The station is rounded by bare soils with no vegetal coverage and unpaved roads, that is why the place with the instrument has too much dust, coming from vehicles circulating near the station. • There are no establishments with significant services.

17. Mexicali CONALEP • Condition of the equipment • The manual equipment for PM10 was registering values lightly below the expected. Its is recommended to do a cleaning and maintenance more frequently of the nozzle and sample head. Environment • The station is rounded by a soccer field and bare soils with no vegetal coverage also unpaved roads, located in an suburban zone with predominant unpaved roads. • There are no establishments with significant services. • 10 m to the south and 50 m to the north, we found vegetation with pines with significant height.

18. ITM Mexicali • Condition of the equipment • There is a difference between the value in the analyzer and the datalogger, lower than 1% for O3 and higher than 1% for CO. The NOx reading in the datalogger doubles the value compared with the reading in the analyzer. The manual equipment for PM10 is working correctly. Its is recommended to do a cleaning and maintenance more frequently of the nozzle and sample head. Environment • Located inside the facilities of “InstitutoTecnológico de Mexicali” near a unpaved parking lot, and rounded by bare soils and bushes. • Vegetation is located to a distance of 70 to 100 m with eucalyptus, pines and bushes. • Establishments, there is a car deposit and a commercial center and near maquiladoras.

19. Mexicali COBACH • Condition of theequipment • There is a difference between the value in the analyzer and the datalogger, lower than 1% for CO and higher than 1% for O3, higher than 2% for NOx. The equipment for PM10 is working correctly. Its is recommended to do a cleaning and maintenance more frequently of the nozzle and sample head. Environment • Located in the “Colegio de Bachilleres”, to the east of the station the parking lot of this school is located and the avenue “HeroicoColegioMilitar”, a green area to the north and sport fields to the west. • Establishments: Mechanical workshops, hospital, a gas station and restaurants.

20. Mexicali UABC • Condition of theequipment • There is a difference between the value in the analyzer and the datalogger, lower than 1%. CO was found turned off due to the lack of correlation filter. • In the SO2 analyzer, the voltage in the lamp is unstable and the analyzer presented an alarm.The manual equipment for PM10 is working correctly. In the automatic PM10 equipment the suction pump was vey hot with a low sampling flux. The reading of this device doesn’t correspond with the registered information in the datalogger. The sampling equipment for PM2.5 was turned off and dirty. Environment • This station is located inside the UABC facilities. There is a parking lot to the south; from southwest to northeast (green area around 20,000 m2).  • Establishments: mainly restaurants and two gas stations.

21. Mexicali Laguna Campestre • Conditions of the equipment • There is a difference between the value in the analyzer and the datalogger, lower than 1% for O3 and NOx. There is no equipment for CO in the station. The manual equipment for PM10 is working correctly. Its is recommended to do a cleaning and maintenance more frequently of the nozzle and sample head. Environment • This station is located in a rural zone, inside the facilities of the “Instituto de Investigaciones de CienciasAgrícolas y Veterinarias de la UABC”. Around this station there are bare soils and rain fed farming.

22. Validation • Percentage of reliable data recorded in 2005 of pollutants monitored by the network in BC

23. Validation • Percentage of reliable data recorded in 2006 of pollutants monitored by the network in BC

24. Validation • Percentage of reliable data recorded in 2007 of pollutants monitored by the network in BC.

25. Season • Pearson correlation higher than 0.9 Clusters • Group • Intergroup

26. Obstacles found Maps creation for gathering information in the station environment. No georeferenced mapping was got on time, so we proceeded to use the Google Maps™ to generate the maps of each station with 500m radius and include a guide for the journeys in search of significant emission sources Identification of significant emission sources in the environment of the stations. Safety for the journeys is not good, especially in Tijuana, where a GPS was stolen, fortunately the loss of the equipment was the only damage and not any injury to the personnel staff. The loss of information was evident and gathering the information of the station was done again. Survey application to commerce and services establishments near the Tijuana-Rosarito monitoring stations. Due to insecurity, the willingness of people is not good for filling out surveys. Validation of records of monitoring stations in the BC network There are no complete records for the years 2008 and 2009. The information is less reliable as the years increase.

27. Comments about Monitoring Network Evaluation Project