About Me

My photo
Nazareth, Pa., United States

Monday, October 02, 2023

Lehigh Valley Breathes Issuing Monthly Reports

In early August, both Lehigh and Northampton County announced the launch of Lehigh Valley Breathes. That's a program to collect data about particulate matter air pollution in the Lehigh Valley, called PM2.5 with up to 40 air monitors in both counties. 

PM2.5 is particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. It is caused by emissions from oil, diesel and gasoline as well as burning wood. It bypasses the nose and throat and goes directly to the lungs and circulatory system. It is linked to several negative health consequences, from reduced lung function and asthma.  

Given that Allentown is the asthma capitol of the United States, it is in our own self- interest to do what we can to reduce its occurrence. 

For the next year, Lehigh Valley Breathes will collect data as more monitor locations are established. After that, it will make recommendations to municipalities that might be impacted. 

In the meantime, Lehigh Valley Breathes is publishing a monthly report. Its first report is below:  

Welcome to the first Lehigh Valley Breathes project update! Because our project will require a year of data collection followed by several months of analysis before we can provide a final report, we decided to keep you informed on our progress as we work towards cleaner air for all.

In addition to providing monitor information, we’ll use these monthly updates to share interim project observations as they come along during the year, additional opportunities for residents to be involved, and pertinent news and information regarding air quality issues of both local and general interest.

First and foremost, we’d like to thank you for the incredible response we received to our invitation to residents to place monitors on their properties and be part of this project. We had over 90 emails in response to our invitation, and from that, we’ve identified at least 70 possible locations. Since we only have 40 monitors to deploy for the project, we won’t need all those sites; however, seeing so many people eager to participate was great.

As you may recall, we need two different kinds of sites for the project. The first type, what we call a priority site, is one that falls within one of the gray/white areas you may have seen on our interactive map. You can find the map here. We’ve identified these areas in consultation with our particulate matter expert from Carnegie-Mellon that seem most likely to yield high concentrations of particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5), the pollutant we’re focusing on.

The second type of site is one that is located outside of those priority areas where we expect to find data readings of much lower concentration because they are farther away from the mobile sources of PM 2.5 that we are studying. We need sites that are both rural and urban, close to roads and away from roads. Readings from these sites will be used to set baselines against which to measure readings from priority sites.

All of this requires a good deal of coordination. We expect the final design plan to be complete the week of September 25, 2023.

Monitor Installation

As of September 22, we have ten monitors installed. You can see where they are on the Shiny App, located here. Why, you may ask, only 10? Because monitor siting is both an art and a science. As explained above, we need to carefully balance priority sites with secondary sites. And then, sometimes, the site itself needs a bit of tweaking. Two of the monitors we had already installed needed to be relocated at the site they’re in because they were picking up stray readings from non-mobile or non-standard sources. One at a fire company picked up readings from the fire trucks when they left the garage. Another monitor was picking up readings from smoke from a nearby fireplace. They just needed to be repositioned, but that takes time. We expect to have several more installed this week, and we’re still on track to have them all up this Fall.

Any Observations?

Not yet, except for those out-of-standard readings from the two sites I mentioned. Once a monitor is installed, we need to keep an eye on it to make sure it’s not picking up weird stuff (that’s a technical term), as I explained above. As we install more monitors and acquire more data, it will become easier to identify patterns and outliers.

See You Next Month

We’ll be back again in October with more updated information. These updates will be posted on this webpage the last week of each month.

If you would prefer to receive the updates by email, you can request to be added to the email list at lvbreathes@gmail.com

Breathe easy!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since Allentown is the problem child of the Lehigh Valley and the Nation, here's my suggestion. Let's sell Allentown to California. Good riddance

Anonymous said...

I cant wait to read the findings from the slow table in the junior high school environmental sciences club.

Anonymous said...

This is an example of why fitness is so important, we need elected officials who can operate at a high level despite being chronically exposed to fine particulate matter. Asbestos Lawyer and morbidly obese crimson ogre Lamont McClure is unfit for duty, this past weekend during live fire on the fly exercises i witnessed Brother Steve navigate the course in full battle rattle and execute two very tight groupings at 30 yards with iron sights off a norinco. This of course was after one of his legendary weight lifts in the AM.

Anonymous said...

"PM2.5 is particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. It is caused by emissions from oil, diesel and gasoline as well as burning wood."


Gee, I wonder what the monitors will show, and what conclusions those behind the monitors will reach?

This wouldn't be another example of democrat politicians using our tax dollars to justify their radical, anti-fossil fuel agenda?

Anonymous said...

The science is settled by whomever pays for it. Let's make masks mandatory.

Steve Lynch - Krakatoa Underwear Model said...

Good morning everyone, Steve Lynch here. Hope you're having a wonderful...uh... let's see here... what day is it? Monday? Ok, now that I'm past the pre-planned "candid" part of my speech, I just wanted to remind everyone that MASKS ARE TYRANNY!!!! DO NOT LET THESE AIR TESTS DISTRACT YOU FROM THEIR ULTIMATE GOAL - TO CONTROL YOU!!!! STRAIGHT FACTS!!! Also, when you people see me as an underwear model, you will be SORRY you didn't vote for me!!! I'M DONE

Anonymous said...

I’m getting the smell lye. Someone at the Morning Call should do something about it, it’s all over that place!

Anonymous said...

Steve, you should pull those underwear over your head. Make sure they are worn by Bernie for a week prior to modeling them.

Anonymous said...

I'm always surprised by the fact that ONLY Democrats care about people and the environment. Oh, and also sound intelligent. If it were all left up to the Republicans we would be back in the 1970s breathing in black air, all for the love of Capitalism and the "don't tread on me" mentality. They just can't understand that their rights end where a Democrat's nose begins. Don't worry folks, the Democrats with keep our species alive, or at least, try to.

Anonymous said...

Says someone who supports murdering babies. Loser.

Anonymous said...

You ever think of going on the night club circuit? 🤣

Anonymous said...

Something is rotten in Denmark!

Anonymous said...

1:32,

In 1972, Democrat environmentalists promised me an Ice Age within 10 years. Is it OK to finally give my sweaters to Goodwill? Al Gore said we'd be under water by 2000. Is that why the Obamas bought oceanfront a couple of years ago? If Democrats care more about the environment, it's because they're incredibly stupid and are being made sport of by their own political icons. Lol. The sky is falling, according to those who direct you dupes around like a laser pointer screwing with a cat.

Sincerely,
Maybe Paul Ehrlich