Santa Barbara County Air Quality Attainment Designation
Air quality standards define clean air. They tell us how
much of a substance can be in the air without causing harm, based on
proven scientific and medical research. Both the federal and state
governments set air quality standards. In most cases, California's
standards are more protective of health. The Attainment Designation tells us whether our
air meets these health standards.
Federal standards have been established for seven pollutants:
- carbon monoxide
- lead
- nitrogen dioxide
- ozone
- respirable particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10)
- fine particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5),
and
- sulfur dioxide.
California state standards exist for all of these, plus four more:
- sulfates
- hydrogen sulfide
- vinyl chloride (chloroethene), and
- visibility reducing particles.
These are the only pollutants - out of hundreds in our air - for which
standards have been set. There is not enough known about the health
effects of other pollutants to set air quality standards. View the State
and Federal Ambient Air Quality
Standards.
Santa Barbara County has a preliminary designation
of nonattainment, with a classification of "marginal," for the federal 8-hour ozone standard.
However, the U.S. EPA plans to finalize this designation by mid-2012,
and Santa Barbara County's designation may change. For more information, see our
September 23, 2011 news release. (The 1-hour
federal ozone standard was revoked for Santa Barbara County). The California 8-hour ozone standard was implemented
in May, 2006. The County violates the state 8-hour ozone standard and
the state standard for PM10. The County is unclassifiable/attainment for the federal
PM2.5 standard and unclassified for the state PM2.5 standard (based on
monitored data from 2007 – 2009).
To view historical statistics on ozone and particle pollution levels in
Santa Barbara County and other areas see
this page on the California Air Resources Board site.
Santa Barbara County
Attainment/Nonattainment Classification Summary 2010
|
|
Pollutant |
Averaging Time |
California Standards |
National Standards |
|
Concentration |
Attainment Status |
Concentration |
Attainment Status |
|
Ozone
|
8 hour |
0.070 ppm |
N |
0.075 ppm |
N* |
| 1 hour |
0.09 ppm
(180 µg/m3) |
A |
revoked
|
A |
|
Carbon Monoxide
|
8 hour |
9.0 ppm
(10 mg/m3) |
A |
9.0 ppm
(10 m/m3) |
A |
| 1 hour |
20.0 ppm
(23 mg/m3) |
A |
35.0 ppm
(40 µg/m3) |
A |
|
Nitrogen Dioxide***
|
annual average |
0.030 ppm
(56 µg/m3) |
A |
53 ppb |
U/A |
| 1 hour |
0.18 ppm
(338 µg/m3) |
A |
100 ppb |
U/A |
|
Sulfur Dioxide
|
annual average |
-- |
-- |
Revoked |
-- |
| 24 hour |
0.04 ppm
(105 µg/m3) |
A |
Revoked
|
-- |
| 1 hour |
0.25 ppm
(655 µg/m3) |
A |
75 ppb |
**** |
|
Particulate Matter (PM10)
|
annual arithmetic mean |
20 µg/m3 |
N |
revoked |
A |
| 24 hour |
50 µg/m3 |
N |
150 µg/m3 |
A |
|
Particulate Matter - Fine (PM2.5)
|
annual arithmetic mean |
12µg/m3 |
U |
15 µg/m3 |
U/A |
| 24 hour |
-- |
-- |
35 µg/m3** |
U/A |
|
Sulfates
|
24 hour |
25 µg/m3 |
A |
|
|
|
Lead
|
calendar quarter |
-- |
-- |
1.5 µg/m3 |
A |
| 30 day average |
1.5 µg/m3 |
A |
-- |
-- |
| Rolling 3-month Average |
-- |
-- |
0.15 µg/m3 |
U |
|
Hydrogen Sulfide
|
1 hour |
0.03 ppm
(42 µg/m3) |
A |
-- |
-- |
|
Vinyl Chloride (chloroethene)
|
24 hour |
0.010 ppm
(26 µg/m3) |
|
-- |
-- |
|
Visibility Reducing Particles
|
8 hour (1000 to 1800 PST) |
|
A |
-- |
-- |
|
A=Attainment
N=Nonattainment
U=Unclassified
U/A=Unclassifiable/Attainment
|
mg/m3=milligrams per cubic meter
ppm=parts per million
µg/m3=micrograms per cubic meter
|
NOTES:
* EPA strengthened the 8 hour ozone standard from the 1997 level of
.08 ppm to .075 ppm on May 27, 2008, but delayed implementation of the
standard. In September 2011, EPA made
initial designations for this standard, and plans to finalize those
designations by mid-2012. For more information, see
EPA's website.
** EPA strengthened the 24-hour fine particle standard from the 1997
level of 65 ug/m3 to 35 ug/m3 on September 21, 2006.
*** The state Nitrogen Dioxide ambient air quality standard was
amended on February 22, 2007, to lower the 1-hour standard to 0.18 ppm
and establish a new annual standard of 0.030 ppm. On January
22, 2010, EPA set a new 1-hour NO2 standard of 100 ppb.
They also retained the annual NO2 standard of 53 ppb.
**** CARB is recommending attainment designation for the
Federal SO2 1-hour standard as of 6/15/2011.
|
|
