SLO County Air Pollution Control District
E-Newsletter


August 2017

Upcoming Events APCD is Participating In:
  • August 23: Central Coast Climate Collaborative Inaugural Summit at SLO Vets Hall
  • August 30: APCD Executive Committee Meeting at the SLO APCD Office at 1:30pm.
  • September 27: APCD Board Meeting at the SLO County Board of Supervisors Chambers, 9:00am. 
  • October 7: Outdoor Discovery Festival at Lopez Lake
  • October 21: Cal Poly Football Game
In This Issue
AirAware Alerts
APCD Podcast
High School Student Wins FFA Award
New Mobile Monitoring Station and Solar Trailor

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New Notification System for Air Quality Alerts
The SLO County APCD has recently launched a text message service called "Air Aware" to keep the residents of San Luis Obispo County informed of air quality events throughout the county. When users sign up on the SLO County APCD website they will receive mobile alerts directly to their cell phone (landlines are NOT compatible) when the SLO County APCD issues press releases, wildfire impacts or an Air Quality Index over 100. 

There is also a notification category for those residents wishing to receive early alerts for blowing dust on the Nipomo Mesa. Please be aware that it may take up to 1 business day to implement your phone number into our messaging list to begin receiving messages. These alerts are also available in Spanish, click here to sign up
Podcast Series

From information on wildfires, to tips and tricks of multi-modal commuting, the SLO Clean Air Podcast has new recordings every month to keep you engaged with what the agency is working on and informational topics. Posted once a month, the podcast, hosted by Roya Forooghi, focuses on the work that the APCD is a part of while also incorporating information of the work that local organizations do in the county. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast at slocleanair.podbean.com or you can visit our website!
 
Nipomo High School Student Wins FFA Award After Working with the APCD

Award Winner: Maddy Avila

Nipomo  High School graduate, Maddy Avila, was recognized with a Future Farmers of America (FFA) Environmental Science Natural Resources Management Award after working in partnership with the SLO County APCD.  While  Avila had some background knowledge derived from past courses taken in school, she believes that the work she participated in with the APCD is what made her project successful. Avila worked with the APCD to learn about permit checkups, a frequent task conducted by the APCD. Avila was able to succesfully lead and inspect Tally Farm Vineyards and their equipment, where she independently identified sources of emissions as well as communicated with the business owner about their current permits. She plans to attend Alan Hancock Community College in the Fall, with aspirations to continue on to Cal Poly in the future.
New Monitoring Station
Mobile Monitoring and Solar Powered Trailer

The SLO County APCD recently added a mobile monitoring station as well as a mobile solar-power source that can be deployed to charge multiple entities, from the mobile monitoring station itself to plug-in vehicles. There are currently 11 permanent air monitoring stations in the county . The mobile monitoring station gives APCD the opportunity to monitor locations that do not currently have a permanent station close by when there is a change in air quality. The mobile monitor and mobile solar-powered source, secured through grant and settlement funding, have identical equipment to those at a permanent monitoring stations to ensure accurate data collection. The monitoring trailer has two particulate instruments to measure PM 10 and PM 2.5, as well as meteorology tower that measures wind speed, direction and temperature. The solar trailer will give the APCD the ability to take measurements in places where there is no access to power to widen our reach in the county.   

 
Thank you for taking the time to read our e-newsletter! If you have any questions regarding programs of the Air Pollution Control District, please give us a call at 805-781-5912. You can also email the APCD at [email protected]
 
SLO County Air Pollution Control District