County has stepped up dust inspections, education

GREEN VALLEY--Pima County has stepped up its dust-control efforts after raising fees in 2003 and hiring new inspectors in July.

The new staffers allowed the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality to start proactive inspections instead of merely responding to complaints, and to provide education to businesses and the general public.

Three new inspectors and one new public education coordinator were hired in September and began training. Previously there was one full-time dust inspector who only responded to complaints.

The new staffing also resulted in significant increases in the number of inspections, the number of first warning letters, and the number of notices of violations, a county spokeswoman said.

Comparing the fourth quarter of 2003 to 2001, there was a 100 percent increase in the number of inspections, a 500 percent increase in notices of violation( NOVs), and a 750 percent increase in Compliance Status Letters (CSLs), the first warning letters.

In 1999, Pima County violated EPA health-based standards for particulate matter. In December 2002, the County Board of Supervisors, as part of the county's Natural Events Action Plan, approved stricter standards for allowable airborne particles during earth-moving and other activities.

The county opacity standard changed from 40 percent to 20 percent, with 100 percent meaning no light can be seen through the dust and 0 percent, meaning one can see perfectly clearly with no blocking of light.

Dust, or particulate matter, can come from many sources, including dirt roads, earth-moving activities, vacant disturbed land, materials handling, crushing and grinding activities, ATV riders, motor vehicle users, and more.

Dust can cause coughing, difficulty in breathing, aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function, hospital admissions and emergency room visits, absences from work and school, and premature death.

Those most at risk include: the elderly, individuals with pre-existing heart or lung disease, children, and asthmatics. And eastern Pima County has a higher than normal percentage of most of these at-risk groups.

The county education coordinator can be contacted at 740-3343 and is available to give presentations to businesses, neighborhood associations, developers and other land owners, and schools to help teach ways to control dust and reduce exposure for those at risk.

This includes ATV riders, vacant landowners, and companies involved with earth-moving activities.

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