Shown below is Real-Time web output from the UPWIND Laser Air Particulate Pollution Monitor located less than 1 mile NW of the Sand plant site in Chippewa Falls. The prevailing wind, according to a local resident, generally blows from the sand plant directly onto his property in the summer and reverses in the winter, so now, regardless of wind direction, we can compare readings between upwind and downwind monitors and determine how much pollution the plant is contributing…
Wind direction, speed and relative humidity are shown on the second chart; info received from Eau Claire Airport.
We do have a Davis Weather Station 100′ above Lake Wissota at Pine Harbor, and it agrees with the EAU readings.
Contact Save the Hills Alliance through Patricia J. Popple at email@example.com
For monitor info see “Web Ready Monitor” at the bottom of the drop down list you are on.
A simple conversion of “respirable” crystalline silica levels from different instruments is: 100 ug/m3 = 1 million particles/ft3. On the graphs above, the units of particles/ft3 are on the left side, and units of ug/m3 are on the right side. The monitoring data you see above are estimates of these respirable particle concentrations.
(Respirable is equivalent to PM 4).
Each reading from a Dylos DC1100 instrument is averaged over five minutes and the graphs are updated every thirty minutes. Large particles (above 2.5 μm) are shown in red while small particles (down to 0.5 μm) are shown in orange. Wind conditions and humidity are collected simultaneously from the weather station at the coordinates 44-52°N 091-29°W. The north (green) and west (blue) wind components are recorded separately and are calculated to provide a true vector average. (For details, see the second method cited at http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/wndav.shtml.)
Originally, it was proposed that there were to be multiple monitors around the plant site so that by subtracting the incoming air pollution number from the total pollution leaving the site, one could calculate the amount of pollution produced by the plant regardless of the direction of the wind. Since the plant operators have resisted this idea, we are installing a series of private monitors, situated as near as possible to the proposed site. These privately owned monitors are now measuring and recording the total particulate output of the air passing over the proposed sand plant plus all other airborne particulate producing sources upwind, including farming, construction, diesel exhaust, road dust, and surprisingly, water vapor. Over time, we can produce a baseline reading before any Sand Plant operations start, so we will be able to measure the increase in particulate pollution due to Sand Plant operations. As you can see by watching the particulate count each day, our air quality is not good. We don’t need more dust in the air.
Based on readings of a similar monitor in Menomonie, near the sand plant there, we expect to see our pollution index increase by orders of magnitude when this Plant actually goes into operation inside the city limits of Chippewa Falls.