Presented by: Angela BenedictSRMT Air Quality Program Manager

BREATHING, LIVING AND LEARNING IN THE AKWESASNE COMMUNITY: TOOLS TO IMPROVE INDOOR AIR QUALITY

Presentation Summary◦Environmental Justice Grant◦Goal◦Background◦Study

Setup Results

◦Lessons Learned

Environmental Justice GrantEPA-Regional1 year with extension possibleVery small grant

◦$30K

Our Goal

Create a healthy indoor environment for

study participants through direct feedback,

targeted interventions and education

Background

SRMT has known indoor air quality (IAQ) problems due to:◦Wet and cold climate◦Nearby industry ◦Traffic

IntroductionPeople spend approximately 90% of

time indoors◦65% at home

Indoor air pollution concentrations ◦Strongly correlated with adverse health

outcomes How to create a healthy indoor

environment?◦Reduce indoor air pollution concentrations ◦Find out the sources of air pollution

Experimental DesignAir quality monitoring in 40 homesPre-Intervention

◦ 12 days of baseline monitoring ◦ Pre-program questionnaire◦ Diary

Intervention◦ In home intervention by Technician◦ Mitigation strategies and educational materials

Post-Intervention◦ 12 days of monitoring with implemented

mitigation strategies◦ Exit surveys◦ Direct feedback through Mango Database

Homeowner Diary

MonitoringAirAdvice Model 7100

Indoor Air Quality Monitor◦Data downloaded daily from

AirAdvice online serverMonitors records IAQ

markers:◦Temperature (oF)◦Relative Humidity (%) ◦Carbon monoxide, CO (ppm)◦Particulate Matter, PM (μg/m3)◦Volatile organic compounds,

VOCs (μg/m3)◦Carbon dioxide, CO2, (ppm)

Monitoring DataEach participant got a report on

their home data:◦Health

PM, Chemicals and CO2

◦Comfort Temperature & Relative Humidity

◦Safety Carbon Monoxide

Monitoring Data

Monitoring Data

Direct Feedback

Intervention – Educational Materials and Incentives

Outreach Materials

Data AnalysisQuantitatively associate logged activities from

diary to concentrations of IAQ markersThe following activities were found to cause an

increase in the IAQ markers (CO, CO2, PM, and VOCs)◦ Cooking◦ Smoking◦ Biomass burning◦ Cleaning (i.e. vacuuming, dusting, use of cleaning

products)◦ Candles, incense, aerosol products◦ Occupancy (increased CO2 levels)

◦ Fireworks (increased CO levels)◦ Unidentifiable sources

0 7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70 77 84 91 98 1051121191261331401471541611681751821891962032102172240

10

20

30

40

50

60

Time (min)

Pa

rtic

le C

on

cen

tra

tion

(μ

g/m

3)

Back

gro

und

Background

Peak exposure

Data Analysis – Measuring Cooking Exposure

Integrated exposure

Average exposure

Lessons LearnedCompleted by the end of

Seskehko:wa/September 2014◦Which mitigation techniques are

most effective◦Exit surveys to improve the program

Acknowledgments

Environmental Protection Agency

Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe◦Julia Jacobs and Angela

Benedict Clarkson University

◦Dr. Andrea Ferro

Questions?