Air Monitoring
To jump immediately to the air monitoring maps below, click here.
Lake dredging and capping have begun. A Community Health and Safety Plan was developed and approved by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in consultation with the New York State Department of Health and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on May 26, 2012.
The plan outlines the activities and measures taken to ensure the community and environment are protected during dredging operations. Section 3 describes a comprehensive real-time air monitoring program.
The air monitoring program takes into consideration the EPA's human health risk assessment conducted in 2010. The results indicate that operations at the consolidation area, which will hold material removed from the lake, "will not result in unacceptable risk for the surrounding community." Nevertheless, the work will be closely monitored to ensure that air quality is maintained.
The monitoring system operates continually 24 hours per day, seven days per week at the consolidation area and at the lakeshore whenever dredging takes place. There are eight fixed monitoring locations along the consolidation area perimeter, and up to five monitoring stations along the lakeshore (two or three will operate at any one time, depending on where dredging is taking place).
Air is monitored for dust, mercury, sulfides, and total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) to ensure concentrations at the perimeter of the work zones remain below criteria established by the Community Health and Safety Plan. Regulators have established short-term (hourly average) and long-term (12-month average) criteria for this project. Sampling for individual VOCs (referred to as speciated VOCs) also will be conducted.
Air monitoring results, which are collected in real-time, are reviewed regularly by technicians and government regulators to ensure that the air quality criteria are not exceeded.
To provide additional protection, the equipment is set to provide notification to a technician if lower levels (investigate and control levels) than those established by the regulators (work perimeter limits) are met. If an investigate level is reached, there will be an evaluation, the emission source(s) identified, and the perimeter concentrations closely watched for potential increases. If a control level is reached, mitigation measures will be implemented, such as modifying the layout and filling of the geotextile tubes, or putting temporary covers over the geotextile tubes. For more details see the Community Health and Safety Plan referenced above. If the work perimeter limit is reached, operations related to the source(s) will be restricted or stopped until the work is reassessed.
Odor Monitoring
Odors are checked at the air monitoring stations along the work perimeters of the consolidation area and lakeshore. Trained professionals conduct inspections at each station once every six hours, 24 hours per day, seven days per week (or when dredging is active). When odors are detected at the site perimeter, controls described above can be applied. Odor monitoring also will be conducted if odor complaints are received. Depending on the nature of the complaint, odor monitoring will occur at, and possibly beyond, the work perimeters.
The goal is to prevent odors from occurring in the community by proactively applying odor controls if / when odor levels increase at the site. To check if odor controls were applied, select a day and then click on the monitoring station number.
The aerial photographs below show the locations of the fixed monitors. To view the data collected, select the date from the drop-down list and click "Change." Move your cursor over a monitor icon and click on Dust Data, Total VOC Data, or Odor Detections. If data from a particular monitor is unavailable, this will be stated next to the monitor icon. Wind direction and wind speed information is also available for each monitoring day below the map. If you would like more information, please call Craig Milburn at 315.552.9784.
