Hyperlocal Mobile Monitoring of Particle-Bound Metals in Two Environmental Justice (EJ) Communities in the South Coast Air Basin

Mohammad Sowlat, CHRISTOPHER LIM, Steven Boddeker, Julia Montoya-Aguilera, Zihan Zhu, Sina Hasheminassab, Payam Pakbin, Andrea Polidori, Jason Low, South Coast Air Quality Management District

     Abstract Number: 241
     Working Group: Urban Aerosols

Abstract
Ambient particulate metals are an important category of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) with known detrimental impacts on human health. Given the large spatio-temporal variability in ambient concentrations of particulate metals, information from sparsely distributed fixed air monitoring networks may not adequately reflect their levels and trends at the local level, especially in disproportionately impacted (i.e., Environmental Justice (EJ)) communities. The East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, West Commerce (ELABHWC) and Southeast Los Angeles (SELA) communities are two EJ communities in the South Coast Air Basin (SCAB) designated by California Air Resources Board (CARB) to be part of Assembly Bill (AB) 617, a state-wide program established to reduce the impact of air pollution in EJ communities. In these communities, sources of particulate metals near residential areas and sensitive receptors increase the level of exposure to these pollutants. Aiming to characterize levels and sources of ambient particle-bound metals in these communities, a year-long air monitoring campaign was conducted, comprising stationary and hyperlocal mobile monitoring of a wide range of metals. This presentation focuses on the hyperlocal mobile monitoring component of this campaign, using a multi-metals mobile platform (MMMP) developed as part of the same project, providing granular data on the variation of metals concentrations at the community scale. An overview of the multi-step monitoring strategy employed in this campaign and preliminary results from the surveys conducted will be given. This presentation will also show how the data have been used to learn about potential sources of trace metals, how this work supports further actions to reduce emissions and exposure to ambient particle-bound metals in these communities, and how information obtained in this study has prompted plans to perform full PM speciation at two near-road sites as part of the next Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study (MATES VI) conducted by South Coast AQMD.