San Luis Obispo -- An air quality study is underway on the Nipomo Mesa with the help of some Cal Poly students. The county is looking at where wind is carrying dust from the oceano dunes.
This will help alert people who live in the area when pollution is high and it will also help state parks lower emissions coming off the dunes.
These air monitors cost about 20-thousand dollars each. They are on loan from other state and federal agencies.
They will be placed throughout an 18 square mile area on the mesa and two will be placed in Oceano.
The monitors will sample the air hourly for 3 months.
Four Cal Poly students are helping the APCD conduct the study.
They want to learn where particulate matter coming from the dunes is traveling.
The students spend will spend about 15 hours a week collecting data. Right now they are testing and calibrating the monitors.
The temporary monitors will be put in place March first, for the start of the windy season. The study wraps up at the end of May, then it will be a few months before all the data is analyzed.
The goal is to give people, especially those who have respiratory illnesses, information about air quality, and also help State Parks meet new requirements on lowering emissions coming off the dunes.
