- Principal Investigator: Roman Kuprov, Utah Division of Air Quality
The Division of Air Quality has been monitoring ambient concentrations of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) in the Salt Lake Valley for over a decade. Since trace amounts of toxic compounds have been linked to such adverse health effects as cancer, ribosomal damage, birth defects, and other serious conditions it is important to gain a better understanding of these complete data sets. For this report, HAPs data was retrieved from the original National Air Toxics Trends Station (NATTS) monitor in West Valley, Utah. The station operated between the years, 2000 and 2002. Additional HAPs data was gathered from the newer Bountiful NATTS monitor, which has been in operation since 2007.
Toxics data from Phoenix, Arizona was also obtained in order to compare the composition of toxics between the Salt Lake and Phoenix urban areas. Phoenix is situated in a region similar in topography to Salt Lake City. It also conducts the HAPs monitoring comparable to Salt Lake City. Additionally, the Phoenix area lacks the local oil refining and mining industries that are abundant in the Salt Lake Valley. Therefore, contrasting the differences in organic toxics and metals of the two regions should help determine the impact oil refining and mining have on the air quality in the Salt Lake Valley.