West Valley Toxics Study

• Principal Investigator: Munkh Baasandorj (UDAQ/UU), Jaron Hansen (BYU)
• DAQ Contact: Nancy Daher (ndaher@utah.gov), Ph. D

Two air sampling campaigns that will be carried out in West Valley City, UT during the winter and summer months using a suite of state-of-the-art instruments. Data from this study will allow for an estimate of population exposure to HAPs. West Valley City is a municipality with a rapidly expanding population (2nd largest in Utah) to the west of Salt Lake City, with relatively lower income, significant minority population, and potential exposure to HAPs. The instruments will be based at West Valley City’s Neil Armstrong Academy, an elementary school dedicated to science, technology, and mathematics, thereby providing unique outreach opportunities to arise out of this project. The winter study (December-February) will emphasize the measurements of HAPs in the gas and particulate phase, including diesel particulate matter during the inversion season. Measurement of the organic component of particle matter during the two air sampling campaigns will be accomplished using a new instrument developed at Brigham Young University called the Organic Aerosol Monitor (OAM).