1/28/2009
Readings confirm suspicions of unhealthy air in Berks
By Darrin Youker
Reading Eagle
Air-monitoring stations in Reading and Kutztown have confirmed an air-quality problem that a local environmental group has long suspected.
On Jan. 19 and Friday, the monitors detected spikes in levels of fine airborne particulate matter such as dirt, dust and soot that twice caused air quality in Berks County to reach unhealthy levels.
During those episodes, the PM 2.5 level - PM refers to particulate matter, and the 2.5 to particle diameter in micrometers - reached orange on the Environmental Protection Agency air-quality scale. When particles of that size build up to that concentration in the atmosphere, people with breathing problems are advised to avoid strenuous outdoor activity.
"It affects asthmatics, along with children and the elderly," explained Craig Hafer, chairman of the Pennsylvania Institute for Children's Environmental Health.
The institute has suspected such spikes since it installed a haze camera atop the county courthouse in 2005, Hafer said.
The readings last week were the first to confirm spikes in Berks.
Airborne particles increase in number during atmospheric inversions, Hafer said - when the air at ground level is cooler than the air above and moisture and pollutants are trapped near the ground.
"When that occurs, we get really high readings," he said.
Hafer said the institute is sharing data with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to try to determine the cause of the high particle levels.
The source of the pollutants remains unknown, Hafer said.
According to DEP spokeswoman Lauri Lebo, similar situations have occurred in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.
She said monitors across the state recorded above-normal PM 2.5 levels as air masses moving east from the Ohio Valley stalled over much of Pennsylvania.
"We are concerned any time these pollution levels spike," she said.
Lebo said that while levels in Kutztown and Reading were high periodically, they generally are acceptable when viewed over a 24-hour period.
•Contact reporter Darrin Youker at 610- 371-5032 or dyouker@readingeagle.com.
©2009 Reading Eagle Company
