Ambient PM10 Monitoring, Sechelt BC: 2003 Update
In November 2003, the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection (now Ministry of Environment) released an ambient air quality report summarizing results of PM10 sampling undertaken in Sechelt, British Columbia in 2002. The report, available here, summarized results of 2002 PM10 sampling in Sechelt and updated the PM10 Sechelt monitoring program that commenced in 1999,
This report updates the monitoring program and summarizes PM10 data collected in 2003, compares 2003 data to provincial Ambient Air Quality Objectives and federal Reference Levels, compares 2003 data with previous years of PM10 data from Sechelt, and compares 2003 PM10 results from other communities in British Columbia.
'In 2003, 42 of a possible 61 samples were collected. The minimum and maximum 24-hour PM10 concentrations were 2 and 16 µg/m3, respectively, with a mean 24-hour concentration of 8.2 6 µg/m3. None of the 2003 samples exceeded provincial Ambient Air Quality Objectives or federal Reference Levels, but it should be noted that 12 fewer samples were collected in 2003 compared to 2002.
PM10 sampling results indicate PM10 concentrations in Sechelt decreased in 2003, but the decrease was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The mean 24-hour PM10 concentration decreased from 8.5 µg/m3 in 2002 to 8.2 µg/m3 in 2003; however, the decrease is not statistically significant (p>0.05) and the concentrations in 2002 and 2003 can be considered equal. Similar to previous sample years, results from 2003 indicate ambient PM10 concentrations are generally lower in Sechelt relative to other areas such as Squamish, Powell River, Langdale, Vancouver and Chilliwack.
The Ambient PM10 Monitoring, Sechelt BC: 2003 Update report is available here
(PDF/368KB/11 pages).
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