San Diego County Air Pollution Control District monitors sewage spills with AQMesh

Six AQMesh air quality monitoring pods are being used to monitor TVOC, NO2, H2S, CO and SO2 due to toxic waste flowing into the Tijuana River Valley from unregulated wastewater and landfill sites on the Mexican side of the border. The community is also next to a main interstate between Mexico and the USA, with plenty of diesel powered trucks passing through each day which may contribute to levels of PM and NO2 in the area.

Location: San Diego, USA

Date: TBC – present

Customer: San Diego County Air Pollution Control District (SDAPCD)

Objective: Community monitoring of unpleasant odours (H2S) and other ambient pollutants near the border between San Diego, USA and Tijuana, Mexico caused by sewage spills, to help determine if the air pollution in the area is getting worse.

Deployment: Six AQMesh pods are currently installed near SDAPCD’s reference facilities near the Mexican border alongside a Teledyne reference analyser for H2S, along with further reference analysers for CO, VOC, PM2.5 and PM10. Four of the pods will shortly be moved to the local community, with one pod permanently remaining at the reference site and another pod moving between reference equipment to act as a ‘gold pod’ for network calibration.

Results: The monitoring is still ongoing and the SDAPCD are due to deploy further AQMesh pods around the community. The data from the pods will be used as evidence to legislators with a view that they will action a plan for clean-up and improvement.

More project information:- https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/odor-monitors-installed-in-south-bay-after-complaints-of-stinky-smells-caused-by-sewage-spills/3320826/