The predicted concentrations of fine particulate air pollution in the Prince George airshed are dominated by dust emissions, particularly from on-road vehicles, conclude the latest draft results of an extensive computer modelling study.
The latest results also predicted that, for the downtown area, the predicted concentrations attributed to restaurant emissions rated high.
The conclusions were revealed tonight by Calgary-based Stantec Consulting, which was hired by the Prince George Air Improvement Roundtable to make changes recommended by a third-party review of an earlier draft of the study.
The results were driven using some different inputs from earlier versions of the computer modelling study, including increasing the dust component by using an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency default. It's unknown whether the latest dust component is correct, noted Stantec senior official Peter Reid.
Studies from the late 1990s had pointed the finger at road dust as the major culprit in poor air quality in Prince George, but more recent studies have found that pulp mills emissions, mobile sources and wood burning are major contributors to the smallest fine particulates measured downtown.
An earlier draft of the computer modelling report obtained by The Citizen in the fall of 2008 showed that diesel locomotives, industrial sources like pulp mills and sawmills, commercial sources and on-road dust were the major contributors to fine particulate pollution downtown.
