Help Us Monitor Ammonia On The Lower Eastern Shore
This is an important message for folks concerned about air quality on their communities on the Lower Eastern Shore. We are Searching for volunteers on The Lower Eastern Shore for an ammonia monitoring project.
The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), a nonpartisan, non-profit environmental organization in DC, and the Assateague Coastal Trust (ACT), an environmental advocacy non-profit in the Delmarva coastal region, are organizing and conducting air monitoring on Maryland’s Eastern Shore for ammonia, a colorless gas with a strong odor which can affect human breathing. When ammonia deposits into soil or natural waters, it can contaminate the groundwater we use for drinking or create oxygen-deprived dead zones in streams and lakes. This project focuses on ammonia emissions from animal operations as agriculture makes up a majority of ammonia emissions in the United States. Due to the high concentration of poultry operations on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and the health impacts they carry for nearby residents, we have decided to pursue an air monitoring project to investigate ammonia concentrations in areas surrounding these CAFOs. Our goal is to better understand this issue and use our research to protect public health.
Should community members choose to be a part of this effort, they would be responsible for maintaining an air monitor and changing out the sample tubes every two weeks. The costs will be covered for the monitor, as well as the sample tubes, so citizens wouldn’t have to pay anything to be a part of the project. A member of EIP will come to their location to set up the monitor and show them how to change out samples. After that, they’ll be responsible for changing them out themselves. Changing out the sampler is simple and should not take more than a few minutes. Please see the below resources:
Quick Reference Guide for sample change outs: http://nadp.slh.wisc.edu/siteops/lib/AMoN/AMoN-2501_QR_Sample_Changeout_v_1-1.pdf
Video for sample change out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp5vLQDiZg0&feature=youtu.be
SOP Manual: http://nadp.slh.wisc.edu/siteops/lib/AMON/AMoN-2004_Operations_Manual_v_3-0.pdf
Additional information about site change out: http://nadp.slh.wisc.edu/siteops/lib/AMoN/AMoN-2500_Sampler_Change-out_v_2-0.pdf
Should anyone want to host a monitor, but can’t devote the time to changing out the samples, a member of EIP could change the samples for them.
Contact Keene Kelderman or Kathy Phillips for more information about becoming a monitoring volunteer.
Keene Kelderman
kkelderman@environmentalintegrity.org
(202) 263-4459
Or
Kathy Phillips
(443) 235-2014