In this Issue:
- School kids to Breathe Easier
- Oakley's Wastewater Technology
- Solid & Hazardous Waste Board
- Drinking Water Database Unveiled
- Calendar of Events
Newsletter Links:
Sponsored by the
Utah Department of
Environmental Quality
In this Issue:
Newsletter Links:
Sponsored by the
Utah Department of
Environmental Quality
A program is under way to retrofit diesel-powered school buses in Davis School District with pollution control devices to make them cleaner for the children who ride them and the air quality better for the community residents around them.
This retrofit project is the result of a partnership between the Division of Air Quality (DAQ), Chevron USA, and Davis School District. As part of a consent decree, Chevron is providing $200,000 to Davis School District. DAQ is serving as the technical adviser and plans to monitor the results.
“It’s a great project,” said Rick Sprott, director of the Division of Air Quality. “It will make a huge difference for the school children and bus drivers who have to stand near a bus every day and breathe diesel exhaust.”
Diesel bus exhaust is considered a carcinogen and contains dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide and very fine particles that can get lodged in the lungs. Children’s lungs are still developing and more sensitive to pollution. The exhaust can also trigger asthma attacks.
But removing the particulates is costly. Some devices that trap the particles can be $8,000 or more per bus.
Davis School District hopes to retrofit as many of its fleet as possible. There are 230 buses serving Davis County schools.
“We don’t know if we can do all of them but we will do as many as we can,” said Craig Carter, administrator of support services for Davis School District. “We plan to use the $200,000 for the equipment and will donate our labor. We hope to have it completed by the start of school in 2007.”
The plan is to install a closed-crank filtration system that sharply reduces the emissions inside the passenger compartment of the bus and the emissions out of the tailpipe.
“It also will improve the air quality as emissions from the tailpipe will improve. Either way it will improve the air quality both inside and outside the bus,” Carter said.
Joe Thomas, manager of DAQ’s mobile source section, is excited about the potential of this program. He and others presented the District staff with the filtration system that proved to be less costly than most retrofits.
“Davis School District wanted to do something innovative and cost effective,” said Thomas. “From a DAQ perspective, this is our first retrofit program. We need to make sure this is a good experience for the school district and others. If successful, we want to go ahead, and with the help of Davis School District, persuade other school districts to implement cost-effective retrofit projects.”
DAQ also plans to monitor the progress. Thomas said they will measure the pollution before the retrofit and afterward to compile data to show the benefits of the program.
“We want to show results,” Thomas said. “That’s where it counts the most.”