Treasure The Valley's Air

A1 Plumbing, Inc. of Boise is one of two Treasure Valley businesses that received a Pollution Prevention Award for the State of Idaho.

A1 Plumbing, Inc., of Boise is committed to delivering plumbing and drain cleaning repair services in an environmentally friendly way. A1 Plumbing uses a vehicle tracking system to more efficiently and effectively dispatch and route service fleet to save fuel and reduce air pollution, provide more reliable service, and develop real-time data to measure performance. Prior to using this system, A1 Plumbing dispatched drivers throughout the Treasure Valley based on who was available rather than where plumbers were currently located.  Now vehicles are used more efficiently because drivers are dispatched based on their current location.  A1 Plumbing also implemented an anti-idling and vehicle maintenance policy that requires drivers to turn off their engines when parked, service their vehicles every 3,000 miles, and check tire pressure at every fueling.

 Through its efforts, A1 Plumbing has reduced its fuel consumption by 3,000 gallons a year, vehicles miles traveled by 25,000 miles per year, and greenhouse gas emissions by 60,000 pounds per year, and saved approximately $12,000.  It is noteworthy that, A1 Plumbing’s return on investment was realized in the first year of implementation.

 Kudos to A1 Plumbing for its successful efforts to protect the environment, operate vehicles more efficiently, and conserve resources.

Parks Royal Body Works of Boise is one of two Treasure Valley businesses that received a Pollution Prevention Award for the State of Idaho.

Parks Royal Body Works is committed to repairing and refinishing vehicles in an environmentally friendly way. Parks Royal Body Works conducted several initiatives to reduce energy consumption including installing energy-efficient light fixtures, replacing an old garage door with a new insulated tight-seal door, and replacing the tar roof with a single, membrane-reflective white roofing material. 

 Parks Royal Body Works purchased a solvent recycler and a paint gun washer. The recycler separates the used solvent from the paint solids, allowing the solvent to be used again. The paint gun washer cleans paint guns more efficiently than hand cleaning, thereby reducing the use of solvents. Both changes equal a reduction in hazardous waste by approximately 550 gallons a year and a savings of $2,980 per year. Parks Royal Body Works also switched to a Glasuit 90 line waterborne paint system, which is less toxic, has low levels of volatile organic compound, and is less flammable. This switch has reduced hazardous waste by 1,265 gallons per year and saved approximately $35,000 a year, which accounts for enhanced painter efficiency. 

 Kudos to Parks Royal Body Works for its successful efforts to protect the environment, use less toxic products, and conserve resources.

To commemorate September as Pollution Prevention Month, DEQ invited Idaho businesses and industries to apply for recognition as Pollution Prevention Champions. To qualify, applicants had to demonstrate how they had incorporated pollution prevention into daily operations and show documented reductions in such areas as raw materials or toxic materials purchases, hazardous or solid waste generated, gallons of water or energy or fuel used, and dollars saved by these efforts.

“Pollution prevention provides both economic and environmental benefits by reducing both the volume and cost of toxic materials,” explains Joanna Pierce, Pollution Prevention Coordinator at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). “It can be as simple as turning off lights or machines not in use, using less toxic products, reusing wastes, or preventing leaks and spills.”

The DEQ capped off Pollution Prevention Month by selecting five Pollution Prevention Champions in the State of Idaho.   Boise firms Parks Royal Body Works and A-1 Plumbing, Inc. were selected as Pollution Prevention Champions.

Each business serves as a shining example of how pollution can be minimized by careful planning and commitment.

To learn how to put pollution prevention to work for your business, contact DEQ’s Pollution Prevention Coordinator, Joanna Pierce, at 373-0146 or joanna.pierce@deq.idaho.gov. More information about pollution prevention is also available on DEQ’s Web site at www.deq.idaho.gov/pollutionprevention.

Inhaling ground-level ozone can result in health effects that are observed in broad segments of the population, including respiratory symptoms, reduced lung function, and airway inflammation

Respiratory symptoms can include coughing; throat irritation; pain, burning, or discomfort in the chest when taking a deep breath; chest tightness, wheezing, or

How are people exposed to ozone?

• Ozone exposure occurs when people inhale ambient air containing ozone
• The rate of exposure for a given individual is related to the concentration of ozone in the surrounding air and the amount of air the individual is breathing per minute
• Ozone concentrations are higher outdoors than indoors
• Increased physical activity increases a person’s rate of ozone exposure

How does ozone react in the respiratory tract?

• Ozone reacts with chemical constituents of airway lining fluid throughout the respiratory tract, producing very reactive chemical intermediates

What are ozone’s acute effects?

• Ozone or its reactive products stimulate airway neural receptors, resulting in respiratory symptoms and decreases in lung function

What effects does ozone have at the cellular level?

• Ozone or its products damage airway epithelial cells which results in inflammation, an increase in nonspecific airway reactivity, and an increase in epithelial permeability
• Over a period of days to a week, inflammation subsides and cell damage is repaired

What are the other potential effects of short-term ozone exposure?

• High daily ambient ozone concentrations are associated with increased school absence, increased hospital admissions for respiratory disease, and possibly increased mortality

Hoes does response vary among individuals?

• A wide range of responsiveness to ozone exists among otherwise healthy people
• With regard to lung function, young adults (teens to thirties) are more responsive than older adults (fifties to eighties)

At what exposure levels are effects observed?

• People of average sensitivity experience responses at levels as low as 0.08 ppm during extended exposures
• Asthma attacks seem to increase when 8-hour average concentrations rise above 0.06 to 0.08 ppm

What are the effects of recurrent or long-term exposure to ozone?

• Airway injury continues to occur with ongoing, recurrent exposure
• Some evidence suggests that long-term exposure may be related to the induction of new cases of asthma and that recurrent exposure of young children may result in abnormal development of their respiratory systems

 U.S. EPA Website

The lowest concentration at which effects are observed depends upon the level of activity, the duration of exposure, and the sensitivity of each individual to ozone. Although this is almost certainly true for all effects of ozone, levels that cause effects have been best characterized for symptom and lung function changes. For example, an adult of average sensitivity exposed for 2 hours while alternating heavy exercise and rest would be expected to experience small lung function and symptom effects following exposure to 120 parts per billion (ppb) ozone. An average adult undergoing moderate exercise might experience similar effects as well as lung injury and inflammation following an 8-hour exposure to 80 ppb ozone. More sensitive individuals may experience such effects at lower concentrations while less sensitive or less heavily exercising individuals may not experience effects at these levels. Children without asthma experience lung function decrements similar to those of adults, but do not report respiratory symptoms at the lowest ozone concentrations. It is not clear whether this is the result of reduced sensitivity with regard to symptoms or whether children are less likely to recognize and report mild symptoms.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Website

On August 2, First Choice Collision Repair of Nampa donated $1,000 towards the Air Quality public information campaign.  They have also voluntarily made improvements to reduce harmful emissions.  Efforts like these are appreciated and hopefully duplicated!

On July 30, the City of Boise donated $15,000 towards clean air education.  Stay tuned for the clean air campaign that will hit the television airwaves soon .

On July 30, the City of Meridian also donated $5,000 towards the clean air education campaign. We are thankful that our local communities are so supportive and realize ever little bit helps!

First Choice Collision Repair of Nampa just recently made the switch to water based paints for their operations.  As a result, they have greatly reduced their ozone causing emissions.

In the Spring of 2009, the DEQ offered some funding to private gas station owners to encourage retrofitting their fuel tanks to cut down on vapor emissions that occur during the process of filling tanks.

Gasoline vapors are one of the major causes of ozone.  Our State Dept of DEQ needs to be congratulated for their foresight to aid business owners to make this retrofit.  

With the aid of efforts like this, we can all breathe a little cleaner air.  What can you do?

Those fueling stations that took advantage of the vapor recovery effort are: