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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 10, 1960)
Jr. t r JUS tr. 2 S H. it r.i 'Air Pollution Problems' in-Medford (Editor's netti Following is the general narrative ol 4he reporl on air pollution iln and around Mediord. Tha study was mad by tha Or- gon stata sanitary authority ; in cooperation with in city. Th rport was prsntd to th Medford city council .'Thursday night.) VHAT IS AIR POLLUTION ' The presence of foreign substances in the air is called j air pollution. This is a general I definition of air pollution, but under it nearly all air is pol i luted Just as the water from ! the clearest mountain stream j always has traces of foreign J JUBliei. UI1UCI iBlwin I tory controls is either chem ! ically pure air or water pos sible. ; We live with air pollution, J or the forces of nature - the i winds stirring earth's dust S and even the steady fall of t cosmic matter-pollute the air J at the rate of several tons per t square mile every month Just moving around on foot ( we stir up dust and pollute the air. I Air pollution then Is really matter of degree and is not a problem until it becomes a nuisance, a noticeable irrita- j tion that begins to affect the 5 health and well being of peo- ; pie and the value of their t property. In many cities exces- J sive air pollution has been J recognized not only as being detrimental to the well-being t of inhabitants of the cities, I but also, in some extreme j cases, has been pin pointed as I the cause of fatal disasters. ! Walhr Important (Weather and topographical location are important factors in any air pollution situation. A windy city surrounded by open plains can tolerate more air polluting emissions from its stacks and exhausts than city hemmed In by hills or mountains. Winds are the normal dis persal agents for air pollu tants, either blowing them catching them aloft after they have been borne high Stbove the surface on the nor ifcjnal 'rising currents of heated ttr. But in som situations the E&ormal process seems not to lakt place. The heated air jghangs near the ground and 4iakes on an increasing bur-' -den of pollutants. Actually it s not violating a law ol phy- fcalcs in not rising, for it is held CUown by a higher layer of air Edieated by the sun so that it is rs warm or warmer than the -fir near the ground. fcjj Ihe upper layer of heated ir is, in effect, a lid. Meteor frelogitU call this condition tKJ'temperature inversion" be aue .the usual relationship jj-'lietween near-ground tcmper . gestures and those aloft is turn f4rd upside down. Conditions Develop r" When temperature lnrer-J-ilon happens in a region of CClteavy air pollution the most CJrritating of air pollution con-5-Hitions can develop. In Los JjAngeles it is called smog. If prolonged, action of sunlight r--nd heat may cause chemical Jjombinations of the hydrocar FURNITURE SALE 4 drawer Unfinished Chest R.oulril5 05 NOW $1395 rr Unfinished 8 Drawer Chest Now 527.50 7 Drawer Cedar Student Desk R(eF;ni,$h4d)95 5 Drawer Cedar Chest (Fini$hed)Reg. $2295 m 3 26-28-30 Includes Latch, Kickplate, Hinges "THE BUILDITORIUM" NEW HOURS - Saturday 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. - Sunday 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. 765 South Riverside SP 2-6211 bons from incomplete com bustion of petroleum fuels with other pollutants, form ing new pollutants irritating to eyes, throat and lungs. Air pollution affects differ ent people in different ways and in different degrees. To a housewife smudge and cinders that soot up her cloth es hung to dry, and dust that filters into her living room may be the most irritating. To an airplane pilot or the owner of a home with a view, smoke and haze limiting visi bility may be the worst form of air pollution. Serious to Farmrs Chemicals in the air which affect crops may be the most serious to a farmer, folien from uncontrolled ragweed or other allergy-causing veg etation may be th worst form of air pollution to other peo ple. In a modern community hardly anyone has not at some time been annoyed, irritated, or even hurt by air pollution There are legal definitions of air pollution now in nearly every state. In Oregon air pol lution is defined legally as "the discharge into the air of solids, liquids or gases so as to cause such injury to hu man, plant or animal life or to property as constitutes a pub lic nuisance in the state or Oregon." In measurement of air pol lution the terms particulate matter, particle fallout rate and suspended particulate matter are used frequently. Particulaia Matter Particulate matter means separate particles of a solid like cinders, dust or wood fibers or droplets of a liquid other than water like tars and resins. Particle fallout rate Is the amount of particulate matter which settles out of the air in given length of time as measured by standard meth ods. Suspended particulate mat ter refers to lighter material which does not readily settle out and remains In the air for long periods. In sampling pro cedures it is collected on a filter through which known volumes of air are passed. MEDFORD'S AIR POLLUTION PROBLEM No city's air pollution prob lem is exactly the same. Not only do the factors of weather and topography vary, but also there is great variance in the sources of air pollution. But generally true and almost ax iomatic is that the major sources of air pollution are also major sources of commu nity income. Medford has physical and climalological characteristics which at times aid air pollu tion. It is set in a mountain valley where average wind speed is 4.7 miles per hour. During the winter months of November, December and January layers of stable air, acting as a lid on the rising polluted air, are likely to lie over the valley. Favorable for Pollution This condition of low wind and stable air, favorable for atmospheric pollution, was One Doien Free Glad Bulbs to each person entering Our Store During This Saturday or Sunday (While They Last) - SPECIAL ALUMINUM SCREEN II 1A MAIL TRIBUNE, Medfoid, Or. iU A Sunday, April 10, 1960 found to exist In the early morning hours year around. But in the months of M a y through September, when the sun heats up the valley as the day wears on, the heat usual ly becomes sufficient in the afternoon to break up the stable air masses, letting the smoky, polluted air rise and lose itself in the sky. Thus, in the sunny season the Rogue river valley around Medford is something like an "Old Faithful" geyser: its air is quiet and placid in the mornings and smoke and pollutants hang close to the ground. But regularly in the afternoons, the air heated by the sun boils up and out of the valley, carrying with it the morning's collection of smoke and pollutants. The change is often rapid. The smudge pot is Med ford's special problem. Or chard heating operations around Medford in the time when low temperatures could damage the developing fruit crop, create the most severe air pollution conditions. High Concentrations When in use the burners produce extremely high con centrations of suspended par ticulate matter in the air of Medford. Fortunately they are lighted only on an average of 10.4 days each year. The 1959 orchard heating Season was unusually long, requir ing 10 consecutive nights of firing between April 12 and 21. It was once thought that smoke as well as heat was de sirable in protecting fruit crops. Development of heat ing equipment which is vir tually smokeless when prop erly maintained has proved this not true.. In the area surrounding Medford, according to an in ventory taken by the Jackson County Fruit Growers asso ciation, half of the 119,470 heating units in use are still of the open pot type with no control over combusion or smoke emission. These open pots burning fuel oil, plus the burning of rubber tires and careless operation of well designed equipment, causes most of the excessive smoke. A voluntary program of re placing the nearly 60,000 of fending units by 1954 has been started under the guid ance of the Fruit Growers as sociation. This program should not be allowed to lapse if the Medford area is to escape the inconveniences and irritations which visited it during April 1959, when on 23 of the 30 days the smoke and soot in the air was above the public nuisance threshold determin ed by the stale sanitary au thority. Medford's other sources of air pollution are more com mon. Predominant among them are the hog fuel - fired boilers and waste wood burn ers of six lumber and ply wood mills in or near the city. Inefficient combustion in such equipment and Inade quate control of cinder and $44.50 $19.95 One Dozen rner Glad Bulbs - DOORS $qA95 13 III flyash can and does cause a heavy fallout of cinders and partly burned material over the city. Medford Corporation and Elk Lumber company have al ready installed cinder and fly ash removal equipment to con trol emissions from their hog fuel-fired boilers. Similar in stallations are needed to serve the steam plants at Donna Timber Products, KOGAP and Timber Products. Wastewood Burners Ten wigwam waste wood burners serve these mills to dispose of unmarketable wood residue. When overloaded or otherwise improperly operat ed or maintained, these burn ers can be the source of large quantities of smoke, cinder and flyash. KOGAP and several other mills are working to 'develop uses for excess wood. If suc cessful, these efforts will re duce the amount of residue to be burned. Everywhere Is the automo bile. Pacific Coast residents own more automobiles per -capita than people of any other region. In Jackson coun ty there is one automobile for every two people.. In addition there are some 4,000 trucks. Contribute to Pollution These automobiles and trucks and those owned elsewhere which pass through, each con tributes its bit to air pollu tion. In some cities, like Los Angeles, the problem of pol lution from automobile ex hausts has become so great that automobile manufactur ers are developing devices to minimize motor vehicle ex haust pollutants. Burning of fuel oil, wood and sawdust for heating of homes or buildings can also contribute to air pollution when heating equipment is poorly designed or imporper. ly maintained. Another source of air pol lution is open burning of refuse. Some buildings, stores and industrial plants operate incinerators, which must be efficiently designed, carefully operated and properly main tained if they are not to pro duce excessive smoke and fall out. Open Burning Considerable open burning of Industrial waste is done at White City. Medford's exist ing dump location near Cen tral Point is being replaced by a sanitary fill at another location. It is possible by. complex measurements to pin point the type and quantity of contam inants released by all of these sources. This expensive pro cedure was not followed for every source, but available data permits reasonable eval uation of them. HOW MEDFORD'S AIR POLLUTION WAS MEASURED Medford was found it times to have both particle fallout rales and concentrations of suspended particulate matter in excess of allowable maxi mums. Ten stations located about three-fourths of a mile apart throughout the city were set up to measure particle fallout which settles out of th air by gravity. To measure the smaller par ticles of soot, smoke and fly ash which make up most of the suspended particulate mat ter, a filtering device was in stalled on the roof of the Med ical Center building located between West Sixth and Sev enth sis., on Central ave. Basic equipment of each of the 10 fallout measuring sta tions was a polyethlene canis ter, set on a tripod and placed on the roof of a building at Ihe station location. The cin ders, wood particles, tars, res ins, dust and other matter that fell from the air were trapped in distilled water maintained in the bottom of the container. Under regulations of the state sanitary authority parti cle fallout of up to 20 tons per sauar. mil. per month is al lowable. This includes five tons, considered normal fall out from natural sources, such as wind blown soil and vege tation. Particle fallout rales in excess of 20 tons per square mile per month are consid ered to create public nuisance ronditlons In residential and commercial areas. Rat.s tn Nuisance By this standard Medford's downtown business district suffered particle fallout rates In the nuisance category in four out of five samples taken at monthly Intervals be tween March 11 and Sept. 1, 1959. The downtown stations were at the cily hall and at the Medical Center building. The highest fallout was measured at the station lo cated at the Union Oil com pany bulk plant at 103 Me Andrews rd., tn a commercial and industrial land usa area. The highest sample taken here Indicated a particle fall out rate of more than 100 tons per month in excess of the rale allowable for commercial able rate for heavy Industrial I areas. I Stations at both the Med-i ford airport and Memorial park on the South Pacific highway had values exceeding the allowable rate in every sampling. The relatively high airport readings, however ap peared due to dust and other matter stirred up by the ground movement of aircraft. Eastern Section Three stations in the eastern part of Medford-at Hogue Valley hospital, at Medford's water department reservoir on Pierce Heights and at Grandview Market at Crater Lake ave., and Roberts rd., had clean bills in every sam pling, none exceeding the al lowable fallout rate. Testing for suspended par ticulate matter was done with high volume filler sampling units. It is a device quite sim ilar to a tank type vacuum cleaner, which draws air through a fibre glass filter about 50 cubic feet per min ute. This collects material of such light weight that it re mains suspended in the air for long periods. In periods of stable air and low win veloc ity high concentrations of this material built up. Laboratory processing of the filters permits analysis and weighing of the suspended material. It is measured in mi crograms per-cubic meter of air. State sanitary authority regulations set 200 micro grams per cubic meter as the maximum allowable concen tration of this microscopic matter in residential and com mercial areas. This includes 50 micro grams considered normal from natural sources. Highest Value The highest values of sus pended particulate matter measured in downtown Med ford came when the smudge pots were at work in the or chards in April. The count in April rose as high as 480 micro grams per cubic meter more than double the value where smoke and soot concen Anders' Polaroid iB yw SAVE POLAROID If you have ever wanted to own the famoua 60-second Polaroid Land Camera, now is the time to buy. All tills week, when you buy a complete -lsnd Camera Kit, you can realize aavings of $26.87 or even more! Everything you need to take 60 second picture indoor without flashbulbs if Included. Better come in right away MAKE 60-SECOND PICTURES INDOORS wimOITT FUSHBOtBS tration becomes a public nuis ance. Daily samples were taken all through April. On 23 days the suspended particulate con centrations exceeded the al lowable maximum. Through May, June and July the record was clean with none of the samples showing excessive amounts of suspend ed matter. Two days in Au gust exceeded the allowable concentration. There has been no regular sampling for the October through January period, but it may be anticipated that con siderably higher concentra tions than in the summer months would be shown be cause of the stable air condi tions prevalent in winter. GAS CONTAMINANT LEVELS A two-day survey was eon ducted in June, 1959, to deter mine if significant concentra tions of the gases and particles which create the Los Angeles type of smog are present in Medford. This form of air pollution is created by reactions be tween unsaturated hydrocar bons, mostly from gasoline and other petroleum fuels, with oxidizing substances in the presence of sunlight. From samples taken on the roof of the Medical Center building, hourly concentra tions of oxidant, oxides of ni trogen, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide were obtained. The concentrations found were in general below the amounts necessary to create nuisance conditions. However, the tests showed high oxidiz ing potential present, indicat ing the possibility of chemi cal reaction which could cause smog of the Los Angeles type if other contaminants were present in signifioant amounts. The gas contaminant sam ples were taken when condi tions were favorable for dilu tion of air pollutants. For comparison, the procedure $26.87 LAND CAMERA ANDERS PHOTO SHOP 232 E. Main Medford should be repeated during the i fall and winter season when wind velocity is low and tem perature inversion conditions possible. WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE In almost every community where real improvement in air conditions have been pro duced, a community-wide ef fort has sparked the drive. This action has included the individual citizen, commercial activities as well as the man agement of industrial plants. Usually the city effort is organized through passage of an ordinance that identifies objectives and air sanitation control requirements. It is recommended that the city of Medford consider the adoption of an appropriate ordinance which will require correction of existing air pol lution sources and prevent new problems. In general the ordinance ! should provide for control of j smoke from combustion I sources, particulate matter from industrial processes and control of other air contami nants that may create a nuis ance or effect public health. Outside Boundaries The largest industrial sources of pollution are out side of the municipal boun daries of Medford. Agricultur al activities such as orchard heating is also beyond the le gal jurisdiction of the city. Therefore, it is recommended that the initial local program be organized as a Medford Jackson county operation. At present the existing state statutes regarding pol lution of air do not enable a county to organize a separate program. However, it is antic ipated that such enabling legislation will be considered during the 1961 Oregon legis lature. In the meantime the current air sanitation problems from lumber and wood products mills, orchard heating and the open burning of refuse appear to jutify county participation. KIT SPECIAL utli In 1959 the Jackson county court held several air pollu- tion meetings to stimulate voluntary cooperative action. Future Role The future role of the state sanitary authority's air pollu tion operations in Medtord- Jackson county should be to provide technical and admin istrative assistance towards the prevention and control of air pollution. This would in clude loan of specialized air sampling equipment, analyses of samples, training of the lo cal air pollution 'control offi cer and related duties. The prevention of new sources of atmospheric dis charge should require approv al of the plans before con struction is started. This Padgett Auto Parts 345 North Central, Medford CRANKSHAFT GRINDING CAMSHAFT GRINDING Stock 3A or Full Race Complete Automotive Machine Shop Service Engine Re-Manufacturing ... We have in stock parts for all makes of cars and trucks. OPEN all day SATURDAY and SUNDAY. We ar the ONLY one between Portland and San Francisco that has the facilities to com pletely re-manufacture an engine. "It's the Cam that makes it go". a h SPECIAL. . . GET ALL THIS HERFS MAT IS The Polaroid Highlander Land Camera pictures on the spot in just 60 seconds. 2 The repeating wink-light winks for 1000 pictures, $100 worth of flashbulbs. J A slim-line leather carrying case holds ' the camera and all accessories. . 8 rolls of 3000 speed film that's enough to make 64 pictures. 5 6 deluxe enlargements your favorite . v. pictures in a beautiful studio mount. 1 Picture! in a Minute the outstanding book on 60-aecond photography, a hard bound deluxe edition with 372 illustrations. The combined cost of all of the items shown is $138.72. You pay only the regular Kit price of $111.85. Vou ot $26.87! Similar savings on, other kits. . practice can be met in Med ford through administrative cooperation of the existing building permit granting ac tivity. Information Obtained The information obtained through this study and field surveys shows that there is enough corrective work need ed in the Medford-Jackson county suburbs to require the services of an air pollution control officer. Usually a func tion of this position would re quire the employment of an engineer equipped with spe cialized knowledge of air pol lution. Probably a qualified appli cant could be employed for salary of about $500 to $600 a month. INCLUDED : areas and more than 80 tons In exeats of tha 40-ton allow- A
