The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced $800,000 for Virginia Polytech Institute and State University to develop a low-cost method of measuring hazardous air pollutants.
Virginia Tech is one of seven institutions to receive part of $4.7 million in research grants to "advance measurement and monitoring methods for air toxics and contaminants of emerging concern in the atmosphere," according to a May 31 EPA news release.
"The work Virginia Tech and these other institutions are pursuing will ensure we have access to clean air now and for future generations," EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz said in the news release. "While the work is extensive, it will be rewarding for the underserved communities that are plagued by contaminated air."
Air toxics are a subset of air pollutants known to have serious health effects, such as cancer, according to the release. A low cost testing process for hazardous air pollutants would greatly benefit low-income communities and communities of color, which are disproportionally exposed to air toxics.
"Our team brings together scientists from private and public universities with researchers at a regional regulatory agency to tackle an important issue in air quality measurements and human health," Virginia Tech Civil and Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz said in the news release. "The tools we are developing will make measurements of hazardous air pollutants cheaper and more widely available, which will be a big step forward for understanding air pollution and health risks at the local and neighborhood level.
"We are excited not only to develop new technologies, but also to use these tools with our regional agency partners to improve understanding of the air quality at sites that are already known to have air quality concerns," Isaacman-VanWertz added, according to the release.
