Missed the March 17 webinar? Watch the recording of the webinar below.
Hosted by West Central Airshed Society and Alberta Capital Airshed
Understanding the Five Year Provincial Air Monitoring Plan
Presenter: Bob Myrick, Alberta Environment and Parks
In this presentation, Bob Myrick will provide an overview of the Provincial Five Year Air Quality Monitoring Plan (also known as MER). Where are the gaps in air quality monitoring in Alberta and the areas in most need of air quality monitoring? What types of parameters or pollutants are of interest? Why do these gaps matter? How is the province working in partnership with Airsheds and others to fill those gaps in air quality monitoring?
What Airsheds are Doing to Fill the Gaps in Air Quality Monitoring
Presenter: Dr. Kevin McCullum, WCAS/ACA
Kevin’s presentation will take us through a historical look at the work of Airsheds to monitor air quality in Alberta. What does that monitoring look like today in the West Central Airshed and Alberta Capital Airshed regions? What might be some leading edge ways to do air quality monitoring in the future? He concludes with a note on how Airsheds engage with local populations to do this important work.
Presenters
Bob Myrick is the Director of Airshed Sciences for the Airshed and Watershed Stewardship Branch of Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP). Bob has worked for the past 32 years for Alberta Environment (and Parks) and has contributed to establishing Airsheds in the province, conducting evaluation and reporting for air data, and participating on numerous CASA project teams in developing policy advice for government. Bob led the development of the Alberta Airdata Warehouse and Alberta’s Air Quality Health Index system. In recent years, Bob has been involved in leading and advising on the air and deposition components of the Oil Sands Monitoring Program.
Prior to moving to the Government of Alberta in 1990, Bob worked for environmental consulting, the Alberta Research Council and the federal government. Bob received his degree in meteorology from the University of Alberta.
AEP released the report called “A five-year provincial air quality and deposition monitoring, evaluation and reporting plan (2021-2025)” in October of 2021. The plan provides a roadmap for future work within AEP’s air quality and deposition monitoring program and long-term clarity for partners and stakeholders. The 5-year plan is available here.
Dr. Kevin McCullum is a senior environmental engineer and the Data Manager for WCAS and ACA. Kevin holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Alberta, with specialties in Ambient Air Quality and River Water Quality. Kevin was part of the Environmental Protection and Planning Committee (EPPC) of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) during the inception of the Air Quality Management System (AQMS) which included the updates to the Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standards (CAAQS). He has work much of his career in the air monitoring field working with air zones throughout western Canada, focusing on air quality data analysis and interpretation, monitoring instrumentation, as well as dispersion and transport modeling. Kevin also works closely with universities working collaboratively with University of Alberta, University of Regina, and First Nations University and has a passion to deliver partnerships and monitoring research capabilities.
For more information
Julie Kusiek, Communications and Outreach Coordinator
Jkusiek@capitalairshed.ca