Friday, July 12, 2013

DustBusters!

Have you heard of Environment Hamilton's DustBusters initiative? It's a simple initiative designed to encourage people to report any 'fugitive dust emissions' they see in their neighbourhood. You can read more about how you can become  a DustBuster by clicking here.

At Environment Hamilton, we look at dust issues as being 'low hanging fruit' from a local air quality point of view.  Dust is a problem that can be mitigated with proper management - controlling dust effectively usually does not require high tech pollution control equipment.  But the benefits of controlling dust, from a human health point of view are significant.  Eliminating fine, respirable dust particles from our local air has huge positive impacts on community health!

So, the next time you see a dust problem, make sure you take the time to call it in.   You might be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you see action.  For instance, I spotted the problem below on my ride in to the EH office this morning.  This is a classic example of a fugitive dust problem - in this instance, at US Steel's yard off of Burlington Street near Ottawa Street.   A quick email to the company with a picture of the problem generated a response indicating that the dusty roadway would be watered down today!



No comments:

Post a Comment