Seeley Lake - Small Town, Big Challenge
Seeley Lake is a small, mountain valley community located north of Missoula in Missoula County, Montana. As is common in rural, forested areas, many residents rely on wood
Seeley Lake - Small Town, Big Challenge
Seeley Lake is a small, mountain valley community located north of Missoula in Missoula County, Montana. As is common in rural, forested areas, many residents rely on woodstoves to heat their homes. Unfortunately, the Seeley Lake valley is prone to frequent temperature inversions that have the potential to trap smoke from those stoves near the ground where it poses a threat to human health. The combination of strong nightly inversions and heavy woodstove use has resulted in a small community with a big air quality problem.
The First Look at Seeley Lake's Air Quality
The Missoula City-County Health Department (MCCHD) and Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) first started measuring fine particulate concentrations in Seeley Lake in 2005. The original monitor was next to the fire hall and took measurements once every three days. That initial study showed several days with 24-hour PM2.5 concentrations exceeding the NAAQS, so in mid-November 2009 the MCCHD and DEQ installed a new continuous PM2.5 monitor in Seeley Lake. This permanent PM2.5 monitor sits just outside the elementary school's athletic field. The school is centrally located in a residential area where many of the homes are heated with wood-burning appliances, and is therefore an ideal site for measuring particulates in the area.
The Initial Results:
- In the 2009-2010 winter, 40 days had daily PM2.5 averages greater than the 24-hour NAAQS of 35 μg/m3.
- In the 2010-2011 winter (November-March), 50 days with PM2.5 concentrations greater than 35 μg/m3 were measured.
- In the 2011-2012 winter, 51 days with PM2.5 concentrations greater than 35 μg/m3 were measured.
In addition, these days with concentrations exceeding the national PM2.5 24-hour standard of 35 μg/m3 are, in general, significantly greater than the standard (they range from 36-69 μg/m3 and the average for the past two years is 46 and 48 μg/m3). If Seeley Lake's winter air quality doesn't dramatically improve, nonattainment status is inevitable.
Woodstoves are the primary source of winter air pollution in western Montana, so, on April 7, 2010, the MCCHD conducted a visual woodstove/fireplace/pellet stove chimney survey in the residential neighborhood just south of the elementary school. In approximately a 16 square block area or a half square mile, the survey found 50 residences with chimneys and five residences with a second chimney for a total of up to 55 woodstove/fireplace/pellet stove chimneys in the survey area.
Why It Matters
During the 2010-2011 winter (November-February), Seeley Lake exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for the 