Project Highlight: Air Monitoring, Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, Manhattan

The LMCCC is tasked with implementation of Environmental Performance Commitments (EPCs) during the $30B Lower Manhattan Redevelopment and Recovery Program. Until the end of 2010, BEM provided LMCCC with neighborhood-scale monitoring of particulates, noise, and environmental compliance. Particulate monitoring included a combination of stationary monitors throughout Lower Manhattan that collected and continuously fed data into BEM’s customized web-enabled database. The system generated automated alarms of condition yellow or red particulate levels via email, allowing for prompt inspection of suspect construction sites. BEM’s services included mobile monitoring where air quality specialists routinely visited the 60+ construction sites in Lower Manhattan. Specialists evaluated fence line conditions, dust control, locations of exhausts, use of ultra low sulfur fuels, and use of diesel particulate filters on off-road equipment.

BEM provided the installation and operation of a particulate monitoring system that exceeded the minimum requirement for federal reference method monitoring consistent with the Clean Air Act. The program included wireless transfer of data every 5-minutes from four air monitoring stations. Data were validated and presented on a secure website in a manner that enables personnel quickly evaluate potential sources and level of concern. This program was featured as a cutting-edge particulate monitoring program in the 2007 conference proceedings of the Air & Waste Management Association (AWMA).