Binational Air Quality Monitoring
The Particulate Matter 10 (PM10) non-attainment status of the three largest Arizona cities along the international border - Nogales, Douglas and San Luis - prompted ADEQ to expand its air quality monitoring efforts to Sonoran border cities.

In late 1993, ADEQ began monitoring PM10 on both sides of the border in the cities of Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora (jointly known as Ambos Nogales.) A comprehensive study was completed in 1999 and included the following components: air sampling of particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds, and aldehydes; air emissions inventory; air modeling and human health risk assessment.

Upon completion of this project, ADEQ conducted a similar study in the cities of Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora. This project included air sampling and the development of an air emissions inventory for both cities. A number of positive actions were taken in Agua Prieta while the study was under way like road paving, completion of a modern landfill and tree plantings. The city had noticeable improvement in air quality three consecutive years and that prompted ADEQ not to proceed with the modeling and human health risk assessment phases of the study.

Finally, a third comprehensive binational study is currently in progress in the Yuma, Arizona-San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora area. That project, known as the Western Arizona-Sonora Border Air Quality Study (WASBAQS), is considered the largest binational air quality study ever along the United States-Mexico border. The air sampling phase of this study has concluded and ADEQ is currently compiling data from the emissions inventory and sampling efforts to generate air models and eventually, a human health risk assessment.

Ambos Nogales Clean Air Calendar
As mentioned above, Nogales, Arizona is in non-attainment with U.S. standards for PM10. Several factors discussed in the final report of the Ambos Nogales Binational Air Quality Study contribute to this situation. Some of the most important factors include unpaved road dust, on-road vehicle emissions and wood and garbage burning. More than 80 percent of the air pollution sources in this region are located in Nogales, Sonora. Several projects and efforts have been put into place since the end of the binational study to help mitigate the problem.

Raising awareness and educating the community on environmental issues was the first action implemented by ADEQ to help mitigate air pollution in Ambos Nogales. This was achieved through printed materials, the most important and lasting of which is the Ambos Nogales Clean Air Calendar. The calendar is a useful and educational tool intended to expose both youth as well as the general public to basic information on some of the most important environmental issues affecting this region. Fifteen thousand copies of the calendar are being distributed free of charge, mostly in schools on both sides of the border. Some calendars are distributed to public offices and non-government organizations. About 2000 students are submitting drawings for the calendar every year.

This calendar has been produced yearly since 2001. It features drawings from school children from Ambos Nogales, as well as simple tips to help keep our air clean.

Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District (SCVUSD) School Bus Biodiesel Retrofitting Project
As mentioned previously, vehicle emissions are one of the main contributing factors to the high levels of pollution in Ambos Nogales. Studies have shown that diesel emissions contain PM and other toxic pollutants that can be deadly. Diesel exhaust contains over 40 toxic chemicals that have been linked to cancer.

One source of diesel emissions is heavy duty vehicles including most of the buses currently owned by SCVUSD. This results in the exposure of children, one of the more susceptible groups, to harmful air pollutants.

Recognizing this problem, a project was launched in June 2005 with the main goal of reducing emissions from school buses owned by SCVUSD. The project was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with some leverage funding from the school district and is near completion.

Small-Scale Burning Assessment and Draft Action Plan for Nogales, Sonora
In June 2005, ADEQ issued the Plan of Action for Improving Air Quality in Ambos Nogales. The full document is available in the "Projects Final Reports" section. This document lists the twelve main recommendations and actions required to improve air quality in the region. One of those recommendations was to reduce or eliminate garbage burning.

ADEQ determined that, in order to address this issue, a more accurate assessment was necessary. This assessment would provide specific data about the type, amount and frequency of garbage burns. Furthermore, it would provide some direct feedback from households about the kinds of solutions that they would be willing to implement. This project was subcontracted to the University of Arizona through the Bureau of Applied Research on Anthropology (BARA). The main results of this study show that people burn as a means to manage solid waste and cooking/heating the home. In households where garbage burning occurs, individuals explained their actions either as a response to a problem (lack of collection service) or as a preventive measure to avoid other problems (dogs, insects, illness). In general, there is a high correlation between burning habits and poverty levels. Low level income households tend to burn more than higher income households; this is especially true for burning wood, a habit that is linked to the availability of individual household resources for purchasing alternative materials.

Another product of this project was the development of a plan of action for reducing small scale wood and garbage burning in Nogales, Sonora. A detailed description of this plan can be found in the final report, but the main items included in the plan are the following: 1) Improve garbage collection and street cleanliness; 2) Increase capacity and improve management of the landfill transfer station; 3) Develop a program to facilitate and promote composting; 4) Develop a program to facilitate and promote recycling; 5) Investigate and develop options for increasing the number and types of garbage containers; 6) Develop and promote alternative no-or low-emissions stoves; 7) Develop and implement education and outreach programs; and 8) Investigate the use of legal measures and fines to deter burning.

Thermal Construction and Alternative Heating Technologies
This project indirectly addressed the problem of wood burning. The reasoning behind it was that if it were possible to introduce an alternative building material with thermal properties, easy to make, and less expensive, this would provide an indirect means of reducing wood burning in households. On the other hand, research for alternative cooking technologies would produce the same effect.

This project was subcontracted with the University of Arizona through BARA. Several alternative cooking and/or heating technologies were suggested and tested like solar stoves and higher efficiency wood stoves. Several members of the community participated and continue participating in these tests.

For thermal construction, the main alternative technology being tested is the use of blocks made out of "papercrete," which is a mixture of concrete and pulverized paper. This material is less expensive than conventional block and other building materials and has excellent thermal properties. It can be made easily in your own backyard. A community leader is currently building a house using this type of material and Sonoran Maquiladora Association (AMS, in Spanish) is building another one that will be given to an underprivileged family.

Upcoming
ADEQ is planning to update the air samplers that are currently in use in Agua Prieta and Nogales, Sonora by replacing the Andersen dichotomous samplers with Partisol samplers. This will bring equipment uniformity to the binational monitoring network.

The production of the Ambos Nogales Clean Air calendar will continue indefinitely. The community has grown accustomed to seeing a new calendar every December and it has been an excellent outreach tool.

More funding has been provided to conduct two more projects to retrofit diesel powered vehicles. One involves the Nogales Unified School District (NUSD) and the other one will focus on retrofitting hauling trucks that cross the border transporting goods between the two countries.

A more aggressive outreach campaign started in spring 2008. This campaign has focused on educating the general public on some of the most important environmental issues. The main methods used have been radio spots, mural paintings, workshops and printed material.

ADEQ will soon be spearheading a Truck Stop Electrification (TSE) project for the border region. TSE seeks to reduce the idling time for long-haul trucks thus reducing diesel consumption and emissions. The project will focus on establishing sites where trucks can plug in to electrical power during rest stops thus offsetting the need for idling to support air conditioning and refrigeration.