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Air monitors find this
New Year’s considerably
less smoky

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By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

New fireworks regulations may have helped curtail air pollution on New Year's Eve.

Dust monitors at Oceanit Laboratories Inc. showed fewer air particulates from exploding fireworks than in previous years.

Oceanit said its monitor in Ewa that has measured dust for three years showed a significant decrease in smoke this year.

"The highest one-hour smoke concentration average of 867.9 micrograms per cubic meter occurred at 1 a.m.," said Jason Apostol, Oceanit's project engineer for dust monitoring systems.

The state has set a limit of 150 micrograms per cubic meter average during a 24-hour period. The average on New Year's Eve peaked at about 98 micrograms.

Apostol said smoke levels in 1999 and 2000 were much higher than in 2001, with peak dust concentrations of more than 2,200 and 2,300 micrograms per cubic meter.

"The air seemed less smoky than in previous years and the numbers from our dust monitor support my observations," Apostol said.