Air Quality


The Millar Addition is in the heart of a geographic depression formed by the confluence of two rivers. It is affectionately known as “the bowl”. The depression causes specific climatic conditions such as “inversions” where the upper layer of cool air traps low lying warm air in the bowl. That is great for back yard gardening. Unfortunately we share the bowl with several sources of air pollution, so we also trap pollutants in the air shed.

Health professionals have known for a long time that the rates of asthma and respiratory infections were higher in the bowl area and this related to the particulate matter in the air. The air pollution of concern is called PM 2.5 indicating particles that are 2.5 micrometers across or 1/ 20th the thickness of a human hair. They are not filtered by our respiratory system and penetrate deep into the lung and the circulatory system. This is not the same thing as the reduced sulfur that we smell in the air.

New medical information indicates wider health impacts are related to PM2.5 particulate. The Heart and Stroke Foundation has linked cardiovascular disease, such as heart attacks and strokes to exposure to PM2.5 both in short term and long term exposure. The particulate pollution in Prince George is the highest in the province and in the top 10 in the country. Our population is small but a recent report from the health authority estimates that there are 22 deaths a year in Prince George because our air quality is worse than Vancouver. Vancouver is not known for its good air quality. But Vancouver levels of air pollution were thought to be realistic target levels for Prince George. One question has been ‘what are the major contributors to our poor air quality?’. This has turned out to be a difficult question to answer from a technical point of view. A report on point sources of PM 2.5 in Prince George has been underway for three years. A draft version was reviewed by Gordon Hoekstra in the Prince George citizen recently (Trains major source of local pollution…Thursday 25th September 2008).

They attribute as an estimate
  • industries like pulp mills and sawmills (30%)
  • locomotives (28%)
  • commercial sources (10%)
  • on-road dust (9%)
  • secondary formation (7%)
  • residential sources (6%)
  • wind-blown particulates (5%)
  • on-road mobile sources (3%)
  • open burning (3%)

The two particulate monitoring stations that have consistently had the highest readings in Prince George are the plaza 400 monitoring station and the BC rail site. This is of great interest to the Millar Addition residents as we are located between these two monitoring stations.

There are many ways to improve air quality walking to work, upgrading wood stoves avoiding backyard burning and changing the gravel on the road. Clearly however political action is needed to address the overwhelming contribution of industry, pulp mills, saw mills, and locomotives and commercial sources (totaling 68%) to the particulate levels in our air shed.

The Millar Addition Citizen’s Coalition opposed the location of the District Energy System within the bowl because of its impact on the sensitive air shed. We have a political voice and we would like to mobilize it to work towards a healthier environment. We intend to keep this as a focus of our activities as a community group.

More information can be obtained by consulting the PACHA website.