Winds whip hazardous dust into the air

Thursday, March 14, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

Construction sites closed and Clark County air quality enforcement officers fanned out as winds of 50 mph whipped hazardous amounts of fine dust into the air throughout the Las Vegas Valley on Wednesday.

"We've got every available enforcement officer we have out in the field," Air Quality Assistant Director Carrie MacDougall said. The department has 19 officers, she said.

Shortly before 1:30 p.m., an air quality monitor near Craig and Pecos roads recorded fine dust levels into the "hazardous" range. Within hours, seven more sites throughout the valley had moved into the hazardous range -- a level that can affect anyone's health, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Other sites recorded unhealthy levels of the fine dust. At 3:20 p.m. none of the 14 reporting stations for the dust recorded levels better than "moderate."

Preliminary analysis shows that federal 24-hour standards for airborne dust were broken at five sites in the valley: two near downtown, one on the east side, and at sites on the northwest and northeast. MacDougall emphasized that those early numbers could change after a quality-control review.

The county issued an alert, noting the biggest threat was to people with impaired respiratory systems. But MacDougall said everyone should take steps to avoid outside activity.

"Stay indoors," she said. "If you have to go outside, cover your nose and mouth. Do not engage in heavy exertion. This is not the time to do heavy exercise, taking in large volumes of air."

Wednesday was especially busy for Dr. Jim Christensen, an allergy and asthma specialist who also serves on the Clark County Health District's board, who said children and those with chronic respiratory illnesses were hit hardest.

"I saw a lot of kids in distress," Christensen said. "I'm sure we're going to see a lot more today, mopping up after yesterday's horrendous air."

Christensen admitted several patients to the hospital, including a woman in her early 30s and a man who "keeled over," he said.

Reducing the amount of particulate matter in the air would significantly reduce the distress suffered by so many of Las Vegas Valley's residents, Christensen said. A study following the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where organizers improved air quality before the games, found 20 percent fewer people sought treatment for respiratory ailments, Christensen said.

County air quality officials ordered construction sites to shut down, with the exception of dust-control activities, such as spraying water onto disturbed soil.

The department dispatched trucks to water down vacant land around schools, nursing homes and hospitals. Despite those efforts, the dust storm coated the area with a mantle of grit.

"If it's just general road dust, there's not much we can do," MacDougall said.

Wednesday's dust storm was the second in two weeks. On Feb. 28 and March 1, area residents choked on dust that exceeded the federal 24-hour air-quality standard at four sites around Clark County.

Southern Nevada is under a federal mandate to clean up air pollution caused by dust and carbon monoxide, a byproduct mostly from car exhaust. The EPA has accepted a plan, but county air quality officials say it could be years before the region is in full attainment of those standards.