Harris County Pollution Control Services Department (PCS) is conducting routine community air monitoring as the winter storm conditions improve. Throughout the winter storm, PCS continued with routine air monitoring and emergency response operations. All facility emission events have been captured and investigations are underway.
All available air monitoring resources will be deployed for increased readiness as industrial activity resumes and known hot spots become more active due to start-up activity.
Pre-planned air monitoring routes will be run on a 24-hour cycle to capture any detections and compare them to baseline conditions in high-activity areas that pose increased health risks for the residents in those communities.
Post-storm water quality monitoring is also underway. PCS has increased communications with municipal sewage treatment facilities in Harris County to determine their functional status and known adverse impacts resulting from the rolling power outages. PCS is giving priority to monitoring municipal sewage facilities due to public health and safety concerns.
All air and water monitoring activities that require laboratory analysis will be conducted by PCS staff in the department’s on-site laboratory.
Monitoring data will be available at pcs.harriscountytx.gov. Other notices will be available on PCS Facebook
ABOUT HARRIS COUNTY POLLUTION CONTROLS SERVICES DEPARTMENT
The mission of PCS is to positively impact Harris County residents by proactively driving improvements to air, water, and soil quality through collaborative efforts with the community, expanded pollution monitoring and inspection programs, and innovative practices. For more information about Harris County Pollution Control Services, please visit: pcs.harriscountytx.gov.