Particulate source apportionment and monitoring in a southeastern British Columbia coal mining community (British Columbia)

A monitoring and source apportionment study of PM2.5, PM 10--2.5 and PM>10 was undertaken between October 2002 and November 2003, in and around the coal mining community of Sparwood, BC. Wind sector analysis, loadings comparisons and Chemical Mass Balance modeling were performed to determine the relative contribution from coal-mine and community sources to ambient airshed particulate levels. Seasonal trend analysis could not be performed due to limited data and abnormal PM 2.5 levels from an extreme summer forest fire season. From observations and photographic records, likely sources of PM2.5 are forestry slash burning, forest fires, and residential wood-stove use. However, mining appears to contribute significant levels of PM10--2.5 and PM>10 to the ambient airshed during dry periods when winds are predominantly from the north/northeast (the direction of the mines) and are stronger than normal for that sector. Care should be taken in extrapolating these results to particulate loading patterns throughout the year as this study only focused on extreme PM events.