Municipal Critical Service Dept.

The City of Syracuse is home to approximately 150,000 inhabitants and is located in the center of New York state. It sits 35 miles southwest of Lake Ontario, and 200 miles northwest of New York City.

Syracuse is known for its heavy snow season with an average of 121.1 inches annually. Given the number of people that live within the City limits and the tremendous amount of snowfall the DPW is considered a critical arm to City operations. It is because of this that the Mayor of Syracuse wanted to ensure that the DPW facility was providing a safe environment for City DPW workers as they were experiencing COVID related illnesses even with portable air purification units in operation.

Goal

Ensure the air quality within the DPW facility was clean and that the air purification system was working.

Solution

Step 1: 

Monitor and collect data for two weeks. InteliEQ installed IAQ sensors, gateway and cloud-based Platform to analyze the data and provide a report of findings. 

ï Six IAQ sensors installed throughout building on 3/15

ï Active Purifiers installed but not turned on

ï Monitoring and analyzing CO2, VOC, PM10, PM2.5 levels

What we measure and why it matters:

  • CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) while naturally occurring in our air, can be harmful to our health in high quantities, causing drowsiness, headaches, poor performance and even serious long term health problems.
  • TVOC (Total Volatile Organic Compounds) are the sum of organic chemical compounds in the air.  These harmful, carcinogenic air pollutants are known to negatively affect our health.
  • PM (Particulate Matter) consists of solid particles or liquid droplets floating in the air and is often categorized based on particle size (PM10 = 10um, PM2.5 = 2.5um) with the smaller ones posing greater health risks, often creating problems with the lungs and heart.

CO2

400 – 1000 ppm: Good (typical of indoor spaces)

1000 – 2000 ppm: Moderate to Poor (complaints of drowsiness by inhabitants)

2000 – 5000 ppm: Poor/Unhealthy (drowsiness, headaches, loss of attention)

 

TVOC (IAQ-Index) Description

0 – 50: Excellent

51 – 100: Good

101 – 150: Moderate

151 – 200: Poor – irritation possible

201 – 300: Very Poor – headaches and other effects possible

301 – 500: Severe – serious health issues may result

 

PM2.5 (ug/m^3) Description

0 to 12.0: Good

12.1 to 35.4: Moderate – EPA set 35 ug/m3 as 24 hr exposure limit

35.5 to 55.4: Unhealthy for At-Risk Groups

55.5 to 150.4: Unhealthy for Everyone

150.5 to 250.4: Very Unhealthy

250.5 to 350.4: Hazardous