Air pollution comes from many different sources. These are typically categorized into four groups as follows:
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Stationary sources such as factories, power plants, and smelters,
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Mobile sources including cars, buses, planes, trucks, trains, and construction and agricultural vehicles,
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Area sources such as dry cleaners, paint shops, residential fireplaces, lawnmowers, and print shops,
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Natural sources including pasture fires, wheat stubble fires, and wind blown dust.
All of these categories contribute to air pollution locally. The most significant categories are the mobile and area source groups. Automobiles contribute more to urban pollution than any other individual source.
In 1991, representatives from EPA, KDHE, and WSCDCH met with officials from 24 major companies that operate facilities in Sedgwick County. The purpose of the meeting was to request their voluntary assistance in reducing emissions of 17 chemical compounds to the atmosphere. These 24 companies agreed to commit to a goal of reducing their emissions of these compounds by 33% for the following year (1992) and by 50% for the year 1995 (Project 33/50). These goals were exceeded, thus significantly reducing the amount of pollutants contributed by stationary sources to the ambient air.
Air pollution may also be caused by transport of pollutants from events which occur far from Wichita/Sedgwick County. In May 1998, smoke from brush fires in southern Mexico was measured by our air monitoring network and significantly increased pollutant concentrations here. Volcanic ash from the 1980 explosion of Mount St. Helens was also measured by our particulate sampling network. Air pollution from other urban areas upwind of Wichita can also affect our air quality at times.
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